FFOP To Engage Religious Mobilisers For Nature Conservation In Pakistan

The Faith for Our Planet (FFOP) on Tuesday announced that the it would engage religious mobilisers of all faiths in the country to educate and motivate masses for nature conservation through religious guidance and teachings

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2022 ) :The Faith for Our Planet (FFOP) on Tuesday announced that the it would engage religious mobilisers of all faiths in the country to educate and motivate masses for nature conservation through religious guidance and teachings.

In a joint presser here the International Coordinator for FFOP Shiraz Ahmad, former IG Forest Ministry of Climate Change Syed Mehmood Nasir, Islamic Organization for food Security (IOFS) Kazakhstan Director Operation Dr Ismail Abdelhamid, Allama Mohsin Naqvi, Pakistani Hindu Pandit and Community Leader Haroon Sarab Diyal and renowned Climate Activist and Environmentalist Dr Afia Salam presented the outcomes of the two-day workshop in the Federal capital and cooperation with the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board for the biodiversity preservation in Margalla Hills National Park.

Famour sufi singer, poet and musician, CEO Art Langer Aerib Azhar sang his poem Qatra Qatra Jama Kiya (drop by drop collected for...) to entertain the participants and highlight environmental protection through his poetry.

International Coordinator FFOP Shiraz Ahmad informed the media about the purpose, scope and vision of the FFOP and the outcomes of its first ever workshop on climate change in Pakistan.

He said the FFOP was an international organization of interfaith coalition with a network of various religious leaders of different faiths.

Ahmad said that Pakistan was at the front line of climate change and facing environmental degradation in the shape of rising temperature, floods, droughts, heatwaves, rising sea levels and others. "FFOP has been seeded by Muslim World League which is the world's largest Muslim NGO," he added.

FFOP was established to create a grassroots culture to understand the climate change with the help of faith leaders through cross community engagement, Ahmad said.

Hindu Pandit Haroon Sarab Diyal welcomed the FFOP for taking initiative for addressing climate change and nature conservation.

It was the pressing need to take different faiths and their followers to take them on board for environmental conservation as the country was facing serious impacts of climate change, he added.

"FFOP has started it's efforts with the support of academia, government, experts and took all them on board in collaboration with the IIUI, RSPN, IRD, and others", he added.

Diyal mentioned that the two-day workshop had fruitful discussions with gender balance maintained in all its sessions.

"We want to give this message to the global community that climate change is a serious issue of communities and the nation is uniting its minorities and different faiths for climate and not exploitation. Media should project community role in addressing global warming", he added.

"We will welcome other faith followers to come forward to play role in plantation and take this step from their homes and local communities to drive nature preservation", he said.

Former IG Forest MoCC Syed Mehmood Nasir said it was a great learning experience through this workshop which taught many learning lessons.

"Media's role is critical in community mobilisation, where the social media is a cheaper tool to proliferate information and awareness material", he said.

The effort of FFOP to cross all limits of religious biases, taboos and promote the message of conservation was a remarkable achievement and humanitarian service, Syed added.

Dr Afia Salam said climate change was an international issue that demanded a joint response to ward off its effects. "Pakistan is the fifth most affected due to climate change where a collective effort is must to address the serious issue." "The factions that hold influence in our communities like religious scholars of every faith are the real influencers in the subcontinent. Engaging with religious leaders is an important step towards collective effort to lead positive outcomes." Dr Ismail Abdelhamid said there were insightful sessions with experts where they all reaffirmed their resolve to take measures to improve climate in their regions.

"Better use of water for irrigation and agriculture and better use of technology for sustainable development have also been discussed along with reducing pollution and other issues. Our next programme will focus on harmful effects on agriculture sector through the IFOS," he said.

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