Given the focus of this year’s conference, it seemed appropriate that, as the delegates gathered in the grounds of the Norbulingka Institute to await the arrival of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, the temperature was climbing steadily to 42 degrees. This year, Dharamsala has experienced both unusually severe winter conditions, with snow filling the Kangra Valley for the first time in fifty years, and unusually high summer temperatures. It is a reminder to everyone present that we are now living with climate change impacts.
會眾於羅布林卡學院的廣場中恭候法王的到來之際，當地氣溫持續平穩地攀昇到攝氏42度，反應出今年環保研討會氣候變遷的主題極為適切。達蘭莎拉今年的氣候非比尋常，冬季份外地嚴寒，岡格拉山谷(Kangra Valley)的降雪為五十年來首見，而夏季的酷暑也突破往年的記錄，這些在在提醒著在場的每一個人：我們正活在氣候變遷的影響之中。

After prayers for the auspiciousness of the gathering, the Gyalwang Karmapa opened the conference by saying “Preserving the biodiversity and the ecosystems of our region should be like the effortless practice of dharma for us. Our basic motivation to protect the environment should come from the pure desire to benefit all sentient beings on earth since without the environment, there can be no life.”
在吉祥願文的唸誦之後，法王噶瑪巴首先致開幕詞：「對我們來說，保育在地的生物多元性與生態系統，應該要像是不費力的佛法修持。沒有生存的環境，也就沒有生命可言；因此，我們保護環境的基本動機，應該源自於為利益地球一切有情眾生的清淨願望。」

The conference facilitator, Dekila Chungyalpa, director of the WWF Sacred Earth Program, based in Washington DC, gave the first presentation.
此次會議的協調人德其樂．瓊嘉巴(Dekila Chungyalpa)給予首場正式的演講。德其樂．瓊嘉巴為「世界野生動物基金」美國華盛頓特區總部的「神聖地球計劃」的主任。

The afternoon session was devoted to feedback from the various monastic institutions present, detailing what they had been doing in the past year to further environmental protection. Projects range from the truly impressive including thousands native trees planted in degraded watersheds to the humble where many monasteries put aside a day in the month to clean their community and town areas.
下午的會議主要是各寺院代表的發言。寺院代表在會中反饋他們的意見，並介紹在過去一年中所進行的環保活動。各個寺院所進行的多項環保計劃中，從備受矚目的在受到破壞的流域中栽植數千棵的原生樹，到樸實的月中一日為社群內外做清潔打掃的工作。