Faith and Environmental Security

It is increasingly recognised that faith leaders and faith-based organizations (FBOs) are essential contributors towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and addressing environmental and climatic crises. Acknowledging this, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the Faith for Earth Initiative to strategically engage with FBOs, mobilise greater faith-inspired environmental action, scale-up faith actors’ capacities and catalyse greater synergies between them and other stakeholders. This short, self-paced, e-learning course, focusing on environmental security, forms part of this commitment.

Environmental security addresses the question of how environmental issues (climate change, environmental degradation and natural disasters) interact with and impact on human security concerns, conflict and peace. It examines threats posed by environmental degradation and trends to individuals, communities and nations. Equally, it explores how conflicts can result in environmental degradation as the naure world becomes caught up in human conflicts, also becoming a victim in the process. Fully addressing such issues requires the engagement of all sectors of society, and this course focuses on the role of faith actors, drawing on the particular qualities and comparative advantages they have.

KAICIID launched the FAITH4SDGS Project. More information and material can be found here: https://www.kaiciid.org/content/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs

The goals of this course are to:

• Increase awareness amongst participants of major environmental security challenges and understand the role faith actors can play.
• Demonstrate to non-faith participants the value of working with faith actors on these issues.
• Help contribute to the attainment of SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Since its inception in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the global authority that sets the environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. UNEP works closely with its 193 Member States and representatives from civil society, businesses, and other major groups and stakeholders to address environmental challenges through the UN Environment Assembly, the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment.

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