Global Peace Initiative of Women Convenes Environmental Conference at United Nations (UNEP-KENYA)

Online, February 29, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The Global Peace Initiative of Women announced today the agenda for its 10th anniversary conference in Nairobi, Kenya. More than 300 women religious leaders, community leaders, environmentalists and advocates from around the world will convene on March 2, 2012 at the United Nations Environmental Programme headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya to consider Awakening the Healing Heart - how civil society, especially women and religious leaders, can mobilize awareness and action to respond to the current environmental crisis.

Reverend Joan Brown Campbell, GPIW Chair, and former director of the U.S. Office of the World Council of Churches, said, "We at the Global Peace Initiative of Women are privileged to be in Kenya with so many inspiring faith and community leaders to assess how our perspective can contribute to environmental healing and provide new solutions for sustainable development."

The Global Peace Initiative of Women conference is organized in partnership with the Gallmann Memorial Foundation/ Gallmann Africa Conservancy, with support from Shinnyo-en, the Fetzer Institute, and the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association.

Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations will open the conference with a special address. Sessions, throughout the March 2-6 conference, will focus on how to heal conflict, social tensions and environmental degradation by cultivating a deeper understanding of the rights of Nature, human interdependence and interconnectedness with nature and each other. With women and children bearing the brunt of conflict, poverty and the environmental crisis, there will be a special emphasis on the role of women in sustainable development.

"We need to create the collective will for action. There is a deep connection between the conflicts of the world today and the degradation of the natural world. There are serious moral consequences to these issues and religious communities have a responsibility to assume leadership," said Dena Merriam, founder and convener of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

On March 3rd, delegates will travel to Ol Ari Nyiro, the Laikipia Nature Conservancy on the edge of the Rift Valley, to craft a shared agenda and commitment to mobilizing faith communities to heal and protect the environment. A major focus of the gathering will be the offering of the first-ever Fire and Water ceremony in Africa. This powerful ancient Buddhist tradition will unite people across the tribal divide, men and women, elders and youth, artists, peacemakers and environmentalists from Kenya and around the world, to celebrate Mother Nature and awaken spiritual healing. Bringing religious and civil society leaders to the United Nations and then the Cradle of Humanity in Kenya has a symbolic significance, and it will serve as a far-reaching reminder of what is at stake. One of the most pressing environmental challenges facing Africa at this time is the loss of forests and wildlife to poachers.

"We in Africa are continuing to lose our elephants and Rhino to poachers. This is a serious tragedy that we must take collective and urgent action to reverse. We need everyone - globally - on board. Spiritual and religious leaders can reach millions with their message. The wild creatures need their voice," said conservationist Kuki Gallmann, founder of the Gallmann Memorial Foundation/Gallmann Africa Conservancy.
Awakening the Healing Heart will bring together representatives from all the major faith traditions and civil society from 28 countries, including H.H. Shinso Ito, head priest of Shinnyo-en, Japan; Dr. Sekagya Yahaya, traditional leaders and leader, Uganda; Rev. Dr. Celestin Musekura, founder of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries, Rwanda/USA; Ms. Wang Yongchen, founder of Green Earth Volunteers, China; and Dr. Corneille Ewango, ecologist and Goldman Environmental Prize recipient, Congo; Dr. Sakeena Yacoobi, founder of Afghan Institute of Learning, Afghanistan and Dr. Agnes Aboum, presidential appointee, Judicial Service Commission of Kenya, among many others.

This unprecedented gathering of religious leaders in Kenya precedes the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012. An international delegation from the Global Peace Initiative of Women conference will form a core part of the faith component in Brazil. Plans are being made to carry forth the message from the group to the global stage at the Rio+20 Summit.

Over the past ten years, the Global Peace Initiative of Women has worked to mobilize civil society to transform communities. Under the leadership of women, their international network has brought creative and innovative energies to guide peace-building dialogues and healing to communities in conflict and post-conflict countries, such as Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan. The environmental crisis has created new urgency within faith communities to safeguard the manifold communities of life on Earth. The gathering in Kenya aims to amplify their efforts and build the global consciousness around the collective ethical and moral responsibilities of sustainable development.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact Brianne Chai-Onn at chaionnb@gpiw.org or +254-70-796-1117. RSVP is required by March 1.
Local transportation to UNEP and lunch provided. Laikipia transport, accommodations and board provided. Space is limited.
Access to the live webcast of the conference in Laikipia at http://www.media-server.com/m/p/8nhtau2u

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The Global Peace Initiative of Women (www.gpiw.org) was founded to help awaken and mobilize spiritual energies in places of great need with the goal of aiding in healing and unifying the world community. GPIW facilitates this by seeking to gather together those of great insight, wisdom, compassion and dedication, many of whom are working quietly for the upliftment of the world. A major focus of GPIW's work is to aid in building a global network of contemplative leaders who through their inner work can help transform the causes and conditions that lead to suffering at both the individual and collective level.

The Gallmann Africa Conservancy (www.gallmannkenya.org) is a non- profit charitable organization created by Kuki Gallmann to honour the memory of Paolo Gallmann and Emanuele Pirri- Gallmann -her husband and son- who both died tragically in Africa. The Gallmann Africa Conservancy promotes the coexistence of people and nature in Africa through harmonizing the protection and the creative sustainable and ecological utilization of the natural resources. Operating in Ol ari Nyiro, West Laikipia, Northern Kenya, the Conservancy aims to make Ol ari Nyiro an example of this conservation principle. In addition to environmental protection, anti-poaching, biodiversity, wildlife, educational, cultural and artistic projects, the Conservancy is active in reconciliation, peace and sport gatherings, and poverty alleviation through job creation, public health care, and other services.