The two-day conference on Islam and the environment that was held in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 6 and 7, concluded by declaring a Muslim seven-year-action plan on climate change. The plan was culminated by the establishment of MACCA, the Muslim Associations for Climate Change Action, which will act as an umbrella organisation to monitoring the action plan and following up with its implementation. The conference was attended by around 200 Muslim scholars, experts, and representatives of Islamic civil society organizations, as well as representatives of ministries of environment and Awqaf endowment of many Islamic countries, such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Morocco, Indonesia, Senegal, Turkey, etc.
Dr. Youssef Al-Qaradawi, president of International Union of Muslim Scholars, lent his support to Muslims convened in Istanbul. The plan, drawn up by Earth Mates Dialogue Centre (EMDC), an NGO based in the UK, implies establishing institutional enabling framework, developing overall capacity to deal with climate change and environmental conservation, developing and enhancing communication, outreach and partnerships, activating and reviving implementation of previous initiatives, plans, and declarations.
The Muslim action plan and its declaration in Istanbul is part of what Olav Kjorven, the Assistant General Secretary of the UNDP, has called, “The biggest civil society movement on climate change in history”. “The role of Islam”, he said, “could be one of the decisive factors tipping the planet towards a sustainable future. This commitment, he continued, in Istanbul to a low carbon future can be of historic significance in the path to resolving climate change and other pressing environmental issues”.
MUSLIM WOMAN LEADS WORLD SCIENCE JOURNALISTS
Dr. Nadia El-Awady, former managing editor of IslamOnline.net’s Health & Science Section, has become the first Muslim woman to lead the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ). “I want to hear from you as to how we can serve you better,” Awady told the assembly meeting of the board of the federation. Egypt-born Awady was acclaimed WFSJ president during the biannual World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ), held last week in London.
It is customary that the prestigious position goes to a science journalist representing the host country of the next WCSJ. Cairo was declared the venue of the next WCSJ after a successful co-bid by the Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA) and the American National Association of Science Writers (NASW). They defeated three other strong bids from Kenya, Uganda, and Finland. Awady is co-directing the team responsible for putting together the upcoming WCSJ in Cairo in 2011.
Awady said that during her presidency, she wants to focus on areas of the world that so far have not had strong support from the WFSJ, such as Russia. She promised to continue and expand on a successful twinning training programme launched a few years ago, which twinned a professional science journalist from the West with one from Africa or Southern Asia.
Awady has been serving as of the WFSJ’s board treasurer since 2007, becoming the first Muslim elected as a member of the board. She is past president and founding member of the Arab Science Journalists Association. She was a staff writer in IslamOnline.net from April 2000 until July 2008, writing many articles in English and Arabic on a variety of issues. She founded IslamOnline.net’s Health & Science Section in 2002 and ran the section until June 2006.Awady served as IOL deputy editor in chief from September 2005 until June 2006. She became Director of Outreach and Cooperation for Media International, which operates IslamOnline.net, in July 2006 and served in the post for two years.