Assisi - a sacred city, a place of pilgrimage and a centre for dialogue between believers
of many different faiths – was the setting for a recent interfaith meeting bringing
together representatives of the world’s major religious traditions with leading environmental
experts. The Alliance of Religions and Conservation, ARC, was set up by the World
Wildlife fund as a way of combing the ancient wisdom of the world’s great religions
and the latest environmental technology. A rather unlikely alliance, you might
think, yet since its foundation 25 years ago, it has made surprising progress persuading
religious and civic authorities to work together for the benefit of future generations.
That’s why, a quarter of a century on from their fist meeting in Assisi, ARC was back
in the Umbrian hill town at the beginning of November to launch its latest initiative
– a green pilgrimage network of shrines and cities across the globe. To find out more,
Philippa Hitchen spoke with Martin Palmer, secretary general of ARC and one of its
founding members: