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REPORT 
 

A Report on National Seminar “Ecology, 
Environment and Religions: Key Issues and 
Challenges”  
 

Kanchan Bharati  and Dhananjay Kumar  
 
The relationship between human and environment is one of the 
fundamental and most debated issues in the present day. Human beings are 
an imperative part and manipulators of the ecosystems. The integrity and 
functionality of vital natural assets like forests, lakes, rivers, land etc., are 
increasingly being compromised. Change in environment and ecology is 
more of a moral challenge. It calls us to examine how we use and share the 
goods of the earth, what we pass on to future generations, and how we live 
in harmony with interfaith traditions (Gottlieb 2006). Basically, it deals with 
what human being practices which depend upon their ideology. As Lynn 
White (1967) observed, ―what people do about their ecology depends on 
what they think about themselves in relation to things around them. Human 
ecology is deeply conditioned by beliefs about our nature and destiny—that 
is, by religion‘‘. Due to this epistemological emphasis, ecology and religion 
is an emerging area of study, research, and engagement that embraces 
multiple disciplinary subjects in an attempt to integrate discussions that 
have occurred in largely separate circles (Leal Filho, Dahms, and Consorte-
McCrea 2019).  

So far, discussions organized under the banner of the ecology and religion 
have generally confined in the specialized departments in the western 
universities (Grim and Tucker 2014). Moreover, those are more or less 

                                                           
 Assistant Professor, Centre for Culture and Development (CCD), XTI Campus, Sevasi-
Post, Vadodara-391101. kbharati82@gmail.com 

 Assistant Professor, Centre for Culture and Development (CCD), XTI Campus, Sevasi-

Post, Vadodara-391101. dhananjaykumarnitrkl@gmail.com.  

Copyright © Bharati and Kumar 2020. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0) by the author.  

Published by Indian Society for Ecological Economics (INSEE), c/o Institute of Economic 
Growth, University Enclave, North Campus, Delhi 110007.  

ISSN: 2581-6152 (print); 2581-6101 (web). 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.104  

https://doi.org/10.37773/ees.v3i1.104


Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [162] 

centred on the Eurocentric dialogues. However, scholars, data and field 
material from India have been slow to follow this lead. This is despite its 
being a large sub-continent, with its rich and varied ecologies and cultures, 
and the birthplace of three major and several minor religious traditions. 

To address this gap, the Centre for Culture and Development (CCD), 
Vadodara (Gujarat) with the help of Indian Council of Social Science 
Research (ICSSR) (Mumbai – India) organized a National Seminar on 
‗Ecology, Environment and Religions: Key Issues and Challenges‘ during 
26-27, February 2018. It brought together scholars, experts from different 
disciplinary fields and religious practitioners for two days of informative 
and stimulating discussions. The seminar aimed at examining the 
interrelationship between ecology to the human behaviour through the 
lenses of (i) physical dimension (ii) social dimension and (iii) religious or 
spiritual dimension. 

Well-known water conservationist & environmentalist, also known as 
‗Waterman of India‘, Shri Rajendra Singh, in his keynote address raised a 
significant point on linking the human, ecology and environment by stating 
that unless the community is involved in the conversation of the 
conservation of nature, any concern for environmental preservation is not 
achievable. Dr. Binny Sareen, Regional Director-Global Peace Initiative for 
India, in her guest of Honour address gave a spiritual perspective towards 
maintaining ecological balance and sustainability. Spiritual ecology refers to 
the intersection between religion, spirituality and environment which can 
play an important role in controlling not only the outside world positively 
but also the inner nature.  

The seminar began by focusing on the ‗Ecology and Biodiversity- Human-
Environment Relationship‘ with three presentations. Lancelot D‘Cruz 
emphasized upon the tribal communities, traditional ethnomedicinal 
wisdom and on the need for documenting and using their traditional 
knowledge for biodiversity sustainability and conservation. Deepa Gavali 
argued that communities can help in maintaining ecological biodiversity and 
conservation by preserving important endangered plant species. Arun 
Mahato highlighted how Chhota Nagpur‘s indigenous communities‘ cultural 
practices of festivals had contributory elements of preserving biodiversity. 
The second session focused on the ‗Social Dimension of Ecology: Society-
Environment Relationship‘. Amit Mitra explored the role of markets in 
linking ecology to religion, the consequence of being an imbalance of 
ecological sustainability and negative impact on sacred groves conservation. 
Shashikant Kumar highlighted interweaved nature of urbanization and 
environmental sustainability, focusing on how regional developments 
causes environmental problems. Rohit Prajapati delved on the different 



[163] Kanchan Bharati and Dhananjay Kumar 

 

socio-legal dimension of environmental conservation based on legal cases 
related to development projects with environmental issues. Ramnath K. 
Rao chronicled various debates on environment, development and women 
in ecological discourse.  

