International Forum for Interreligious and Transcultural Peacebuilding 2025
On October 23 and 24, 2025online.
Mission 21 invites you to the third International Forum for Interreligious and Transcultural Peacebuilding on October 23 and 24, 2025. The theme of the two-day online conference is "Peace on Earth. Peace with the Earth".
The forum enables participants to embark on a fascinating journey on the topic of "Peace on earth, peace with the earth". A journey to discover peace and environmental justice through the eyes of different religions and cultures. A journey that offers inspiration to tread new paths to peace.
Soon the time will come!
Keynote speakers
Debjani Bhattacharyya
Professor of the History of the Anthropocene at the University of Zurich. She researches how legal and economic structures influence our understanding of environmental change and our response to the climate crisis.
Samsul Maarif
Director of the Center for Religious and Intercultural Studies at Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He works in the areas of decolonization and social movements and is committed to religious freedom and environmental protection.
The event is open to the public and free of charge. It will take place online on "Zoom".
Languages: English and Spanish, each with simultaneous translation, AI-generated subtitles in various languages.
Thursday, October 23, 2025, 15:00-20:00 CEST (with break) Â
Friday, October 24, 2025, 13:00-17:00 CEST (with break)Â
Peace on earth - peace with the earth
Spiritualities and cultures on environmental justice and peacebuilding
Peace is a fragile plant. People and communities around the world are aware of how much it needs to be protected and nurtured. On the one hand, it is about peace between societies and nations, which is all too often violated. But it is also about peace with the earth, which is consumed, damaged and exploited without respecting its integrity and without considering the impact of this exploitation on present and future generations.
"The earth is what we all have in common."
Wendell Berry
"We are not the only kind of we."
Eduardo Kohn
"As long as he does not extend the circle of his compassion to all living beings, man himself will not find peace"
Albert Schweitzer
Thursday, October 23, 2025, 3:00 - 5:45 p.m. CEST - Session 1
Religious and cultural perspectives on peace, justice and the environment
A new climate for peace: postcolonial history and environmental justice
Debjani Bhattacharyya (India/USA/Switzerland)
Debjani Bhattacharyya is Professor of the History of the Anthropocene at the University of Zurich. Since 2019, she has also been a researcher at the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she was Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Her research explores the intersection between legal and environmental history, such as how legal and economic structures shape our understanding of environmental change and influence our response to the climate crisis.
How spirituality promotes care for the earth
Neddy Astudillo (Venezuela/USA)
Neddy Astudillo is an eco-theologian and Presbyterian pastor and coordinator of the Climate Justice and Faith Certification Program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She is a longtime advocate for environmental justice and eco-theology across America.
Peacebuilding, education and environmental protection by and with young people
Haruna Zagoon-Sayeed (Ghana)
Haruna Zagoon-Sayeed is a lecturer at the University of Ghana and Managing Director of the Baraka Policy Institute. His work covers the areas of education, religion, youth development, international relations and peacebuilding.
Indigenous peoples and the spirituality of resistance
Jenne Jessica Revanda Pieter (Indonesia)
Jenne Jessica Revanda Pieter is an ordained minister of the Protestant Church in the Moluccas (Indonesia) and works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at the Christian University of Indonesia. Her work focuses on theology, ecology and advocacy for indigenous communities.
Detailed program Thursday (Session 1)
Debjani Bhattacharyya
A New Climate for Peace: Postcolonial History and Environmental Justice.
Neddy Astudillo: How spirituality promotes care for the earth
Haruna Zagoon-Sayeed: Peacebuilding, education and environmental protection by and with young people
Jenne Jessica Revanda Pieter: Indigenous Peoples and Spirituality of Resistance
Thursday, October 23, 2025, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. CEST - Session 2
Broadening the horizons of peace and environmental justice
Ecumenical perspectives on the climate crisis, disability and public engagement
Anjeline Okola Charles (Kenya)
Anjeline Okola Charles is a Program Officer at the Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network (EDAN). Biography follows
Indigenous knowledge, spiritualities and the reappropriation of land rights
Jacqueline Hookimaw-Witt (Canada)
Jacqueline Hookimaw-Witt is a member of the Mushkegowuk Cree community in Canada and has a doctorate in indigenous feminism. She is involved in various projects of indigenous organizations, activism, youth work and reconciliation initiatives.
