"Reflect upon the inner realities of the universe, the secret wisdoms involved, the enigmas, 
the inter-relationships, the rules that govern all. 
For every part of the universe is connected to every other part by ties that are very powerful 
and admit no imbalance, nor any slackening whatsoever" 

-'Abdu'l-Bahá-
 

FROM THE EDITOR

 
Friends, the fall newsletter is here with information about:
The 7th Annual IEF Conference, 
The 5th Ramsar Wetlands Site in Honduras, 
The Bahá'í International Community at the European Parliament.

Please send us contributions about environmental issues in your country which may be published in future issues of LEAVES. I hope that you will enjoy this issue of LEAVES and remain with warmest greetings. 

- Dr. Bettina Moser (for the LEAVES team) 

You are invited to attend the 7th Annual Conference of the International Environment Forum (IEF). This conference will be held in association with the Bahá'í Conference on Social and Economic Development for the Americas (SED) and the pre-Conference Bahá'í Development Seminar for experienced practitioners.

This conference supports the efforts of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly and other Bahá'í institutions to raise awareness in the community of the connections between the Bahá'í teachings and sustainable development, and to inspire actions accordingly. Since the 1992 Earth Summit, "sustainable development" has become the term used to describe the process of addressing the world¹s challenges holistically by integrating environmental, economic and social goals. Toward that end, beginning in 2005, the UN will launch the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

Programme highlights include:

SPECIAL GUEST PLENARY SPEAKER -- Gary Gardner (Director of Research, Worldwatch Institute) will speak on "Engaging Religion in the Quest for a Sustainable World," the title of his chapter in "State of the World 2003."

WORKSHOPS will 
-- Help participants understand the motivation behind the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2015) and the importance of working toward sustainability; 
-- Examine the relationship between the Bahá'í teachings and principles of sustainable development; 
-- Explore how green building principles can be applied in our community; 
-- Foster the development of learning materials for the Bahá'í community (and the community at large) to encourage sustainable development awareness and action in all arenas. 
-- Help to develop emerging national Bahá'í initiatives in Canada and the U.S. for sustainable development education

For full details, please visit the web site of The International Environment Forum 
www.bcca.org/ief/conf7.htm(conference invitation) 
www.bcca.org/ief/conf7prg.htm. (conference program)

TO REGISTER for the conference use the SED conference registration form at www.rabbanitrust.org/reg_form.htmand check the box that says you will attend the International Environment Forum Conference. No special invitation is required to attend IEF sessions.

NOTE: Most sessions of the IEF Conference will be held on December 17 & 18, so it would be best to plan to arrive the evening of the 16th.

For hotel, flight and other information see the SED conference page www.rabbanitrust.org/bahai_sed_conference.htm

Our tradition to always have an electronic version of the annual IEF conference will be kept also this year. However, because the physical conference will have a very interactive format with hardly any traditional 'lectures' there will be no papers available to discuss for the electronic conference. Instead we plan to organise a three week electronic conference preceding the physical one. The objective will be to explore how the IEF could contribute to the United Nations Decade for Education on Sustainable Development which will be launched in 2005. An announcement for the electronic conference will be sent out separately.

Bayan, a Bahá'í inspired NGO in Honduras has been working for over 3 years on a participatory conservation and management plan for the important (both for livelihoods and biodiversity) 

Bacalar Estuary on the north coast of Honduras. Last month the area was nominated a Ramsar wetlands site, the 5th in Honduras. This was basically all due to Bayan's efforts. A nice summary of the ceremony with the awards including photos can be found on the website of "Honduras This Week" - the English speaking weekly newspaper of Honduras (http://www.marrder.com/htw/special/environment/ ; June 2003 edition ).

The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty, which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. There are presently 136 Contracting Parties to the Convention, with 1288 wetland sites, totaling 108.9 million hectares, designated for inclusion in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

Bayan (www.bayan-hn.org) also has a very successful rural education programme called SAT - System of Tutorial Learning - which has been running since 1996, supported by BASED-UK (Baha'i Agency for Social and Economic Development of the UK) and CBIDS (Canadian Baha'i Institute for Development?) with grants from DFID, CIDA, etc. and a hospital which dates from 1986. There is now an excellent professionally made video of SAT which can be obtained from CBIDS, also one of FUNDAEC, Colombia. 

The Bahá'í International Community Office of Public Information in Paris organized a very successful exhibition in the main lobby of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, on 10-13 June 2003. Many European Parliamentarians and staff members stopped by the exhibit and attended a reception and lecture associated with it. The focus was on efforts by Bahá'ís and Bahá'í-inspired organizations to apply spiritual principles to practical problems. 

IEF was featured on one panel on "Environment and Development" that we helped to design, and a photograph from our joint seminar with the European Bahá'í Business Forum (EBBF) at the World Summit on Sustainable Development was featured on another panel. A beautiful brochure with the text of the exhibit was distributed, including the coordinates of IEF for those who wanted to know more. 

Arthur Dahl spoke as President of IEF on "Spiritual Dimensions of Sustainable Development" at a large public meeting at the Baha'i Centre in Brussels during the exposition, attended by over 100 people including leading members of the Belgian Academy of Sciences such as Professor Philippe Bourdeau, and by Nadine Gouzee, the senior official in the Belgian Government responsible for sustainable development and Chair of the last Commission on Sustainable Development. The event gave IEF a lot of publicity. 

The exposition will be repeated at the Seat of the European Parliament in Strasburg next January. For more information on the exhibit see www.onecountry.org/e151/e151fnl.pdf

Jimmy Seow, IEF member from Australia would like to exchange ideas with Bahá'ís who have experience in pollution response and control. Dr. Seow is a senior official with the Department of the Environment, Western Australia where he leads the section for pollution response and control for the whole state. His team responds to environmental incidents and accidents just like a 'swat' team to control, advise, mitigate and manage environmental pollution, and collect samples and monitor for evidence to prosecute the culprit. The team uses high-tech equipment (such as like wireless technology and latest instrumentation technology) to collect, sample and relay information and data. This work enjoys great publicity as the media are following the team around on major incidents with their cameras.

The General Secretary, Sylvia Karlsson, has moved from Germany to USA but the IEF email address will always reach her. However, the Board has decided that the postal address will be moved to Geneva, care of the President, Arthur Dahl. The new IEF address is: