Preaching ecology

Rising sea levels, torrential rains, tsunamis and frequent earthquakes have destroyed hundreds of thousand of homes across Indonesia in recent years.

Some Indonesians interpret the natural disasters as a symbol of God's rage, which, according to them is provoked by sins committed by their fellow human beings. Others regard them as a divine test.

Some clerics have been using the Quran to spread a green message. They evoke, for instance, the line: "Don't destroy this earth." At one point in the Quran human life is equated to that of a tree: "Do not kill women, elders, children, civilians or trees."

"Green Islam can have different implications," explains Monika Arnez from the University of Hamburg. "It's the ecological approach which is interwoven with Islam. So it can mean that Muslims behave more ecologically-friendly towards the environment and the Quran can be a tool."

Religious schools raise environmental awareness

Environmentalism has been taught in Indonesian Islamic boarding schools since at least the 19th century - long before anyone paid attention to melting ice caps or rising sea levels.

On the Island of Madura in East Java lies the Pesantren Guluk-Guluk, also called Al-Nuqayah, which was established in 1887. Its founder, Muhammad Syarqawi, originally opened the school to spread Islam on an island that was then considered to be a lawless and often violent place.

He soon found out that the real problem was the small island’s devastated environment. Water was scarce, forcing the desperate inhabitants to fight over resources. So Syarqawi shifted his focus to teaching the island's villagers about conservation.

Now children are taught to protect the environment. They often plant trees. Imams at the local mosque also issue fatwas for planting trees or to make people more aware about climate change.

"In 2010, a conference on climate change was held in Bogor," says Arnez. "Around 250 religious scholars participated and one of the decisions taken was to educate schoolchildren in matters of the environment by especially addressing religious schools."

So far, 900 "eco-pesantren" have been established in Indonesia and they have been actively supported by the government since 2006.

Buddhism is a strong force for preservation

Not only Muslim clerics in Indonesia, but Buddhist monks in Thailand are also doing their bit to fight climate change by campaigning against deforestation. Due to commercial and illegal logging, the rate of deforestation in Thailand is one of the highest in Asia. Most of the primary forests in Thailand are gone, with secondary forests covering roughly 20 percent of the land area.

The so-called "forest monks" of Thailand have been active since the late 1980s and early 1990s. They try to protect every tree they can as they are consider them each a symbol for the famed Bodhi tree, under which the Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment.

The monks create awareness among local villagers by preaching that nature is inhabited by powerful supernatural beings. They say that the forests belong to ancestral spirits and the inappropriate exploitation of forest resources will bring misfortune to the perpetrators and the community as a whole.

Martin Seeger from the University of Leeds says the monks' work is invaluable and that they should work with the government to be "more efficient. Buddhism offers enormous potential in Thailand where so many people have faith and confidence in it. It can be a very strong motivational factor for preserving the environment."

As climate change continues to ravage the planet, all means for raising awareness seem valid.

Author: Aamir Ansari
Editor: Anne Thomas