UK Government Policy, Climate and The Future

As world leaders gather in Glasgow for the critical COP26 climate talks, how sufficient are the UK’s own greenhouse gas reduction targets?   

Andy Lester, A Rocha UK’s Head of Conservation, looks at rhetoric and reality.

A Rocha UK launches new Land Goal

A Rocha UK is at the beginning of a 5-year journey, working with others, to transform 75,000 acres across the UK for nature. This ambitious goal recognises that Christians own or manage up to 500,000 acres of land across the UK. Some of this is owned by churches, estates, retreat and conference centres. A very large amount is held by denominational bodies such as the Anglican Church Commissioners. Other areas are gardens and smaller areas of land held by individuals.

A Rocha UK’s Autumn Appeal: Protecting and restoring our land and climate.
 

Stewarding the land to enhance its contribution to nature and addressing climate change is an essential part of A Rocha UK’s mission. We are looking to make a significant contribution at a critical time by transforming land for nature and climate here in the UK, with our new appeal laying the foundation to deliver our new Land Goal.

We are looking to raise £50,000 to help transform 75,000 acres of Christian-managed and church-linked land in cities, towns, villages and gardens across the UK. Help us to restore lost habitats and reconnect people with nature at a scale we have not done before on our JustGiving page below.

A Rocha UK at COP26.

A small A Rocha UK team will be in Glasgow for the international climate negotiations (COP26). In the video below, CEO Andy Atkins explains what we hope to achieve and what you can be praying about - for us and the whole conference. You can also prepare for COP26 using our ‘Churches, Christians and COP26’ webpage here and find more regular updates during COP by checking the ‘COP news’ section on our website here.

Doxecology Tour information.

A Rocha UK is partnering with friends Resound Worship for their Doxecology tour during COP26 (1-11 November). In September 2020, Resound Worship released their ground-breaking Doxecology album, a collection of 13 congregational worship songs on themes of creation, ecology and Christian hope. Due to restrictions they were unable to take the album on tour last year. The COP26 provides a perfect context within which they can travel around churches, sharing songs, praying for the summit and inspiring our Christian brothers and sisters to care for the world. We’ll be providing speakers from A Rocha UK, as well as daily video updates from the summit in Glasgow. Come and worship and pray with us! Find details of the venues and book tickets below.

A Rocha UK’s biggest grant received.

We are deeply grateful to All Churches Trust for awarding A Rocha UK a £150,000 grant over three years towards our Eco Church programme. Their generosity will help support the growth of our Eco Church community, as well as enable us to grow our Eco Church team to support two new regional posts. We will soon be appointing two Eco Church mobiliser roles; one covering Wales and the other the north of England, allowing us to support many more churches in responding practically to the environmental crisis. These roles will shortly be advertised on the A Rocha UK jobs page.

Wild Christian’s first ‘Campaign Friday’ event. 

Last month, Wild Christian community members gathered virtually for the first ‘Campaign Friday’ event held over the Climate Coalition’s Big Green Week. CEO, Andy Atkins shared about the importance of campaigning as a Christian and we heard about some campaigns and actions that Hannah Eves of A Rocha UK and Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) is involved in. Special Guest Seth Appiah-Kubi, National Director of A Rocha Ghana updated us on the Atewa Forest campaign and shared the petition that we can all sign to support their campaign to save one of West Africa’s most biodiverse zones from a proposed mining project.You can also sign it here.

There are now over 4,000 individuals and families in the Wild Christian community, sharing stories, ideas and learning so that collectively we can live more joyfully and sustainably with the rest of God’s Creation. Sign up below to hear first about future events and receive our monthly email with practical actions that you can take to help you enjoy, nurture and protect nature.

Eco Tip - Dig for Net-Zero near you. The UK needs millions more trees to reach its 2050 carbon net-zero target. Help bring us closer to this important goal and improve the biodiversity of your churchyard or school at the same time! Don’t miss the chance to apply for a free Woodland Trust tree pack to be delivered in March 2022. Choose which tree pack is best for your outdoor space here.