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FAQ Representative Questions, Concerns, and Encouraging Feedback Statements Regarding the IISCCIW On why the IISCCIW initiative is worthwhile and needed... - The issues it addresses are VITAL. - It intends to “build capacity” for policy-makers in Islamic countries, to help them understand the problem [of global warming/climate change] and how to deal with it. - Collective action [re the consequences of global warming/climate change] is desirable, especially from a planning and policy-development perspective. - We need to educate policy- and decision-makers on the implications of global warming/climate change [in the Islamic world because]...Most decision-makers don't have a clue about what it means and what to do about it, be it on the mitigation or the adaptation front. - The first step for the OIC [Organization of Islamic Conference...should be] to decide to get together to reflect on this problem and then decide, amongst themselves, on possible collective action in the short and longer-terms. On appropriate priorities... - [The IISCCIW would] develop...presently almost non-existent...scientific information and policy recommendations that decision-makers and actors in the OIC countries need. - [It is a valuable initiative] because policy people NEED the “products” that the IISCCIW intends to develop/build. On the needed infrastructures and resources... - [The IISCCIW] provides the intellectual leadership and [the] resources to initiate a serious dialogue on the subject [of global warming/climate change, which is a] shared global responsibility, requiring the wide collaboration of all kinds of international actors (including the UN) in addition to governmental and non-governmental entities in the Islamic world. - [The IISCCIW is needed because it] focuses on the unique characteristics and needs of the Islamic world in relation to global warming/climate change. On the need to deal with global warming/climate change NOW... - Other problems will only get EXPONENTIALLY WORSE, when combined with the intensifying consequences of global warming/climate change. - We Muslims...need to address this issue, because no one else will care for us, especially in the present anti-Islamic world. On who should shoulder the responsibility... - Developing countries feel that climate change is caused by Western industrialization and hefty lifestyles, so why they should fix the problem caused by others? - [Regardless of who has caused global warming/climate change, its] HORRIBLE CONSEQUENCES are going to affect everyone on the planet, including the vulnerable Islamic world. On the dangers of not working with others... - [The Islamic world] should be careful not to further ostracize [itself] by dealing with this global problem outside the UN set-up. - Active and wide global collaboration (including with the UN, of course) is a foundational part of the IISCCIW's planning, both theoretically and operationally. - The UN IS SO OVERWHELMED already... [and its] climate change “branch” would need the kind of focus and expertise that the IISCCIW can provide, [especially] in re the unique characteristics and needs of the Islamic world. - The IISCCIW's focus on the “Islamic world” is precisely the kind of collaborative pioneering leadership that the UN's climate change bodies (and others) would appreciate. - [Re global warming/climate change] no entity alone can be expected to deal with its costs exclusively or primarily. Any serious attempt at dealing with [it], including the IISCCIW, needs to keep limitations in mind, theoretically, programatically, and from the standpoint of resource-planning and development. On the greater values of the IISCCIW... - [One of the values of the the IISCCIW] is contributing to sustainable development and the promotion of genuine peace, justice, and stability. - The Islamic world can potentially take a leadership role in the international struggle against global warming and climate change [because] such working together to solve this planetary calamity, a real common ground, could [also] help reduce the negative stigma (and the hostile propaganda) against Islam and Muslims around the world, thus also contributing to interfaith and intercultural dialogue, understanding, and peace on our deeply troubled mother Earth. - The issue of global warming/climate change (and its calamitous effects on our planet) has become the top priority for leaders and organizations, mainly in the “West” (and rightfully so) while unfortunately, we have not seen this critical issue being taken sufficiently seriously in the “Islamic world,” including Asia and Africa. - [The IISCCIW can help] portray a different image of the “Muslim world,” in addition to trying to solve a “common ground” problem of [all] humanity, on our imperiled planet...Given the great contributions of our civilization to science and humanity in the past, we Muslims] must work hard to regain our rightful place on the world stage. - [There is an] almost total lack of innovative initiatives (such as the IISCCIW) within the Islamic world with regards to the threat of global warming/climate change, while this critical planetary issue has moved up the policy agenda across all countries in the Western world. - [For example] in Bangladesh a sea level rise of only 100 centimeters would reduce the country’s land mass by at least 20%, potentially affecting the livelihood of over 100 million people...In [the already food-stressed] Senegal and Mauritania, a decline in rainfall of 20% [as a result of global warming/climate change] would stifle agricultural and food production as much as 50%. - The issue of global warming/climate change is critically practical, as well as being a moral responsibility [also for] we, as Muslims. But, this “common ground” problem is also a historic opportunity to stand in solidarity with a shared moral duty and spiritual purpose, regarding our common bounty: Allah's creation. - [The IISCCIW] is a project in tune with the spirit and teachings of Islam, and it also fits quite harmoniously with the mission of...organizations whose very purpose is to promote socio-economic growth and [sustainable] development in the Islamic world. - The IISCCIW's founder... has worked tirelessly, not only to develop the innovative vision and thought behind the project, but also to gather the interests and participation of some very prominent academic leaders and scholars, in many leading universities around the world. - The “seed capital” for the IISCCIW is insignificant, especially when one considers the major contributions that it can make [working with some of] our planet's most noteworthy scientific and humanitarian institutions, in this hard task.
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