The world's religions have a crucial role to play in the fight against global climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday, characterizing the battle with global warming as a "moral" issue.

It is a pivotal moment for our world," said Ban as he co-hosted with Prince Philip an inter-faith gathering of religious and secular leaders at Windsor Castle called Many Heavens, One Earth: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet.

At the event organized by Prince Philip's Alliance of Religions and Conservation, leaders from nine of the world's major faith traditions are highlighting the Earth's fragility, and discussing initiatives to protect the planet against the ravages of climate change.

Prince Philip said, "The fact that the majority of the world's faiths ascribe the creation of the world to an all-powerful deity, implies that the leaders and followers of each faith have a moral responsibility for the continued well-being of our planet, and particularly for its natural environment. In recent times it has become apparent that the sheer size of the human population, and its consequent increasing demand for natural resources, is seriously threatening the future health of our planet and the welfare of all life on Earth."

Leaders from Baha'ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Sikhism gathered to commit to long-term practical action to save the environment.

During the three-day gathering, which concluded today, the leaders announced 31 long-term commitments to protect the living planet. Practical initiatives include new faith-based ecolabeling standards for Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism; the planting of 8.5 million trees in Tanzania; sourcing sustainable fuel for India's Sikh gurdwaras, which feed 30 million people every day; the greening of religious buildings; and the introduction of ecotourism policies for pilgrimages - still the world's biggest travel events.

With the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen just over one month away, the event is seen as a way to reach out to the 85 percent of humanity who follow a religion. 

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