Leaders of different faiths met yesterday at a seminar organised by the Archdiocese of Chittagong and World Vision to promote this perspective. Archbishop Lawrence Subrato Howladar wants to see the “strengthening the three-dimensional relationship between the Creator, nature, and human society.” Bangladesh is seventh most affected country in the world by climate change.
Chattogram (AsiaNews) – Leaders of various faiths took part yesterday evening in a seminar titled Religious Harmony in Climate Conservation in Chittagong, a coastal city in southern Bangladesh, the country’s second largest.
During the meeting, they called for the promotion of shared initiatives to protect the environment and fight climate change, this from a “religious” perspective.
In their address, the different speakers stressed that human beings are mere “stewards” of God’s house, who have “neglected” and forgotten to take care of it far too often.
Preserving the environment and caring for the climate require “the strengthening of the three-dimensional relationship between the Creator, nature, and society.”
About 90 people of different faiths attended the seminar, which was organised by the Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue of the Archdiocese of Chittagong and World Vision’s Karnaphuli Area Program.
The meeting began with the recitation of passages from the Qur’ān, and readings from the Gita, the Tripitaka, and the Bible. World Vision’s Karnaphuli Area Program Manager Johnny Rozario presided over the event.
“The Creator gave us authority over creation by creating us. He instructed us to take care of and enjoy creation,” said Ambrose Gomes, Coordinator of the Commission for Christian Unity and Interreligious Dialogue, Chittagong Archdiocese. “However, humans have forgotten this duty and are merely enjoying creation without caring for it,” he added.
“To save the climate, it is necessary to strengthen the three-dimensional relationship between the Creator, the created nature, and the created human society,” said Archbishop Lawrence Subrato Howladar of Chittagong, who also chairs the Dialogue Commission.
The prelate stressed that the distance created in this relationship because of the degradation of religious values can be restored through religious dialogue and harmony. The religious values of all faiths and the lifestyles of religious saints require moderation, mutual respect, and an attitude of humble repentance and reparation for the damage done, ensuring participation in the care of nature.
For Mohammad Jasim Uddin, a lecturer at the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Sciences at Chittagong University, “The impact of climate change has been evident in Bangladesh for the last two decades. Due to its geography, Bangladesh is disaster-prone, and global warming has exacerbated the severity of these disasters. In this situation, we need a collective effort”.
One of the other speakers at the seminar was Mohammad Nurunnabi Azhari of the Department of Islamic Studies at Southern University. He noted that the Qur’ān teaches the value of environmental conservation: “Almighty God created us as the best among all creations, so we have a responsibility to take care of this earth. We should be aware of climate conservation.”
Bangladesh, the seventh most affected country in the world by climate change, faces an annual cost of one billion dollars from tropical cyclones and high levels of air pollution.
By 2050, climate change could reduce agricultural GDP by a third and force 13.3 million people, mostly women, into internal migration. Severe floodings could cut GDP by 9 per cent.
Despite a robust climate policy framework outlined in its 2021 NDC[*] update, which aims to keep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions below the average for developing countries, implementation challenges persist.
The capital Dhaka, home to more than 20 million, faces severe air pollution, waterlogging, inefficient waste disposal, and traffic congestion, with a daily influx of up to 2,000 migrants who add to the stress on infrastructure, undermining climate action.
[*] Nationally determined contribution.
