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Alliance of Religions and Conservation

Website:

www.arcworld.org/
Formation:

1995
Executive Director:

Brian Pilkington
Address:

6 Gay Street, Bath, BA1 2PH
Location:

London, England
Budget (June 2020):

Total income: £103,848
Total expenditure: £247,651
Total income includes £45,833 from 2 government grant(s)
Latest Financial Statement:

2020 Financial Statements

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The Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) was an organization that sought to use the influence of the world’s religions to promote environmental activism. 1 The organization was sponsored by and partners with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), formally known as the World Wildlife Fund, and formed the European division of the World Wide Fund for Nature. The ARC was dissolved on March 16, 2021. 2

Founding and History

In 1986, Prince Philip, the spouse of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, invited religious faith leaders to Assisi, Italy to investigate how faiths could develop environmental initiatives based on the core tenets of their teachings. 3 At this meeting, representatives from five major world religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam) pledged to work within their faith communities to incorporate environmental activism within their respective faith ideologies. 4

This meeting culminated in a 1995 event at Windsor Castle known as the Summit on Religions and Conservation, which was sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, the Pilkington Foundation, and MOA International. 5 This Summit was a follow up to the meeting in Assisi to assess the environmental efforts of the faiths. The gathering led to the creation of the WWF-sponsored Network on Conservation and Religion, which eventually evolved into the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), incorporated in April 1995. 6

On June 27, 2019, ARC announced that it would be closing after 23 years, explaining that it had done what it had initially set out to accomplish. 7 In 1996, Prince Philip, the secretary general, and the board of directors had agreed that ARC would exist only for as long as it took to make environmental activism a major agenda of world religions. 8

Program Areas

Although ARC has dissolved, several of its programs and initiatives will continue.

FaithInvest

FaithInvest is a network and platform for identifying and creating investment opportunities that are aligned with religious values. 9 The United Nations, governments, NGOs, and financial corporations collaborated to create FaithInvest from the idea that religions are a major investment bloc and could be the fourth largest investment bloc in the financial world. 10

FaithInvest aligned with religious groups to address climate change and further the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. 11 Investors of the platform seek to use the religious groups to further their environmental activism and grow their influence in for-profit programs. The interim CEO is Michael Even, former CEO of MAN Numeric, and the co-chairs are Jean-Pierre Scweertz, chair of DOB Foundation, and Martin Palmer, secretary-general of ARC. 12

Wildlife and Forest Initiative

ARC partnered with the WWF’s British and Dutch branches to advance a program to educate communities about initiatives towards learning to protect threatened animal species and their habitats based on faith-based, religious principles.

Daoist Ecological Temple Network

ARC partnered with the Ecological Management Foundation for the development of a new ecological Daoist temple built in partnership with the China Daoist Association and Shaanxi Province. 13

With this project, ARC rebuilt the Daoist temples as a model of eco-architecture by using sustainable materials. 14 ARC and the WWF supported the Daoist monks into their environmental initiatives through the creation of eco-tourism facilities and training programs. 15

EcoSikh

The EcoSikh initiative was created from the work of ARC and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It promotes environmental activism among Sikhs by connecting combating climate change and other ARC and UNDP environmental agendas to the Sikh faith. 16

The Bhumi Project

The Bhumi project is ARC’s joint initiative with the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and the U.S.-based NGO GreenFaith. 17 The Bhumi Project issued the Hindu Declaration on climate change, trained Hindu climate activists, and notes that it is the leading Hindu voice on environmentalist issues. 18

Funding

Within the grant period of January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation awarded ARC a $50,000 grant towards exploratory and special projects. 19

References

  1. “On Working with Religions Alliance of Religions Conservation – Arc.” arcworld.org. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/downloads/About-ARC-leaflet-low-res.pdf.
  2.  “Alliance of Religions and Conservation Overview – Find and Update Company Information.” GOV.UK. Accessed July 4, 2023. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03052043.
  3. “On Working with Religions Alliance of Religions Conservation – Arc.” arcworld.org. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/downloads/About-ARC-leaflet-low-res.pdf.
  4. “Religions Vow a New Alliance for Conservation | One Country.” One Country. Accessed July 5, 2023. https://www.onecountry.org/story/religions-vow-new-alliance-conservation.
  5. “Religions Vow a New Alliance for Conservation | One Country.” One Country. Accessed July 5, 2023. https://www.onecountry.org/story/religions-vow-new-alliance-conservation.
  6. “Alliance of Religions and Conservation Overview – Find and Update Company Information.” GOV.UK. Accessed July 4, 2023. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/03052043.
  7. [1] “Arc Has Closed after 23 Years.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/news1dcd.html?pageID=905.
  8. “Arc Has Closed after 23 Years.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/news1dcd.html?pageID=905.
  9. “Faith-Consistent Investment: Faithinvest.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projects8565.html?projectID=660.
  10. “Faith-Consistent Investment: Faithinvest.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projects8565.html?projectID=660.
  11. “Faith-Consistent Investment: Faithinvest.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projects8565.html?projectID=660.
  12. “Faith-Consistent Investment: Faithinvest.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projects8565.html?projectID=660.
  13.  “Daoist Monks and Nuns to Manage Sacred Mountains.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projectsef3a.html?projectID=257.
  14. “Daoist Monks and Nuns to Manage Sacred Mountains.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projectsef3a.html?projectID=257.
  15. “Daoist Monks and Nuns to Manage Sacred Mountains.” ARC. Accessed July 5, 2023. http://www.arcworld.org/projectsef3a.html?projectID=257.
  16. “About.” EcoSikh, May 16, 2021. https://ecosikh.org/about/#ourMission.
  17. “The Bhumi Project.” The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, December 17, 2018. https://legacy.ochs.org.uk/bhumi-project.
  18. “The Bhumi Project.” The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, December 17, 2018. https://legacy.ochs.org.uk/bhumi-project.
  19. “Alliance of Religions and Conservation, Seven-Year Plans for Generational Change: An Environmental Partnership between the United Nations and Faith Organizations, 200700452.01.” Mott Foundation, December 21, 2022. https://www.mott.org/grants/200700452-01/.
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