"There are so many priorities for young Muslims, and it is easy for the environment to be overlooked," says Omer Williams, project co-ordinator at the Black Environment Network. The group, based in Snowdonia, is working to change the perception that the environment is something only White, middle-class people think about.
One of its projects is Swansea-based Third World Ethnic Environmental Participation, which helps young people from ethnic minorities to understand the environment in a way that is relevant to their lives.
"If someone is to care about the environment, they have to see it and understand it," explains Williams. Third World Ethnic Environmental Participation (see box) has now set up Welsh Environment Link Creating Opportunities for Muslim Engagement, an environmental volunteering group grounded in the Islamic faith. The group is thinking small and local, carrying out inexpensive projects like cleaning up beaches and cutting back overgrown canal towpaths, all within travelling distance of Swansea.
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