In an inspiring address, Dr. Iyad Abumoghli, United Nations Environment Programme, Director Faith for Earth Coalition reflected on the enduring legacy of the Faith for Earth initiative — a global movement that, in just eight years, has united faith, science, and policy to place moral responsibility at the heart of environmental action.
Distinguished colleagues and friends,
When we speak of legacy, we are not only looking back at what has been achieved, but also at how it has shaped the present, and more importantly, how it must inspire the future.
The story of Faith for Earth is one of such legacies: born of conviction, nurtured through collaboration, and carried forward by an unshakable belief in humanity’s moral responsibility to care for our common home. From the outset, Faith for Earth envisioned a world where science, policy, and spirituality are not parallel tracks, but converging streams. Where data and evidence meet ethics and conscience. Where environmental governance is not only about numbers and carbon metrics, but about values, justice, and intergenerational responsibility.
The vision was clear: to bring the moral authority, global reach, and deep community roots of faith-based organizations into the heart of multilateral environmental action. In just a few short years, eight to be precise, that vision materialized in ways few thought possible.
• We moved from the margins to the center: Faith voices, once absent in multilateral spaces, became active participants.
• Nearly 100 faith-based organizations are now accredited to the UN Environment Assembly.
• The Dialogue Series, launched at UNEA, has become a permanent fixture where ministers, scientists, and faith leaders deliberate together.
• We ensured a solid faith presence at COPs: At COP28 and COP29, the Faith Pavilion emerged as a historic achievement. For the first time, spirituality and religion had a permanent, visible, and respected space in climate negotiations.
• Over 90 organizations, 22 faith traditions, and hundreds of sessions wove conscience into the fabric of policymaking.
• We established interfaith councils: The coalition established five unique councils — of high-level leaders, women, youth, scientists, and steering members — ensuring intergenerational, intergender, and interfaith leadership. This was not a symbolic representation, but a structured inclusion.
• We created knowledge and tools: Over 40 publications, including landmark frameworks such as Al-Mizan: A Covenant for the Earth, The Faith for Earth textbook, guidelines for Green Houses of Worship, Tree Growing Guides for conservation, and many more thematic papers gave faith communities both the moral inspiration and practical instruments to act.
• We convened Confluences of Conscience: From the Vatican’s Faith and Science Summit, to Abu Dhabi’s Interfaith Declaration, to Baku’s Global Summit of Religious Leaders. Time and again, the Coalition convened diverse traditions to
speak with one voice, providing politicians and negotiators with what they lack most: moral clarity.
• When we learnt about PaRD – established a year before Faith for Earth – there was no focus on environment and climate action. We lobbied and succeeded in creating the WECARE Workstream, which I was honored to be a member of for
many years.
What makes this coalition unique is not only its diversity, but its ability to channel that diversity into unity of purpose. It demonstrated that Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Indigenous spiritualities, and many others can sit at the same table, not to dilute their faith, but to magnify their shared values of stewardship, compassion, and balance with nature. It was not an interfaith dialogue for the sake of tolerance—it was interfaith collaboration for the sake of survival. Faith for Earth proved that conscience can be confluenced. It proved that when different spiritualities bring their scriptures, rituals, and lived wisdom, they do not clash — they converge into a collective moral force. Faith for Earth also transformed how the United Nations relates to faith actors. No longer seen as “other stakeholders,” faith-based organizations are now recognized in official UN documents, including the Pact for the Future.
UNEP itself, for the first time in history, made engagement with faith a strategic priority in its Medium-Term Strategy. That shift — from peripheral to strategic — was not automatic. It was earned, through years of persistent advocacy, credibility, and delivery.
Faith for Earth did not simply knock on the UN’s doors; it built new doors, opened new windows, and invited both faith and science to step into the same room. Perhaps one of the most precious legacies is the platform Faith for Earth created for diverse religions, sects, and even non-religious spiritual traditions—to engage directly with ministers, negotiators, and decision-makers. This platform allowed Indigenous elders to share their wisdom in the same forum as climate scientists, it allowed Buddhist monks to debate financing with ministers of environment, and youth faith activists to co-author joint declarations for the UN.
This was not tokenism. It was a redefinition of governance itself: moving from purely technocratic decision-making to decisions rooted in human values and collective conscience. Of course, this journey was not without challenges.
