Key EfS Documents

Sustainable Development and UK faith groups: Two sides of the same coin?

A survey of UK faith communities' sustainable development activities and next steps for the future

In 2003, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) published the report 'Redefining Prosperity'. The report provided evidence that above a certain threshold, more money did not make people happier. The report stimulated debate on measures of wellbeing and led to the SDC organising five seminars, one of which involved inviting faith leaders to explore sustainable development within their faith communities. An outcome of the meeting was that a greater connection could be made between the spiritual beliefs of their faiths and caring for the earth. A recommendation from the seminar was for SDC to prepare a report, which made clear these connections as well as shared with other faith groups initiatives led by faith groups addressing sustainability issues. WWF UK joined with SDC to address the recommendation and produced this report, which also presents four case studies from the national and local level.

Faith in Conservation: New Approaches to Religions and the Environment

This book draws on the experiences of the World Bank in cooperating with major faiths in the world as partners. This book explores the role faiths and faith groups have played and can play in contributing to a better world. It also shares with the reader statements on ecology, sustainable development and conservation from eleven faith traditions revealing a diversity of worldviews. Underlying the book is the message we need to live with integrity in this world of diverse views and work with the diversity that is critical in building a sustainable world.

The lab, the temple, and the market: reflections at the intersection of science, religion and development

This publication tackles the questions "What do faith, science, and the world of international development have to offer one another?" "How do the roles, approaches, and world views of science, religion, and international development intersect?" and "How does this intersection express itself in different cultures?" Four essays present a discussion of development issues and processes with a different system of religious belief: Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá's Faith. "The publication furthers the search for a more "people-centred" model of development and for a scientific practice that supports tolerance, sustainability, peace, and justice for all" (IRDC).