IRL Story - Horseshoe Crabs

Protecting understudied species before it’s too late

In the Indian River Lagoon, a heron vaults from the shallows, while anhingas dry their wings on the rocks. Shads, minnows, sardines and killifish pierce the water like darts. As mullets leap, rays stir the sand with their ghostly glide, and comb jellies drift about like lozenges of blown glass. Flowing down the east coast of Florida, USA in roughly the shape of a dragonfly’s wing, the Indian River Lagoon harbours about 4,000 plant and animal species, making it the most biodiverse estuary in North America.

If you kayak on a summer evening, you can see the lagoon limned with nebulas of phytoplankton casting a blue light. On certain beaches in the winter – when the wind or tides are right – thousands of ancient-looking horseshoe crabs will swarm. In A Rocha USA’s study area, which only covers a northern portion of the lagoon, at least 3,065 species have been spotted.

Green Heron by Peter Harris

Unfortunately, the lagoon ecosystem has suffered many blows in recent decades. According to a 2022 study in Frontiers in Marine Science, the lagoon lost about 19,000 acres (about 58%) of its remaining seagrass between 2011 and 2019 (Morris et al., ‘Seagrass in a Changing Estuary’). Meanwhile, development projects continue to fragment the lagoon’s habitats, and inputs from wastewater and stormwater wreck the water quality, contributing to the decline of oysters, pipefish, stingrays, and many other creatures.

In a biodiversity report on the Northern Indian River Lagoon (NIRL), A Rocha USA identified 23 marine species with an IUCN Red List status of ‘Near Threatened’ or worse, as well as ‘Data Deficient,’ which means that the creature hasn’t been studied enough to get an official ranking. Some of these species tend to be more popular than others – even among scientists. In a survey of NIRL-related research papers, most of the 23 species of interest appeared in just three studies or less, whereas the charismatic manatee appeared in about sixteen. Four species had no NIRL studies at all. Many of these under-studied creatures could play vital roles in their ecosystems, but we don’t even have enough data to understand them, let alone advocate for their protection.

In total, A Rocha USA identified six species of conservation concern that are under-studied and bereft of legal protection: the Blueback Herring, Bluntnose Ray, Cownose Ray, Smooth Butterfly Ray, Southern Stingray and False Killer Whale. Similarly, two species – the Tropical Flounder and Whitefin Sharksucker – are listed as ‘Data Deficient’ yet lack any regulations on their killing or capture. All these creatures deserve our attention. Without more research, we won’t know the full impact of any potential decline or extinction of these species, and we may inflict even greater damage on the Indian River Lagoon than we already have.

The more biodiversity an ecosystem has, the healthier it is, and the more benefits it offers human beings. Creatures like the Butterfly Ray or the Whitefin Sharksucker could be crucial for maintaining the health of the Northern Indian River Lagoon. Beyond that, we also want to protect them for their own sake, regardless of how useful they may be.

God never asked creation to earn divine love. On the day each animal was made, before they’d done much of anything, God deemed them good, blessing them to ‘be fruitful and multiply’. As a mother loves her child from the day of their birth, so God loves every creature, in all their colour, ferocity and diversity.

Learn more about A Rocha USA’s marine conservation work in Florida at arocha.us/florida

Waynesburg University Students join ARUSA for a nurdle hunt

Tackling the enormous impact of tiny plastics

If you have ever attended a beach cleanup, you have likely found all sorts of plastic and other waste littering the shore. Straws, wrappers and bottles abound, washed up by the waves. But it’s the smaller plastic pieces, called nurdles, that are often overlooked in cleanup efforts, although they can cause a great deal of harm. 

Nurdles are small plastic pellets that are molded to make most of the plastic products we use every day. Billions of nurdles are produced each year and are easily spilled during manufacturing or transport. Difficult to clean up, they often wash into streams and oceans where they wreak havoc on marine life. According to FIDRA, ‘Nurdles are the second largest source of primary microplastic pollution globally. Each year an estimated 445,970 tonnes of nurdles enter the environment worldwide.’ 

Because of their size and colour, nurdles look like fish eggs, making them especially tempting for seabirds, shellfish, whales and other marine wildlife who mistake them for food. These pellets can be toxic and lead to injury, starvation or even death when they accumulate in the gut and stomach. Over time, nurdles break down into smaller and smaller microplastics, which can travel up the food chain along with the toxins they carry. The harmful effects of toxic plastic pollution are felt by larger marine mammals, humans and entire ecosystems.  