• Diversity itself was both strength and difficulty. Aligning faith actors on complex issues such as carbon markets, fossil fuel subsidies, or climate finance proved as challenging as negotiations among states.
• Language and epistemology were a challenge. Science speaks in data and models; faith speaks in parables and moral imperatives. Bridging these worlds required patience, translation, and trust.
• Institutional resistance was a challenge. For decades, the UN system viewed faith engagement as sensitive, even risky. Overcoming skepticism and proving that faith is not a threat to neutrality, but a complement to it, took determination.
• Resources were always and continue to be a challenge. Unlike many large NGOs, faith groups came with conviction but not always with financial means. Building capacity and securing support was a constant effort. And yet, despite these obstacles, the Coalition persevered, grew stronger, and turned challenges into opportunities for learning and innovation. However, this was until the global geo-political dynamics have changed at all levels. Faith for Earth is one of the victims of these shifts, but also the victim of lack of genuine interfaith solidarity and changing global priorities. If I may, I would like to reflect on another challenge worth reflecting upon, that is the experience of PaRD. Its journey mirrors both the promise and the struggles of faith-based engagement. PaRD brought governments, multilateral bodies, and faith organizations together under one umbrella, but like many collective endeavors, it has faced financial challenges, as Member States have not provided sustained support. Its structure — organized around Workstreams — relies heavily on the initiative and energy of its member organizations, which in turn depend on their availability and commitment. This created both dynamism and fragility.
Moreover, PaRD’s focus on the Sustainable Development Goals, while visionary, now faces the hard reality that the SDGs are under debate and severely off track. We must also reimagine the relationship between PaRD and the United Nations system. While the UN was instrumental in supporting the establishment of PaRD, institutional challenges soon emerged that limited its full engagement.
If we are serious about genuine collaboration, we must go beyond symbolic inclusion and create structured mechanisms of accountability and influence. The UN has already established a Multifaith Advisory Council to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development. So why can PaRD not evolve into – or establish alongside it – a dedicated UN Advisory Committee on Religion and Sustainable Development, with a clear Terms of Reference, a defined workplan, and a robust engagement strategy? Such a body could transform PaRD from a voluntary partnership that depends on member availability into a structured interface, ensuring reciprocity in the exchange of advisory services.
The lesson here is that faith engagement in global governance must be reimagined with sustainable financing, stronger institutional anchoring, and a focus that balances flexibility with accountability. Today, as we celebrate this legacy, we must also ask: What’s next? What’s next for the Faith for Earth Coalition, but also what’s next for the interfaith collaboration, particularly on environmental issues? The answer is not to create another faith-based organization. The world does not need more fragmentation. What it needs is a consortium—a Foundation for Faith for Earth—that serves as a unifying platform, not an additional competitor.
This Foundation must:
1. Consolidate the gains—ensuring that the Faith Pavilion, UNEA dialogues, and interfaith declarations are not temporary milestones but become permanent institutions.
2. Bridge resources and action—mobilizing the immense assets of faith communities, from land to investments, and channeling them into green and ethical projects.
3. Amplify inclusivity—making sure that small and marginalized faiths, women, and youth are not just invited, but empowered and resourced to lead.
4. Deepen the nexus of faith, science, and policy—so that knowledge translates into values, and values translate into decisions.
5. Carry forward the moral imperative—challenging greed, consumerism, and apathy, and inspiring leaders to act not only because of treaties, but because of conscience.
6. And we need to move from my single faith to our common purpose. Too often, faith-specific organizations, while supporting interfaith collaboration, rarely invest in it. This way, the Foundation would not replace the diversity of existing organizations—it would embrace it, weaving their richness into a single, coherent voice. A chorus of conscience harmonized but not homogenized. The environmental crisis of our time is not only a scientific challenge. It is a moral crisis. And a moral crisis demands moral leadership.
The legacy of Faith for Earth is proof that such leadership is possible—when faith, science, and policy walk together. Our task now is to ensure that this legacy does not fade, but flourishes. That the confluence of consciences continues to guide governments. Let us therefore move forward with courage. Let us build this Foundation not as another institution, but as a living covenant among us all — a covenant to honor the Earth, protect the vulnerable, and safeguard the future.
The Earth is crying. The science is clear. The faith is strong. The conscience is ready.
Now is the time—not for words, but for deeds.
Thank you
