Impassable beaver dam, Canada

Helping Buck Creek’s Salmon and Beavers Coexist

September signals the beginning of an exciting new season for the small but dedicated team of conservationists at Buck Creek Hatchery and Nature Centre: the arrival of Coho Salmon spawners. The Coho have undertaken a vast journey up rivers, through canyons and past lakes. Some of them may have hatched and grown into fry at the hatchery operated by A Rocha Canada in Northern British Columbia! Having reached their home waters where they were either born or released, the Coho have now reached the end of their life’s journey and will lay their eggs in redds, which are rock nests in the gravel of the riverbed. 

Each year, the A Rocha team monitors the return of the Upper Bulkley River Coho spawners and captures a small number of them to collect a target of 10,000 eggs for their hatchery. Last year, however, the salmon faced challenging waters which were exceptionally low due to drought. Added to this, several beaver dams blocked the spawning salmon, leaving them vulnerable to predators as they had no way through the dam.  

Beavers are amazing river engineers: without them, the water levels in the river would have been even lower. Beaver ponds slowly release water and create perfect rearing pools for juvenile Coho Salmon; however, when the dam completely spans the river, it becomes an impassable barrier to Coho spawners migrating upstream. With the concerns about the low returns of salmon spawners to the Upper Bulkley River, we want to ensure they have the best chance to reach their spawning grounds in time. Careful management of beaver dams is one tool to help achieve this goal.  

A Rocha Northern BC called on their network of amazing volunteers, reached out to landowner contacts to secure access to the river and began journeying with the Coho up the Upper Bulkley River. They found fifteen beaver dams within the first 30 km of the river where Coho Salmon were stuck below and successfully assisted at least 300 Coho spawners past the beaver dams! While some of the Coho stopped to spawn along the way, about 100 made it at least 30 km up the river to an area of valuable spawning habitat. 

Although humans can–and often do–create immense damage in an ecosystem, we can also be a source of healing. Droughts exacerbated by climate change are an increasingly common occurrence, and in some cases, species struggle against one another for habitat. Through careful management, we can create a healthy home for all the creatures who live in the Buck Creek Watershed. To protect both the salmon and the beavers, an effective compromise is to create an opening in the dam that the salmon can swim through while leaving the base intact.  

Sadly, drought conditions are continuing into a fourth year at Buck Creek. Despite a rainier spring, low snowpack and hot summer months have left the river lower than ever. While hundreds of Chinook Salmon should have been seen in the past couple months, the A Rocha team only spotted five, four of which died before they were able to spawn. Thankfully, rain has come, and we are hopeful that Coho will arrive with higher waters. The beaver dams are looking sturdy as ever. Come what may, A Rocha will be there working for the mutual flourishing of all our creaturely neighbours.   

A Rocha Sweden Celebration

Welcome to A Rocha Sweden!

Välkomna A Rocha Sverige! We are thrilled to announce that A Rocha Sweden has officially become the 18th national organization in the A Rocha Worldwide Family.  

On 20 September, A Rocha Sweden celebrated this milestone at the site of their flagship project in Hyllie Park Church, Malmö. About twenty people gathered in person, including A Rocha’s cofounder Peter Harris, with another ten joining virtually. One member, Vincent, opened the celebration with a trumpet fanfare announcing the birth of A Rocha Sweden! Peter then gave an enthusiastic talk on spirituality and conservation and spoke about the five distinctive commitments that identify A Rocha, followed by a video message from A Rocha International’s Executive Director, Ed Walker. At the end, everyone present celebrated by eating delicious birthday cakes!  

This momentous day has its origins in 2017, when the organization was founded as Swedish Friends of A Rocha. This developed into KriNa in 2021, as the A Rocha Associated Project in Hyllie Park, Malmö, was launched. Nestled in an urban area, A Rocha cares for this garden and park near Hyllie Park Church where the land is planned and managed to support a rich biodiversity.  A Rocha has established a nature trail lined with informational signs for students and other visitors, as education is central to this project. While exploring the meadow, pond and forest on site, you might also see a Swift making its home in one of the bird boxes that A Rocha Sweden maintains.  

In the southern part of the country, A Rocha Sweden partners with a local mowing association and Lutheran church to cultivate a thriving apple meadow. Using the traditional craft of scything, they manage the meadow in an ecological manner to support biodiversity and create a place that locals can enjoy. Now, A Rocha Sweden is looking forward to a new project further north with a community farm in Borlänge. They signed an agreement of intention with this farm’s landowner to launch a full-scale A Rocha project in 2025. 

Stay tuned for inspiring conservation updates from Sweden. 

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Connecting to care for our common home: The Oikos Network

The Oikos Network brings together Christians from around the world who are passionate about caring for the environment and tackling climate change in their churches and communities. Oikos, Greek for ‘home’, was the brainchild of Ruth Valerio when she worked at Tearfund. She’d noticed that many Christian leaders around the world were passionate about addressing climate and creation care but felt isolated and under-resourced. ‘I was meeting Christians all around the world who were caring for God’s world but often feeling lonely and encountering similar issues despite different contexts,’ says Ruth. ‘There is such power in meeting like-minded people, and so inspiring to learn, share and pray together.’  
  
After chatting with A Rocha’s Dave Bookless, whose work had led him to the same conclusion, the Oikos Network was launched in 2022 in partnership with Micah Global, Renew Our World, the Anglican Alliance and the Lausanne / World Evangelical Alliance Creation Care Network, and initially led and resourced by Tearfund. A Rocha has recently taken on the leadership of the network.  
  
Oikos creates peer-support cohorts of five to eight people who then gather online monthly over six months to discuss, learn, pray and inspire each other about the changes they are seeing.  Each has a facilitator who helps create an accepting, listening atmosphere, and leads the group through discussion, sharing, Bible study and prayer. Many groups meet in English but as demand has grown, there have also been groups in French, Spanish and Portuguese. There are also global plenary meetings, with a guest speaker.  
  
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have felt inspired, encouraged and connected to a wider movement. If you want to know more about the Oikos Network or would like to explore joining or leading a cohort, please contact us at [email protected]. 

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.