The good news is that plastic pollution is preventable, and everyone can make a difference. Since nurdles are so difficult to clear up, the best solution is to reduce our use of plastics and call on the plastic industry to take responsibility for stopping pellet loss. In countries like Kenya, Portugal and the USA, A Rocha takes part in FIDRA’s Great Global Nurdle Hunt each year, an event which removes nurdles from the environment as well as contributes to research and raising awareness. Over the last 10 years over 20,000 volunteers have taken part, finding nurdles on every continent except Antarctica!  

Everyone can take part in this global citizen science event: each year, we see children, interns, scientists and dedicated community members on their hands and knees in the sand, searching for nurdles. Inquisitive beach goers sometimes ask what we are looking for, a perfect opportunity to explain the problem of nurdles and microplastics, the actions people can take and our motivation as followers of Jesus to care for all of creation. 

This year, the International Coastal Cleanup is on 21 September: why not join the Great Global Nurdle Hunt, as well? Running from 1-30 September, this global event is an empowering and impactful way to address microplastic pollution. You can find more information on how to identify nurdles and organize a nurdle hunt in the A Rocha Plastics Toolbox, available now on our new Resource Hub! Visit resources.arocha.org/resource/plastics-toolbox/ 

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Finding climate solutions in nature

Should climate action come before biodiversity conservation?

In the words of our friend and climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, indigenous groups, communities of colour and the poor often suffer the effects of climate change ‘first and worst’. We add that vulnerable species like bumblebees, corals and Neotropical amphibians are also some of the first victims of a warming world. We are facing not one, but three global crises: the rapid loss of our planet’s biodiversity; climate change and a rapid increase in the global average temperature; and increasing inequality and poverty. These problems are interconnected, but so are their solutions! Nature-based Solutions work with and enhance nature on land and sea, providing benefits for both human wellbeing and biodiversity while addressing climate change. 

Forests are popular as carbon sequestration powerhouses, but they’re not alone: grasslands store about a third of the global terrestrial carbon, and research shows that restored meadows can become natural carbon sinks. A Rocha Switzerland is restoring dry meadows by removing invasive species and supporting farmers to manage the land more ecologically, while A Rocha France is restoring wet meadows in the llon Marsh. The carbon replenished in the soil can be even more stable than carbon sequestered in trees, which are vulnerable to wildfire, drought and disease.  

Meanwhile, seagrasses are vital marine meadows which store vast amounts of carbon while providing thousands of species with food, shelter, breeding and nursery areas, and habitat corridors. A Rocha Kenya has developed a seagrass identification guide to help conserve seagrass in Watamu Marine National Park. Of the 12 species of seagrass recorded in Kenya, 11 have been found in this critical site! In Florida, A Rocha USA assists a local zoo with their seagrass restoration programme by monitoring test sites to determine the best places for restoration. These ‘blue carbon’ solutions are a win for both climate and biodiversity, especially Red Listed species like the sea cucumbers and manatees that depend on seagrass.  

Growing trees is a tried-and-true Nature-based Solution, when it’s done well. A Rocha Ghana supports local smallholder farmers to plant native and fruiting trees in Lake Bosomtwe. Using an agroforestry model, they intersperse trees with food crops: this supports livelihoods in communities that are already feeling the impacts of climate change, such as irregular rainfall, while also sequestering tonnes of CO2. In addition to the agroforestry models, A Rocha implements the ‘whole land planting’ approach which seeks to restore degraded areas within the Lake Bosomtwe Landscape, sequestering carbon and supporting wildlife.  

Protecting intact forests and other ecosystems is just as important as restoration. Peru is home to some of the last Pacific Dry Forest remnants; sadly, only three percent remains intact. A Rocha Peru works with local communities in Pacasmayo to restore the degraded Dry Forest and sustainably manage the remaining landscape. With support from Climate Stewards, A Rocha reduces pressure on the forests by providing clean cookstoves to low-income families. Each cookstove gives a family a safer, cleaner and more efficient way to cook, while reducing the need for wood and charcoal from local forests.  

Nature-based Solutions are not a substitute for the need to phase out fossil fuels rapidly. They are a powerful strategy for addressing the interconnected global crises we face and a means by which we express love towards our human and non-human neighbours. You can read the A Rocha Worldwide Family’s position on Nature-based Solutions to climate change here.   

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Building resilience, reducing carbon footprint

‘Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ Name’: that’s the mission of Compassion Netherlands. Years ago, Compassion Netherlands realized that combatting poverty has a strong link with the theme of sustainability, now a point of attention in policy. Compassion is an international charity working to end child poverty, while trying to keep their carbon footprint as small as possible and invest in the resilience of the families they serve. 

Charities working in the global south, like Compassion, see that those who often contributed the least to climate change are hit the hardest by the impacts. Working through local churches, they support children with food, medical care and more. Compassion Netherlands sees that the regions where the children live are impacted by climate change and that there is often little resilience. 

‘Years back we thought that sustainability was something you did because it was good, and then you also had poverty reduction’, says Wietse Kooistra, COO of Compassion Netherlands. ‘But now we see those two are connected. The excessive consumption of Western countries encourages pollution, child labor and modern slavery. What we do in the West has a lot of effect on children and families we want to serve.’ 

Since 2019, Climate Stewards has calculated from 2019 the carbon footprint of Compassion Netherlands. After calculating their footprint, Climate Stewards and Compassion Netherlands always have a chat about what they both have been doing to reduce emissions. They encourage each other continuously to reduce their footprints. The first few years were a bit easier, with things like LED light bulbs. Now they are getting to a point where the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and it gets harder to reduce emissions further. 

Sustainability is a point of attention for all teams within Compassion Netherlands. To keep moving forward, teams focus on different aspects of sustainability: the Facilities team is looking at things at the office, like use of energy, meat consumption and carpooling. For example, their office furniture is partly second hand. The Field Experience team is looking at employee travel – within Europe, they travel by train instead of flying.  

Internationally, resilience is especially important for churches, children and their families. Taking care of creation and knowing how to deal with the consequences of climate change are important topics. For instance, in Peru, Compassion is giving lessons and training about sustainability to help families adjust to the changing environment and increase their resilience. Compassion provides solar solutions, stimulates recycling and help starting a vegetable garden. The children also go to the beach and pick up litter. The initiator of the cleanup is the local church, which also teaches the children about good stewardship. 

It is inspiring to see how Compassion has been working on integrating sustainability into their organization. To help children break the cycle of poverty, sustainability in all aspects of their work is important.

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Re-imagining a new way to care for and protect people and nature

In June 2024, A Rocha International funded and facilitated a three-day Environmental Education (EE) Teachers’ Workshop and a five-day EE Conference at Mwamba Centre, Watamu, Kenya, hosted by A Rocha Kenya. Both events shared the theme ‘From Forest to Ocean’, and involved insightful guided visits to globally important biodiversity hotspots. 

12 conference delegates from six A Rocha Organizations in Nigeria, Ghana, India, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda visited Arabuko Sokoke Forest, and saw rare, endemic and endangered species, including the Golden-rumped Elephant Sengi Rhynchocyon chrysopygus. At Mida Creek, delegates visited mangroves by dug-out canoe and walked on a canopy boardwalk for experiential learning on mangrove biodiversity in Watamu Marine National Reserve. A visit to Local Ocean Conservation enabled delegates to see rescued turtles and learn about turtle and mangrove conservation.  

A Rocha International’s EE and Conservation Policy Director, Sarah French, led participatory and practical sessions on diverse topics such as mangrove biodiversity, climate change, Nature-based Solutions, plastics, The Biodiversity Plan (Global Biodiversity Framework), the Sustainable Development Goals, EE and Education for Sustainable Development, Project Cycle Management and global overviews of the Conservation and Sustainable Development field.  

Delegates shared informative updates on the impact of their EE activities and led sessions on co-existence, pollinators, creation care, mangrove projects, eco-schools and creative games and activities, such as the scenario game and Giant Story Book.  

As Stephanie Nkansah, from A Rocha Ghana expressed, ‘These conferences help us build our green muscle memory with sustainable actions and information we can apply in our everyday environmental education work.’ 

The Teachers’ Workshop brought together 18 primary and secondary school teachers from Dakatcha and Malanga forests. This enabled participants to gain knowledge and learning on best practice and build capacity, relationships and peer-support to strengthen their environmental education activities. This will impact upon 8,287 students, including 1,664 wildlife club members! 

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New record for fourth annual John Stott Memorial Birding Day

The inaugural John Stott Memorial Birding Day took place in 2021, the great man’s centenary year, to commemorate his love of birds and friendship with A Rocha. It has since developed a life of its own.  

This year teams from a record-breaking 33 countries raced to see as many species as possible in 24 hours! Congratulations to the Camper-Birders who won with a total of 136 in France, closely followed by the Scholtenses with 133 in Ontario, Canada, who had stunning views of the Northern Lights as they set out in the early hours. The KASA North Coast Tour Guides in Kenya came in third, logging an impressive 132. 

The Hong Kong Team, which included many brand new birders, stayed in the city and still identified 18 species. The Singapore Sings claim they saw the rarest species of the day – a Critically Endangered Straw-headed Bulbul Pycnonotus zeylanicus, and the team in Chile persevered through snow and sickness.  

With so many stunning photographs entered for the competition, judging was challenging. Congratulations to the worthy winners. 
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Buzzing with life: conserving Lebanon’s wild bees in Mekse Nature Park

As Lebanon grapples with urbanization, deforestation and waste management crises, A Rocha Lebanon has created a unique space – Mekse Nature Park – from a former landfill. After five years of restoration, it has a Conservation Garden and a Centre for Biodiversity and Agroecology, and has become a vital green space offering refuge from environmental degradation and a platform for practical conservation work.

Located in Lebanon’s fertile Bekaa Valley, the 3.5-hectare park is a public garden where alternative techniques compatible with biodiversity can be observed as native trees and shrubs provide food for wildlife and promote a healthy habitat for birds, reptiles and invertebrates – including bees!

The Conservation Garden has an area dedicated to wild bees’ habitat and unconventional beehives, with examples such as hives in empty tree stumps and enclosed with rammed earth on display.

The adjoining Centre for Biodiversity and Agroecology strengthens community education in environmental issues and hosts exhibitions and workshops, beginning with an exhibition on wild bees, thanks to collaboration with the international expert, Dr Mira Boustani, and her collection of 574 species of Lebanese wild bees. The exhibition included informational drawings and displays, a workshop by Dr Boustani on the wild bees of Lebanon, and a hands-on planting day where volunteers planted 400 lavender seedlings to support wild bee habitat.

By working on common land (arḍ mašā‘ in Arabic) A Rocha Lebanon engages stakeholders in project design and implementation and ensures the sustainability of initiatives, including supporting wild bees and habitat restoration, and educational programmes for local schools and refugee children. The Mekse site aims to become a lighthouse on biodiversity and agroecology and to attract people by developing a market of local producers, hosting visitors and providing a discussion space dedicated to ecology.  Learn more about Mekse Nature Park.  

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A Rocha in Singapore gains momentum with ‘Missional Discipleship and Sustainability’ conference

On 11 May A Rocha held a ‘Missional Discipleship and Sustainability’ conference as part of the work towards officially launching in Singapore. A Rocha’s presence in Singapore has grown out of the very first Friends of A Rocha group, set up 12 years ago by Mel Ong  (pictured here on the right, with Prarthi Selveindran), who opened the conference by sharing some of the history. 

The conference was a collaboration between A Rocha International (whose board of trustees were in Singapore for their annual in-person meeting), the Biblical Graduate School of Theology (BGST: bgst.edu.sg); the Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES: fellowship.sg); Creation Care Singapore (CCSG: creationcare.sg); and the hosts, Katong Presbyterian Church (KPC: kpchurch.org.sg). 

Some 200 people gathered from a range of contexts, from business to science to church ministry. Two-thirds of attendees had not been to a creation care conference before. The expressed hope was that the different aspects of our community and lives would become increasingly integrated so that we might become more whole, with God in every part of our lives.  

Sessions ranged from theology (Dr Hilary Marlow and Rev Dr Dave Bookless), to a panel discussion on finance and investment, an overview of the state of the climate (Dr Rodel Lasco) and contemplative prayer, along with a number of other local and international contributions.  

It was a rich day. As one person eloquently expressed it, ‘[I learned that] creation care requires all hands on deck – not just the ‘science people’ but also the lawyers, policymakers, marketers, designers… even simply advocates, to work together to care for His creation… Comforted yet armed with knowledge and sweet fellowship, this conference has definitely enabled me to live life for Christ in this seemingly contemporary but definitely redemptive manner – to care for his creation, to enable it to flourish and be a witness for Christ’s original redeeming act in this way.’ 

