Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Concern for the natural environment, including appropriate management of natural resources, is rightly regarded as crucial to the development prospects of the developing world. ‘Ensure environmental sustainability’ is one of the MDGs, announced in 2000. For Mitchell and Tanner, the natural environment is defined as including all natural features of land, water, flora and fauna that support human life and influence its development and character (Mitchell and Tanner 2002: 1). In recent years, religious networks have played a growing role with regard to the interaction of humans with nature and the environmental issues that inevitably arise (Coward and Maguire 2000, 2002). Each of the world religions focused upon in this book has recently developed their environmental positions. For example there is ‘ecotheology’ in Christianity and ‘Islamic environmentalism’ while, in addition, both Hinduism and Buddhism have recently articulated religiously-based critiques of environmental damage and how to improve environmental sustainability (Ammar 1995; Narayanan 2000). One result is the growth in the numbers of religiously-based environmental NGOs in the developing world. In summary, these developments have made both nature and the environment new, cutting-edge topics in many religious worldviews.