Muslims have joined in the quest for more meaningful and effective environmental governance in Mindanao. On November 23, 2006 in Zamboanga City, the Deputy Grand Mufti for Mindanao and Palawan, with some Muslim leaders in the local governments, the academe, and DENR-ARMM, participated in a final review of the sourcebook on environmental governance, developed by the Philippine Environmental Governance Project (EcoGov).

The sourcebook, entitled Al Khalifa, or the steward, intends to bring environmental governance to the Muslim communities in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, or ARMM, as well as in other non-ARMM provinces. It highlights the formulae of transparency, accountability and participation in good governance, as found in the Quran, and as embodied in the Shariah, or the Divine Law for Muslims. The sunnah and hadith of the Prophet, or the prophetic acts and sayings, complement the source of the Islamic authority on the subject.

The sourcebook also contains technical approaches on environmental management, specifically on forests and forestlands, coastal and marine resources, and solid and water waste control. The Quran explains these approaches in terms of God’s assignment to man as His steward, or Khalifa, of His Creation.

The consultation for final review of the sourcebook, by the select group of religious and political leaders, civic society members and the academe also confirms the need for such a reference material on Islamic management of the environment, with focus on the ethical reasons for ecological concerns. The participants welcomed this endeavor and assured to give their support for the dissemination of the sourcebook in Muslim communities at the grassroots level. The Grand Mufti is expected to endorse the finalized sourcebook before it is pilot-tested. It is believed that this sourcebook is the first of its kind in the country.

...top