Welcome to F.I.E.L.D.- the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database.

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We must rapidly and intentionally reduce greenhouse gas emissions from urban centres, as well as use every available solution to draw down greenhouse gases already emitted… and here, research and technology hold huge promise to deliver on that reduction if they are championed by inspired and enlightened governments, businesses, and civil society all working together.

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Stewardship of the environment, care for the natural world, sharing of resources, recognition of beauty as a divine blessing, and an environmental ethic are the principles that helped guide the planning of early Muslim cities.

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The Qur’an teaches us that as God’s noblest creation, humankind is entrusted with the stewardship of all that is on Earth, and that each generation must leave for its successors a wholesome and healthy social and physical environment

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As we move away from the welfare state and more toward a civic society, volunteers become more and more important," she said.
"I think there has to be a cultural change which transcends family ties and groups ... as the state takes care of fewer and fewer needs

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The Aga Khan Development Network is a contemporary endeavour of the Ismaili Imamat to realise the social conscience of Islam through institutional action. It brings together, under one coherent aegis, institutions and programmes whose combined mandate is to help relieve society of ignorance, disease and deprivation without regard to the faiths or national origins of people whom they serve.

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Without social responsibility, religiosity is a show of conceit. Islam is, therefore, both din and duniya, spirit and matter, distinct but linked, neither to be forsaken.

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Care of the environment, in its comprehensive meaning, is a duty of trusteeship which humankind owes by virtue of its vicegerency over creation. Each generation of people are described as both “viceroys and successors in the earth”, stewards over its resources for the benefit of all living beings. Profligacy, wastage and acts that corrupt the balanced order of nature, which is a sign of divine beneficence, earn a severe reproach.

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As I believe you all know, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is engaged in an ever-wider set of activities across the Muslim world, and beyond. The work ranges from health and education to media and infrastructure, from finance to manufacturing, from culture to tourism. These efforts are focussed on improving the quality of lives of peoples in myriad regions, from varying backgrounds, and of different faiths.

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As I believe you all know, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is engaged in an ever-wider set of activities across the Muslim world, and beyond. The work ranges from health and education to media and infrastructure, from finance to manufacturing, from culture to tourism. These efforts are focussed on improving the quality of lives of peoples in myriad regions, from varying backgrounds, and of different faiths.

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“Ah!” said Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah sometimes, “is there anything so poetic and beautiful as a man riding a beautiful horse, riding it to perfection; the man and the horse like a centaur, carved out as one?”

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“Racing was totally foreign to my education and upbringing. But it had been a family tradition for three generations and no other relation could keep up the racing establishment. For me the two questions were: Could I find time – racing is time consuming – and could I maintain the level of success? There was no sense in keeping up a family tradition if it was going to decline into insignificance. After six months of difficult decision-making, I decided to go on.”

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Along the Kenyan coast, we will plant over 500 acres of mangroves with local communities to enable carbon sequestration and encourage new forms of environmentally conscious, community-based development. In Kenya alone, we have planted over 12 million trees in the last years.

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Today, you will hear how temperatures in Africa are rising and are set to rise faster than the global average during the 21st century. You will also hear that while Africa has contributed negligibly to the changing climate, being responsible for only two to three percent of global emissions, it stands out disproportionately as the most vulnerable continent in the world to climate change – a vulnerability exacerbated by the continent’s prevailing low levels of socio-economic growth.

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We can keep a fundamental fact in mind as we go about our lives and make our choices. Namely, global warming is real and less warming is better. Recognition of that bedrock reality underlies the commitment of the Aga Khan Development Network, including AKU, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

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Witnessing this devastation first-hand over the course of several decades has brought home to me the consequences of a warming world and of human thoughtlessness. My experience with the natural world has taught me many things, but if I had to single out the most important, it might be this; nature – its abundance, diversity and health – is fragile. If we do not protect it from our depredations, we will destroy it. And that would constitute both an immense injustice to the species at hand and an incalculable loss to humanity.

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Addressing global warming is a complex endeavor. It must involve consideration of technical issues, trade-offs and competing considerations. In other words, we need to take a systemic view. Above all, we must ensure that our efforts do not come at the expense of those who have contributed the least to the problem and those who can least afford to pay the bill: the poorest and most vulnerable.

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We can keep a fundamental fact in mind as we go about our lives and make our choices. Namely, global warming is real and less warming is better. Recognition of that bedrock reality underlies the commitment of the Aga Khan Development Network, including AKU, to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

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But just as important as the academic tools with which the academy will equip its students, are the values they will strengthen here. Indeed, another one of the Aga Khan strands interwoven into the IB curriculum is that of ethics. Ethics are taught here not just in theory, but put into practice in elements of service and of leadership in the student's daily lives. The Aga Khan Academies intend for their graduates not to be good at subjects only, but good as individuals

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Every year, businesses from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries pay huge amounts to win friends, influence and contracts. These bribes are conservatively estimated at $80 billion a year, roughly the amount that the United Nations has suggested is needed to eradicate global poverty. The trade in banned animal products is second only to that in illegal narcotics, and has become a lucrative and low-risk sideline for international crime syndicates

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Sustainable use of marine resources means killing whales and sustainable use of native wildlife has created a multi-million dollar bushmeat industry, particularly in Africa. Those who believe in it hope to convince impoverished Africans and Asians not to kill wildlife for the equivalent of several years’ wages, while rich European and American trophy hunters kill the same animals for fun.


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