Last week members of ISKCON, took part in the conference on Biological Diversity (COP15) to the United Nations (UN), being held in Montreal, Canada, December 7-19th. The conference’s goals are to discuss protection planning of the natural world by international governments and interested parties for the next decade.

ISKCON members presenting at the conference were: Gopal Lila das UN Co-chair of the UN Multifaith Advisory Council, and Rasa Bhakti dasi, Gauranga das both from the Govardhan Eco Village (GEV) project in India, and Anuttama das, Global Minister of ISKCON Communications.

“This one of the important initiatives within ISKCON today is the ISKCON environmental initiative. It’s important that every temple and the assesses their own practice is to assure we’re acting, and purchasing, and teaching in a sustainable way,” said Anuttama das.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was first signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Its main objectives are the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of biological diversity, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, states the COP15 website.

Gopal Lila das and Gauranga das sitting on a panel discussion with other members of faith and community groups in the interfaith network sessions.

One panel discussed ISKCON’s eco-community projects around the world and consisted of Ras Bhakti Devi (dasi) (Dr. Aditi Mishal) of GEV, who did extensive research and presented that ISKCON today has 64 rural eco-communities. Gauranga das, and Anuttama das spoke about these communities with highlights on the GEV, Krishna Valley (Hungary), the eco-communities in Brazil, and New Vrndavan, and Gita Nagari in the US to name a few. They also discussed the value of the vision of Srila Prabhupada towards “simple, living, and higher thinking”, as a framework as well as the need for religious and spiritual leaders to speak out on environmental issues, to promote a deeper philosophical and spiritual underpinning of our global efforts to protect the planet.

This is the first year that the interfaith group had such a large presence, which was coordinated largely by Gopal Lila das, who is additionally the head of Bhumi, global, an organization, focused on helping to promote sustainability within Hindu temples in the broader Hindu communities worldwide.

In the video, Gopal Lila das reminds all ISKCON members to take action in their own individual ways towards being active in caring for the environment. 

Learn more about the ISKCON Environmental Initiative: https://iskconenvironment.org/  or the Bhumi Project: https://jliflc.com/organizations/the-bhumi-project/  by visiting their websites.