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“We the Indigenous people consider the Forest our Supermarket. If we destroy our forest we will die from hunger and disease, because our medication too, is from the forest. Burning down the forest and cutting down the trees means that neither our livestock – on which we depend – nor ourselves, can either breathe, or be nurtured. Indigenous people are guardians and custodians of our forests. Ours is the traditional – and original – knowledge to protect, preserve and conserve”
In her rallying address which set the tone for the call for radical collaboration, former President of Ireland, Chair of the Elders, and Co-founder of Project Dandelion , the largest global, women-led movement for environmental action – Mary Robinson named the purpose of the moment: “I want to focus on how pivotal women of faith are…let us remember the scale of influence, as teachers of values… as the foundations of performative change. We are here together as a collective power”.
Speaking of the greatest and most urgent issue of our time as “the nature and climate crisis”, Mary Robinson laid down the gauntlet for the entire meeting. “We are not just witnesses” she said, “we are accomplices in this crisis of injustice… and gender injustice lies at its core”. For why, she asked rhetorically, do women’s efforts remain systematically underfunded?
Re-emphasizing the necessity of focusing on climate justice together, Mary Robinson underscored the need for some basic features of the radical collaboration required: radical connections, radical communications, long-view leadership rooted in science and reason, working with humility, taking into account different contexts, and determined to co-create with different generations.
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“I ask you to reflect on the power you have. The power of co-creation through radical connection, radical communication and radical collaborations to shift the narrative, and grow our power to address the climate and nature challenges, because our best days are ahead of us” – Mary Robinson
The themes of power, and of hope, especially that realised by women coming together as agents of change, of peace, and of justice, motivated by their faith, were central to the call, the realities and the outcomes, of radical collaboration. The youngest environmental activist in the consultation, spoke cogently to the urgency of “being the last generation that can stop this crisis before it is too late”, but also, critically, to a sense of fear not only with the climate crisis per se, but with the simultaneity of crisis all young people face. The power exuded by diverse women united in a cause for environmental justice, as well as the unique ability of women to connect with nature, were highlighted as low hanging fruit which contribute to the success of radical collaboration.
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“We have the capacity to reimagine, the capacity of have hope and the power to believe that we’re on the cusp of change and of resetting the global economy in a climate just way. Little decisions we take can have a butterfly effect.”
At the same time, a necessary aspect of the power inherent to radical collaboration is the ability and the means to engage men allies. Rather than seeing the demands of radical collaboration as an added burden on activists and organisations already facing respective and diverse challenges, the call for this form of partnership assumes an appreciation of the fact that the struggles are for a common heritage, and therefore demands smarter ways of collaborating.
No one survives alone: characteristics of some collaborations within faith communities for climate justice
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“Earth stewardship is fundamental to our beliefs, and integral to our discipleship”
It is important to highlight that all the discussions attested, implicitly and explicitly, that women of faith rarely question the principle, or the need, for all manner of collaborations. Collaboration seems to come naturally to all women of faith. “It would be extremely difficult to get anything done if we work only within our own groups. We need to collaborate with our own communities to serve their needs, and in order to do so, we need to keep collaborating with many others”. At the same time, it is clearly recognised that the needs far outweigh the human, financial and even the emotional resources available within any one community, or organisation/institution – no matter how large the size.
Advocacy for climate justice remains at the top of collaborative actions. At the same time, advocacy alone, was acknowledged to be necessary but insufficient, and sometimes, ineffective. A strong argument was made for going beyond decades of advocacy towards taking legal action in some cases, citing the urgency of the climate reality. Successful cases of legal advocacy include work undertaken by the Pacific Conference of Churches in New Zealand, which collaborated with the Indigenous communities, as the custodians of the river, to determine the legal rights for personhood of the River Whanganui. Ensuring that in March 2017,the Whanganui River became the first river in the world to be given the same legal rights as a human being. This successful legal intervention also underlines how nature as a sacred part of Indigenous culture and tradition, aims to protect the health of freshwater, and enables the maintenance of sovereignty and autonomy for Indigenous peoples.
On the other hand, some of the entities seeking to absolve themselves from blame for contributing to the climate crisis (either through their action or inaction), were noted to contribute to climate disinformation. In cases of climate litigation, the option is sometimes given to banks and businesses to claim to be themselves victims of disinformation.
Becoming better informed of collective litigation options as a means of impacting more and better, and becoming trained in this field, was posited as a value-added for enhanced agency by women of faith.
Scaling up collaboration around existing women led climate action strategies
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“This gathering could not come at a more critical time as wars rage, as climate disasters grow more intense and as inequality deepens, the call for unity between faith based and secular networks has never been louder. Secular and faith-based movements share a profound responsibility to stand together against the global challenges threatening humanity.”
Participants shared information about their networks’ ongoing climate-related initiatives across a broad range of efforts, sharing work by their respective organisations. These included Project Dandelion, Greenfaith, Laudato Si’ Movement, UNANIMA, UNEP Faith for Earth, Faith for Our Planet, ADAMAH, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Interfaith Power and Light, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation, the Brahma Kumaris, the Seventh Day Adventists, Soka Gakkai International, United Religions Initiative, the Baha’i International Community, Global One, the Organisation of African Instituted Churches, Self Employed Women’s Association, Eko Sikh, Muslim Girl, and the World Council of Churches, to name but a few.
Connectivity and inclusion
Speaking to partnerships more generally, community-based partnerships are argued to be more sustainable in the long run, since they tend to more closely correlate with expressed needs. Some argued that it is at the community level that businesses, or private sector entrepreneurs and entities, are relatively easier to engage, as compared to national and international levels. But even at the community-based level, questions about evaluating impact, efficiency of resource use, and scalability to match greater or growing needs, remain challenging.
Some good practice cited in more than one discussion was the need to secure connections between the grassroots and top-level action and decision-makers; indeed, ensuring that this is a target at the outset of planning work within diverse communities. The emphasis of this connectivity, however, requires a deliberate redirection of the focus on the most marginalised communities at national, regional and global decision-making fora. Indigenous people, for instance, are still a token and/or nominal presence in many important climate related discussions, despite their direct and even ‘sacred’ sense of the issues at hand.
Connecting the ‘struggles’ for justice for nature and climate with women and gender-related dynamics, was noted as “absolutely necessary”. This involves increasing the confidence and skills for women to lean into leadership roles, and in doing so, to take responsibility for including other relatively marginalised voices within and among their communities. Experiences from different countries show that mentorships, especially within religious communities, are a helpful means, especially – albeit not only – for equipping young climate change advocates.
Standard bearers? Religions values and/or human rights…
Religious values can provide guidelines, both for due diligence measures, as well as to inform criteria for selection of partners with whom to engage. This does not mean that all the collaborations within religious institutions and communities are perfect, as evidenced by the harm done to some Indigenous communities precisely due to partnerships with extractive interests, which some religious institutions are either benefitting from, turning a blind eye to, and/or remain ignorant of. Religious values can provide insights and discussion points, for what could be more universally applicable ‘red lines’ in seeking collaborations. One of the points made in this regard is that “faith can give us the courage, and the hope, to believe that if one partnership does not work out or align well, then we can find others.” Nevertheless, using human rights as an overall framework to discern the what, why and how of collaboration, is a good practice.
Whither the [male] leaders?
One of the challenges of intra- and inter-faith women-led collaborations is the lack of engagement from the largely male leadership among faith communities. Training of local grassroots religious and community leaders, as well as involvement of media in showcasing women of faith-led efforts, has been shown to encourage some of the male religious leaders to see the value added of supporting local grassroots women’s efforts.
Providing capacities for women of diverse faith, and secular women-led climate efforts, to enhance discernment and learn from successful advocacy strategies – including identifying what collaborations may be unwise and how to help mitigate some of the pitfalls – continue to be needed. This also means learning how to hold public officials – not just religious leaders – accountable, since such spaces retain their own lexicon (language), can be deeply politicised, and legalistic, especially in countries with authoritarian regimes.
On resourcing
While the impact of small grants within faith-run collaborative endeavours can be significant, adequate financing remains a noteworthy gap. Long-standing developmental practice dictates the need to build local capacities to eventually wean dependence on external or traditional support (e.g. government, religious institutions, businesses). Many faith-based organisations also argue that rather than only focus on continuing to solicit more large-scale funding, a more holistic approach integrating in-kind support, cost-cutting efforts, creative means of short-term saving schemes pioneered by some women-headed households, as well as targeting the most vulnerable first (e.g. those who need help just to survive), have proven to be effective in some contexts.
Also important in the funding/resourcing space, is what both women of faith and secular women are learning over time, which is to ensure that earmarked funding from donors (for example, to gender-based violence), is also used to tackle some root, or underlying causes, given the intersectional nature of the issues. Donors, it was argued, need to connect the dots, to offer resilience for climate rather than simply responding to impact.
An immediate practical action advocated for as part of resourcing, is to seek some form of ‘vetting’ or scrutiny, regarding the sources of investment of the funds of religious organisations, as a means of seeking “clean investments”. Requesting that respective religious organisations ensure that money is not going to fossil fuels, was named a low-hanging fruit of collaborative actions.
Telling the stories
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“We badly need new stories to live by. We need to elevate something deeper, that has been lost, we need the kind of stories that faith communities tell over time … to confront the endless stream of information and misinformation. We need stories that make sense to people, which focus on the solutions and not just the problems”
How did a grassroots religiously inspired women-led organisation in Cameroon succeed in securing the collaboration of businesses to support their capacity building efforts, and then have these businesses agree to review some of their investment practices? How did a global Christian-based Alliance succeed in upholding the importance of gender mainstreaming, including in climate related efforts, amongst a membership body that includes some of the most conservative perspectives on women and gender equality? How do religious leaders become equipped to serve as climate justice leaders, including in countries where the governments may not be amenable to tolerating such roles? How are bridges of knowledge and common advocacy being built between scientific communities and institutions, and religious ones? How have rural Muslim women in the North and Eastern parts of Kenya, become champions of climate sensitive practices? What are Indigenous customs and traditions which preserve our climate, and how can we work with them on climate change? The questions are endless. And all of them, and many more, have answers replete with nuance and wisdom. One often reiterated need: the stories need to be told and retold to wider audiences. The stories of how women are already shifting consciousness, mobilizing across divisions, creating change, and changing attitudes as well as laws, need to be collected, and they must be shared.