At a conference near Kathmandu, Nepal, coordinated by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), 500 representatives of 11 world religions committed to ground-breaking environmental pledges.
The 26 “sacred gifts for a living planet” they pledged include:
* The Methodist Church worldwide will develop an ethical investment framework for up to US$30 billion of church assets;
* Buddhists will re-instate a hunting ban to help protect Mongolias endangered snow leopard.
* The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (representing 80% of U.S. Jews) – will implement policies and practices to counter climate change and influence consumer preference for sustainably managed forests.
* The China Taoist Association (representing all 40 million Taoists in China) will ask members to stop using endangered wildlife in traditional medicine products. * Japan’s Shinto community pledged to purchase only sustainably grown wood for their 80,000+ shrines.
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