IEF 29th Annual Conference

Building Capacity for Sustainability Discourse and Action

At the Baha’i Training Centre near Oxford, UK
26 - 29 June, 2025

After a series of virtual annual conferences, the International Environment Forum was excited to invite local friends as well as people from other countries to this in-person conference!

The majority of participants came from the UK, but there were also representatives from Austria, Belize, Bosnia Herzegovina, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, and Yemen. The total number of participants was 65, with 38 staying for the entire conference. The pictures shows most participants present on Friday afternoon.

The IEF expresses its gratitude to Wendi Momen who spent the whole time in the kitchen serving as the chief cook (thanks for the tasty and healthy vegetarian meals!), to Kian Golestani who assisted her, and to Moojan Momen who managed the Café. Special thanks also go to the wonderful custodians of the Baha'i Training Centre Manijeh and David Smith.

The International Environment Forum appreciates its conference co-sponsors: ebbf-Ethical Business Building the Future and National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO).

This video clip (1:16) captures the spirit of the conference (thanks to Isabella Djalili-Devine).

The program included study sessions, discussions, outdoor activities, and a hybrid panel. It was a weekend of reflection, collaboration, and action—where science, values, and community came together for a sustainable future. 
You can watch the opening presentation here: Today's Environmental Challenges

Hybrid Panel Saturday, 28 June

You can read more about the hybrid panel about Motivating Transformative Change here: https://iefworld.org/conf29-1

Conference programme outline

Nature Walk

Participants much enjoyed the walk at Whitecross Green Woods. The weather was beautiful, and the guide pointed out interesting native plants.

Conference Concept

At a time when the forces of disintegration, including the triple environmental crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, are threatening people everywhere, the world-wide Bahá’í community is working at the grass roots to strengthen forces of integration, bringing people together for unity in diversity. The 29th annual conference of the International Environment Forum aimed to contribute to these efforts toward building a world where we live in harmony with nature and with each other. The primary tools we explored for this purpose were social action and public discourse.

The International Environment Forum is a Bahá’í-inspired professional organisation for the environment and sustainability that has, over many years, gathered knowledge and created materials to build capacity for taking part in both social action and public discourse, demonstrating the complementarity of scientific and spiritual approaches in addressing environmental issues. The 29th annual conference focused on sharing and further developing this knowledge together with participants in support of the goals of the present plan of the worldwide Bahá’í community.

In social action, communities read their local reality and needs, set their own priorities within the resources available, and initiate actions to improve life in their community. This could be a group of young people engaging in an environmental clean-up, or some neighbours starting a community garden. Public discourse might be sharing both scientific information and spiritual principles of justice and solidarity about climate change, presenting the Bahá’í approach to welcoming migrants and refugees, or organising an interfaith gathering to pray for peace.

There is a particular need to address the materialistic consumer society that has driven us far beyond the sustainable limits of the Earth’s resources. Advertising and social media cultivate addictions in the name of profits. Fake news, disinformation and conspiracy theories entrap people in distrust and fear. The conference explored these issues and how to find positive ways forward, overcoming anxiety about the direction the world is taking and providing both scientific knowledge and spiritual principles that can motivate constructive action.

The conference was participatory in its format and encouraged joint learning. It welcomed people of all ages but particularly youth and those working with youth and junior youth groups as animators to explore how their activities relate to environmental issues as part of their local - and global - reality. Together we learned how to build capacity for both public discourse and social action drawing on resources from Baha’i educational materials and beyond. The conference organisers also welcomed young and old Bahá'ís who are engaged in environmental social action who shared their experience. There was a hands-on environmental service project on the grounds of the Baha'i Training Centre, and walks in a nearby wood to experience nature first-hand.