Participants in the panel discussion
SofÃa Nicolasa Chipana Chispe (Bolivia)
SofÃa Nicolasa Chipana Chispe is a member of the Andean theology and pastoral community and the community of indigenous wise women and theologians of Abya Yala. She is an Aymará and works with communities that are characterized by the principle of Buen Vivir network and strengthen.
Julio Cesar MejÃa Tapia (Peru)
Julio Cesar MejÃa Tapia is legal advisor to the Peruvian Women's Network for the Protection of Water and Lake Titicaca. He also works as a consultant and researcher and is the director of the Institute for Law, Social Participation and the Environment (IDEPAM).
Keshoe Isaiah Kilerai (Kenya)
Keshoe Isaiah Kilerai is a youth, climate and environmental ambassador from the Maasai community in Kenya. Keshoe Kilerai is a Kofi Annan Changemaker and founder of The New Lion project, which empowers young people through storytelling, advocacy, research and grassroots projects to influence global policy.
Meera Baindur (India)
Meera Baindur is a philosopher and Associate Professor at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India. Her work combines environmental ethics, Indian philosophical traditions and feminist approaches with a strong
Engagement in interreligious dialog.
Detailed program Thursday (session 2)
Anjeline Okola Charles: Ecumenical perspectives on the climate crisis, Disability and Public Engagement
Jacqueline Hookimaw-Witt: Indigenous knowledge, spiritualities and the reappropriation of land rights
How can insights from religions and cultures be translated into action for peace on and with the earth?
SofÃa Nicolasa Chipana Chispe (Bolivia)
Keshoe Isaiah Kilerai (Kenya)
Julio Cesar Mejia Tapia (Peru)
Meera Baindur (India)
Friday, October 24, 2025, 13:00-14:00 CEST - Session 3
Rethinking anthropocentrism and positioning new ecologies
Religious ecology: Indigenous practices and intersubjective relationships
Samsul Maarif (Indonesia)
Samsul Maarif is head of the Center for Religious and Crosscultural Studies at the University of Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. He teaches on indigenous religions with a focus on decolonization and communities worldwide, arts and religion. He advocates for engaged religious studies and supports coalitions for social activism, including freedom of religion and belief and environmental movements.Â
Detailed program Friday (Session 3)
Samsul Maarif
Religious ecology: Indigenous practices and intersubjective relationships
Friday, October 24, 2025, 15:00-17:00 CEST - Session 4
Discovering peace through the perspectives of nature rights and advocacy for nature
When Rivers Speak: Indigenous knowledge and how it pushes the boundaries of human-nature relations toward inclusive peace
Stephanie Boyd (Canada/Peru)
Stephanie Boyd has lived and worked as a filmmaker, journalist and educator in Peru since 1997. Together with several Peruvian non-profit film collectives, she founded the initiative Media that Matters and is a board member of the Peru Support Group.Â
When rivers demand justice: The transformation of law based on indigenous values using the example of water from non-Western perspectives
MarÃa Ximena González-Serrano (Colombia/Switzerland)
MarÃa Ximena González-Serrano is a Colombian lawyer, activist and researcher in the field of social law. For more than fifteen years, she has been working with local communities on collective strategies to defend territories and rivers against extractive economies and the discharge of toxic wastewater.
Detailed program Friday (session 4)
Stephanie Boyd: When Rivers Speak - Indigenous wisdom and how it pushes the boundaries of human-nature relationships towards inclusive peace.
MarÃa Ximena Gonzales-Serrano: When rivers demand justice - expanding the rights of indigenous water values and non-Western human-nature relations
A collaborative space to reflect on the forum's findings and discuss possible next steps for collective action
For questions
Monika Di Pietrantonio
Responsible for administration of educational offers
Tel: +41 (0)61 260 22 67
â–º E-mail
