May webflash

New improved Climate Stewards!

A Rocha has relaunched Climate Stewards. It now looks better and has a more sophisticated calculator so that you can get a much clearer idea of your carbon footprint. You can also find out more about climate change and what A Rocha is doing to combat it.

In the UK two major Christian organisations, Tearfund and Compassion, are already in partnership with us. We have started to fund our first tree-planting project in Ghana and hope to follow it with projects in South Africa, Kenya and Peru. We have more potential projects than funds to give them, so we have plenty of opportunities to offset your emissions.

Maungatautari Ecological Is, New Zealand.

A Rocha New Zealand

The Kiwis are delighted to announce that they are joining the A Rocha family, and bringing the A Rocha vision to the South Pacific. They say, “We have been very encouraged over the past three years to meet many people in New Zealand who see the importance of creation care in our Christian walk. We hope that now we are an official A Rocha group, we can bring real shape to the environmental concerns of Kiwi Christians. Our initial goals are to raise awareness in the church of the importance of creation care, and to seek models of partnership with Maori (indigenous people). From the start we want to engage in practical ways, partnering with existing conservation initiatives until we have our own site.”

If you want to be added to their mailing list, e-mail: new.zealand@arocha.org

A pair of Marsh Harriers by Cheryl Cousins

Marsh Harriers return

Last year a pair of Marsh Harriers Circus aeruginosus bred at the Aammiq Wetland in Lebanon for the first time in over thirty years. Their return is a sign that the wetland ecosystem is recovering from the burning, over-grazing and heavy hunting of previous years, and is a big encouragement to the owners, A Rocha team members and others who have worked hard to study and protect this site. Aammiq is increasingly important to both resident wildlife and the migrants passing through in big numbers at this time of year.