Picnics en el Arroyo

Nurturing nature and community in every language

The choir of God’s creation resounds with every language from every people. In our day, though, disparities in wealth, education, ethnicity and other factors hinder certain people’s access to God’s creation. In the United States, many Hispanic/Latino families lack access to recreational facilities like parks and trails. In fact, only 1 in 3 Latinos live within walking distance of a park, according to UT Health San Antonio, and ‘only 19% of Latino children have access to recreational green spaces close to their neighbourhoods, compared to 62% of their white peers’. Time in nature benefits physical and mental health, as well as spiritual wellbeing. When the connection between people and the rest of creation is broken, both human and non-human creatures suffer.  

Seeking to address this problem in Central Texas, A Rocha USA’s Conservation Project Director, Verónica Godoy, found multiple groups offering environmental education programmes for children, but few that served families together. Hispanic families are often tight knit, and everyone deserves safe and fun access to nature, from children, to parents, to teenagers, to toddlers. To reach underserved Hispanic families with language barriers, Picnics en el Arroyo was born. 

A Rocha USA’s monthly Picnics en el Arroyo bring Spanish-speaking families to state parks and private green spaces with access to creeks, springs or rivers. At each picnic, they explore the watershed and its biodiversity through recreational and educational activities. After nearly two years of picnics, families have explored Austin’s wild spaces through numerous hikes and learned to identify local birds, mammals and insects. They have pressed flowers to make crafts and made seed balls to plant native wildflowers. They have made art about the endangered Yellow-cheeked Warbler and played under Texas’ grand oak trees. They have looked up to behold grand geological features and crouched down to observe aquatic macroinvertebrates.  

‘Un dia al aire libre’ (a day outdoors) is full of laughter, curiosity, exercise and play. One participant of Picnics en el Arroyo expressed her enthusiasm: ‘I love to share time with my family and other families. Sometimes I don’t feel like going out, but Picnics at the Arroyo motivates me and helps me have special moments with my family.’ Others have celebrated discovering new species and exploring new places. Some families return picnic after picnic, allowing us to see them grow a deep love for God’s creation in their local environment.  

After the first few Picnics en el Arroyo in 2022, Verónica reflected, ‘We expect that Picnics en el Arroyo will continue to connect families with creeks and parks in Austin, enable them to spend more time outdoors, and empower them to make decisions that will contribute to the health of the local ecosystems and the community.’ Now, after hosting 16 picnics in 11 parks with 397 participants, we are seeing this vision come to life. 

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The growing garden of A Rocha’s Friends

When A Rocha was founded in 1983, it was rare if not unheard of to come across others actively involved in conservation from Christian conviction. These days, there are individuals, groups and organizations across the globe who share our commitment to serve, study and protect species and habitats in God’s name. Some join the A Rocha Worldwide Family, and others become members of the Friends of A Rocha Network.

Here is a brief introduction to six of the newest members:

  • Brazil: FEPAS, a social work federation of over 400 churches in Brazil, offers support to dozens of projects across the country. FEPAS continues using the Environmental Education manual it co-published with A Rocha Brazil in 2015. Every project federated in FEPAS has a commitment to teach these materials every two to three years, to reach new cohorts of children and young people in their constituency.
  • Brazil: Project The Way is raising the quality of life of vulnerable children and youth in many ways, including setting up urban vegetable gardens with stingless bee hives in some of the most destitute neighbourhoods of São Paulo.
  • Cameroon: African Alliance for Developmental Action (AADA) has carried out conservation education, monitoring mangrove forests, bush meat and non-timber forest product trade. Currently it’s focusing on combating the illegal hardwood trade through environmental crime training sessions for magistrates, government workers and community leaders, the promotion of non-timber forest products and the collection of tree samples to improve product traceability and indirectly help with environmental crime prosecutions.
  • Rwanda: Global Initiative for Environment and Reconciliation (GER) believes that building peace cannot be achieved without also taking care of the environment. They have carried out a review of traditional knowledge associated with conservation and hosted an international event on connecting community seeds, culture and nature. Currently, GER is collaborating in programmes in agroecology, biodiversity conservation for community resilience, healing and peace, gender and climate, and safe foods and diverse diets.
  • Sri Lanka: Kaveri Kala Manram (KKM) is a community empowerment organization actively involved in protecting and promoting traditional arts and culture, and using these to foster creation care and social and environmental justice in the community, in the name of Jesus Christ.
  • Taiwan: City to City has held preaching camps focused on creation care, and recently translated into Mandarin and published A Place at the Table, with plans currently underway to translate Kingfisher’s Fire. They hope to bring creation care theology into the core of their ‘Gospel. City. Movement.’ strategy to influence mainstream Taiwanese church culture.