The Bahu Trust has accreditation to the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) of UN Environment and has been awarded ‘Observer Status’ to the Assembly and its subsidiary bodies.

The United Nations Environment Assembly is the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment. It addresses the critical environmental challenges facing the world today and the Bahu Trust’s input into their work will be from the perspective of the Quran and Sunnah. You can learn more about the UNEA on this link: http://web.unep.org/environmentassembly/

As a faith based organisation and as a mosque, this is obviously very good news for us and a symbol of honour. It is also a recognition of the work that we have been doing in promoting the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah in protecting our environment, weI believe that we are the only mosque-based organisation in the world with this accreditation.

Accreditation is the main entry point for major groups and stakeholders into policy dialogue at the United Nations. In the process leading up to sessions of the United Nations Environmental Assembly of UN Environment, the Bahu Trust will attend the assembly and have the opportunity:

1. To receive unedited working documents of the United Nations Environment Assembly at the same time as the Committee of the Permanent Representatives

2. To participate in the public Meetings of the Committee of Permanent Representatives, the Assembly and the Global Major Groups and Stakeholders Forum, an associated meeting of the UN Environment Assembly (including via tele- or video conference).

3. To attend the plenary sessions of the Committee of the Whole and the Ministerial Consultations as observers and to exchange views and interact with Governments present

4. To circulate written statements to Governments, in the form of information documents through the UN Environment secretariat; and

5. To make oral statements during the discussions of the United Nations Environmental Assembly of UN Environment.

The Faith for Earth Initiative

The Bahu Trust works very closely with the United Nations Environment Programme faith initiative. Following a series of initiatives and conventions organized in partnership with faith-based organizations, UN Environment launched the Faith for Earth Initiative in November 2017. The goal of Faith for Earth is to strategically engage with faith-based organizations and partner with them to collectively achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and fulfill the objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

Faith for Earth has three main goals: to inspire and empower faith organizations and their leaders to advocate for protecting the environment, to green faith-based organizations’ investments and assets to support the implementation of SDGs, and to provide them with knowledge and networks to enable their leaders to effectively communicate with decision-makers and the public.