From packed mosques during Friday prayers to the classrooms of thousands of Islamic boarding schools, Indonesia's Muslim leaders have been urged to use their sermons and influence to boost conservation efforts and win over climate change skeptics.

The country's top Muslim representatives met last month at Southeast Asia's biggest mosque, the Istiqlal in the capital Jakarta, to discuss ways to raise awareness about global warming and develop climate solutions linked to Islamic teachings.

The leaders also established a forum — the Muslim Congress for a Sustainable Indonesia — and called for community donations, including alms, to be used to help fund such efforts.