Faith, values & climate action must complement science in age of adaptation: Dr Adil Najam

ISLAMABAD (News Desk): President of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Dean Emeritus and Professor, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University, Prof Dr Adil Najam, has said that climate change can no longer be addressed through science and economics alone, and thus integration of faith, ethics and values into climate discourse and action is the need of hour in this ‘Age of Adaptation’.

He was delivering a special lecture, titled: Faith and Climate Change in the Age of Adaptation’, here on Tuesday organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). The lecture was moderated by Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, who underscored the relevance of the topic amid the deepening global climate crisis and stressed the need to balance adaptation with mitigation, while encouraging debate on faith and science beyond politics.

Dr Najam described faith and climate change a difficult but necessary conversation, noting that a growing body of international literature now recognizes the limits of purely technocratic responses. “There are clear indications that our efforts towards climate resilience are not succeeding. Climate is no longer a future issue; it is a local and visible one,” he said, citing record global temperatures, including the hottest year on record in 2020 and unprecedented surface air temperatures recorded since July 2023.

He highlighted the WWF’s pioneering role as among the oldest organizations to initiate structured work on belief systems and climate change, including joint research conducted at Oxford University and Boston University. He argued that if climate change is fundamentally a behavioural problem, then reluctance to address it through faith-based frameworks needs serious rethinking.

“The Age of Adaptation has arrived because mitigation has not happened on time,” Prof Najam said, adding that adaptation becomes necessary when mitigation fails, while loss and damage represents the failure of adaptation itself. He cautioned that no credible science today could guarantee limiting global temperature rise below 1.5°C, stressing that mitigation remains essential to avert catastrophic impacts even as societies adapt.

Prof Najam challenged environmentalists’ hesitation to engage with religion, referencing longstanding debates on morality and environmental stewardship. He said that while early IPCC reports were firmly science-driven and later linked climate action to economic incentives, moral values are an equally powerful driver of human behaviour. “Religion, including Islam, contains rich environmental ethics, and empirical evidence shows faith can influence behavior,” he said.

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He outlined seven core concepts relevant to climate adaptation drawn on Islamic principles: balance (Meezan), trust (Waqf), avoidance of waste (Israaf), conservation of natural landscapes (Heema), stewardship (Khilafat), justice (Adal), and harmony with nature (Fitra). He argued these principles align closely with modern environmental policy goals such as better economics, institutional innovation, efficient natural resource management, climate justice and reduced waste.

Prof Najam cited the example of ablution (wudu) amid illustrating faith-based behavioural change, performed by billions of Muslims daily. While average water use ranges between 3.5 to 10 liters per ablution. He noted that one-third to half of this water goes unused, contrasting it with the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) practice of performing ablution with just 0.66 liters. He also pointed to emerging models of Islamic green finance, particularly in Malaysia, and emphasized the role of local green financing and waste reduction as national priorities.

During the question-and-answer session, Prof Najam highlighted growing international initiatives such as UNEP’s Faith for Earth Initiative and increasing youth focus on values-driven climate action. He clarified that faith-based approaches are not a substitute for state policy or international mitigation commitments, but can play a crucial role at the national and individual levels by shaping behavior. “Internationally, mitigation remains the responsibility of nations; nationally, especially in Pakistan, we must also work with individuals and communities,” he said.

He concluded by noting that religion remains a major social constituency globally, including in the United States, and while faith, values and ethics are complex and sometimes emotive, they offer an underutilized pathway for strengthening environmental conservation alongside law, infrastructure, technology and governance.