The third session focused on ecologically sustainable development through 
some case studies. Emphasizing on environment education for students, 
Jothi Xavier put forwarded a three C‘s initiative for environment teaching 
pedagogy which includes - curiosity, creativity and compassion. Dhananjay 
Kumar‘s theoretical paper discussed humanity‘s impact on the Earth's 
atmosphere and crucial outcome of the dramatic reshaping of the global 
biosphere - like degradation of forests and agriculture, resource depletion, 
public health issues, loss of biodiversity and resilience in ecosystems. Jayesh 
Bhatt remarked about the cases of terrestrial ecosystem loss like habitat 
alteration, invasive species, pollution, population growth and 
overexploitation in the Banni Grassland of Kutch. Mahesh Lakum viewed 
the industry and environmental predicaments from Subaltern lens and 
pointed the lacuna in existing research on environmental degradation with 
the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. 

The last two sessions, four and five, focused on the religious and spiritual 
dimension on ecology: religion-environment relationship. Session four has 
three presentations. Fr. Joseph Mattam presented the concise description 
of Laudato Si by Pope Francis where it was noted that earth is crying 
because of the harm humans have inflicted on her because of the use and 
abuse of the goods. Maulana Mufti Ahmed Devlavi presented some aspects 
of the Islamic perspective on environmental ethics, pointing existence of 
more than 750 verses in the Quran related to nature and conservation. 
Sanjay Rattan highlighted the faith-ecology paradigm of protecting the 
environment. Linking religious groups to conservation he argued that 
religious bodies have the influence and ability to shift one of the main 
drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change. Session five was a panel 
discussion participated by the scholars and religious leaders representing 
their respective academic and spiritual views on religion and environment. 
Through their rigorous discussions, panelists drew our attention to the 
hope of achieving a goal where development, environmental commitment 
and spiritual practices can work together to protect and enhance the quality 
of life on this planet. 

Lastly, Jayesh Shah, Ambassador, Parliament of the World's Religions, in 
his concluding address mentioned that for more than thirty years, the 
world‘s major institutions, scientists, governments and the largest NGO‘s 
have compiled and analyzed details of how we are abusing the planet and 
yet the crisis is with us. Each of the faith traditions has something unique to 



Ecology, Economy and Society–the INSEE Journal [164] 

offer to humanity and earth. The focus thus, should be on the role each of 
the faith traditions could play at the ground level based on the sayings of 
their scriptures or traditions for the conservation and preservation of 
environment and ecology.   

The seminar discussed important questions and concerns for protecting and 
caring of the earth for today and future generations. By bringing people 
from diverse sub-fields of environmental science, ethnoecology, political 
ecology, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, subaltern studies and 
religious tourism studies the seminar had set out in addressing the 
challenges to ecology and environment in our troubled world. It made a 
significant effort for cross-fertilization of ideologies, ideas, methods, 
theories and philosophies of physical, social and spiritual studies.  

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  

We thank our colleague Jayesh Shah, Research Consultant, Centre for 
Culture and Development, who provided insight and expertise that greatly 
assisted the research, although he may not agree with all of the 
interpretations of this paper. We would also like to show our gratitude to 
Lancy Lobo, Director, Centre for Culture and Development, for sharing his 
pearls of wisdom with us. We also thank ―anonymous‖ reviewers for their 
insights.  

 

REFERENCES  

Gottlieb, Roger S. 2006. ―Introduction: Religion and Ecology—What Is the 
Connection and Why Does It Matter?‖ In The Oxford Handbook of Religion and 
Ecology, 11–16. Oxford University Press. 
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.003.0001. 

Grim, John, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. 2014. Ecology and Religion. Washington, D.C.: 
Island Press. 

Leal Filho, Walter, Lena Maria Dahms, and Adriana Consorte-McCrea. 2019. 
―Sustainability and Religion: Past Trends and Future Perspectives.‖ In Sustainability 
and the Humanities, edited by Walter Leal Filho and Adriana Consorte McCrea, 611–
19. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
95336-6_35. 

White, Lynn. 1967. ―The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis.‖ Science 155 
(3767): 1203–7. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203. 

 

 

https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195178722.003.0001
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95336-6_35
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95336-6_35
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.155.3767.1203

