Hindus criticize ambitious Copenhagen Climate Summit for neglecting world religious leaders

Hindus have strongly criticized non-inclusion of world religious leaders in much-publicized and prestigious “Copenhagen COP 15” United Nations Climate Change Conference of December next.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, emphasized that for successful implementation at the grassroots level of environmental decisions coming out of this Conference, involvement of world religions and their leaders was extremely important.

Currently the Conference sessions are open to government representatives only with United Nations system bodies and accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs), inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) and press as observers.

Without the blessings of leaders of various religions and denominations of the world, the high-flown and ambitious global agreements coming our of such conferences many times were practically reduced to “paper plans” and “sweet talk” in many parts of the world. Involve the faiths and give faith leaders a respectable role to play to achieve concrete results at the ground level and to see effective and smooth implementation of global climate agreements reached at this Conference, Zed suggested.

Rajan Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that religion was the most powerful and far-reaching force in our society and could prove very influential in handling concerns like ecological responsibility. Faiths jointly coming out in support of the environment would be a remarkable signal, he added.

Senseless use of natural resources, extravagance, greed, etc., were some of the major causes of this ecological crisis and these could be effectively dealt with by world religions. Current trend of one percent increase in emissions every year, if left unchecked, would be catastrophic for the environment and humanity, Zed warned.

Rajan Zed pointed out that ancient Hindu scriptures, especially Atharva-Veda, were highly respectful of mother nature..

Conference of the Parties (COP), Fifteenth session, of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to be held at Bella Center in Copenhagen (Denmark) from December 7-18, 2009, will enter into a binding global climate agreement applicable to period after 2012.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion followers and moksha (liberation) is its ultimate goal.