This book explores the intersection of indigenous wisdom, spiritual traditions, and ecological sustainability. It brings together diverse perspectives from scholars and practitioners, highlighting how ancient spiritual practices foster environmental stewardship. Covering themes like sacred ecology, ritual-based conservation, and ethical living, this book demonstrates how traditional beliefs can promote harmony with nature. By bridging spirituality and sustainability, it offers valuable lessons for addressing modern ecological crises.

Ideal for researchers, environmentalists, and spiritual custodians, including traditional knowledge holders and faith leaders, this book is a vital resource for understanding the role of cultural heritage in creating a sustainable future. Themes explored include the spiritual connection between humans and nature in indigenous traditions, how religious ceremonies and practices promote environmental protection, moral teachings rooted in traditional worldviews that encourage sustainable living, and the integration of belief systems with ecological activism.

Drawing on contributions from every inhabited continent, the book offers a uniquely global perspective on the intersections of spirituality, culture, and sustainability.

Highlights the role of traditional spirituality in environmental stewardship Integrates social, cultural, and ecological perspectives on sustainability Presents case studies and insights from every inhabited continent Brings together interdisciplinary contributions from scholars, community practitioners and traditional knowledge holders

Autorentext

Johannes M. Luetz is Professor of Sustainability and Religion at Alphacrucis University College (AC), Brisbane, Australia, specialising in research that examines ecological concerns from spiritual perspectives. He has lived and worked across countries and continents and conducts interdisciplinary research at the science-faith, interfaith, and science-policy interface. He is based in Brisbane and serves AC's Graduate Research School as its Director of Graduate Research and Research Development and as the AC Chair of Research Ethics. As an interdisciplinary social scientist, Johannes has affiliations with the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), where he is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences, and with the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC Maroochydore), where he is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law and Society.

Walter Leal Filho is a Senior Professor and Head of the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is the initiator of the Word Sustainable Development Symposia (WSSD-U) series, and chairs the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme. Professor Leal Filho has written, co-written, edited or co-edited more than 800 publications, including books, book chapters and papers in refereed journals.

Patrick D. Nunn is Professor of Geography and Director of the Sustainability Research Cluster at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. He is also Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. He has almost 400 published outputs, most within the past two decades focused on livelihood sustainability in rural Asia-Pacific contexts. His parallel interest in understanding the scientific meaning of ancient 'stories' has featured research in Australia, Europe and India and resulted in three books.

Inhalt

Traditional Spirituality and Sustainability: Global Perspectives.- Building on Synergies: Harnessing Indigenous Worldviews for Customary Land Governance in North-Western Ghana.- The Role of African Traditional Religion in the Attainment of Sustainable Development Goal 15 in Botswana: A Review of the Literature.- Totem, Taboos, and Sacred Places: An Analysis of the Yorùbá Tribe with Environmental Conservation and Management Practices in Southwest Nigeria.- Traditional Spirituality and Sustainability: Interrogating the Place of Ota Spring in Ikorodu, a Coastal African Community.- Water Spirituality, Community Engagement and Social Change in Yorubaland, Southwestern Nigeria.- How the San People of Southern Africa Use Their Indigenous Knowledge for Ecological Sustainability.- Spirituality and Sustainable Water Use: Insights from Wetland Conservation Practices in Southern Africa.- Interweaving Spirituality and Sustainability: Indigenous Pathways to Transformation in India's Tribal Communities.- Sacred Springs and Magical Waters: Influences of Animism on the Sustainable Uses (Sake Brewing & Papermaking Industries) of Springwater in Japan.- The Mosque as Catalyst for Sustainability Communication and Practices in Malaysia.- Not God-Forsaken: A Trinitarian Reply to the Settler-Colonial Narrative in Australia.- The Role of Accountability in Preserving Spirituality and Nature: The Case of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.- Story-Making: Engagement as Life in the Northern Australian Yolu and Christian Traditions.- Spiritual Beliefs and Cultural Protocols Regarding Submerged Lands in the Pacific Islands: Significance and Implications for Sustainability.- Whose Right to Exist? The Challenge of Evangelicalism to Self-Determination and Indigenous Spirituality Across the Pacific.- Learnings From the Intercultural Understanding Partnerships (ICUP) Program for Developing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives Within School Culture and Curriculum in Australia.- Toward a Spiritual Pedagogy in Tertiary Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Courses.- Working Together: The Significance of Protocols for Engagement Between Indigenous Peoples and Universities.- Using Creative Methodologies to Assist Christians to Embrace Creation Care.- Mori Christology, Theology, and Sustainability.- Human-Nature Interrelationship in Wonder Tales of the European Tradition.- The HumanForest Relationship in Lithuania: History Meets the Future.- Water, Weather and Winter: Activating and Ritualizing Growth Forces in Historic Scandinavia.- Of Anglican Christianity, Science and Sustainability.- Contributions of Celtic Spirituality to Sustainability.- Water Heritage: Traditions and Sustainability in Portugal.- An Investigation Into the Connection Between Spirituality and Sustainability: A Case Study of St. Francis Farm Community.- Is Spirituality the Missing Component of Sustainable Development?.- The Snail and the Bison: Stories of Biodiversity in Banff National Park.- Vanilla in Totonacapan: A History of Indigenous Adaptation to Climate Change Through the Exchange of Knowledge Applied as Sustainable Development.- Baniwa Chilli Pepper: Indigenous Spirituality, Socio-Bioeconomy, and Sustainability.- Perceptions About Spirituality and Sustainability in the View of Managers of Brazilian Organizations.- Indigenous Agroecologies as Spiritual Frameworks of Sustainable Food Systems in the Anthropocene.- Towards a More Holistic Sustainability: Animal Sentience and Spiritual Potential.- Extinction, Epistemology, and EcogogyKnowing, Learning, and Loving in a Diminishing World.