Tag: Rewilding

Green Tau: issue 118

24th October 2025

 Shaping a better world with Wild Card

This morning Wild Card handed both a petition with 122,000 signatures and an open letter  signed by nearly 50 high profile individuals and organisations, including, Green Party leader Zack Polanski, former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, former chair of the IPBES and IPCC Sir Robert T Watson, Green Christian and Christian Climate Action, to  Sarah Mullally the soon to be arch bishop of Canterbury . The petition took the form of a beautiful crafted paper model of the Ark, covered all the names, and  which was carried aloft (by dignitaries that included Chris Packham and Helen Burnett who both made eloquent addresses) accompanied by an eagle, a beaver and a salmon, a whole host of flags and banners and well wishers wearing an assortment of decorative hats and tokens of the natural world. 

The petition and the letter asked the Church Commissioners undertake to rewild 30% of the land that they currently steward on behalf of the Church corporate. (1) This land totals 108,000 acres of land (the equivalent of 60,000 football pitches) and that is separate from land owned by individual parishes and dioceses (which interestingly is an almost equivalent amount).

The United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted nations in the world. Recognising the extent of this and its adverse impact on our wellbeing, the UK government has joined with others in 2022 in signing up to the  international Global Biodiversity Framework (2), undertaking to restore and protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. Currently only 2.83% (3) of land in England meets the desired nature-rich standard so there is clearly a lot of ground yet to be covered in the next four years! The area of land under the control of the Church Commissioners makes the Church part of the 1% that owns 50% of the land in the UK.

Wild Card is raising awareness about the necessity of rewilding – the natural environment is our life-supply system providing us with fertile soils, pollinators, fresh air, clean water, carbon capture and flood protection, as well as enabling food production and medicines, mental wellbeing and recreation – and calling on major landowners to step up to the mark and and rewild – restore and protect for nature – 30% of their land. 

Surely the Church as a Christian organisation, with the God-given commands to cherish and protect the Earth and to love our neighbours, should be at the forefront of this campaign and leading by example?

Sadly no one at St Paul’s Cathedral would receive the Ark nor allow its entry into that place of worship. Instead a phalanx of security personal ensured that no one trespassed onto the steps of that august building. 

(1) https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-church

 (2) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criteria-for-30by30-on-land-in-england/30by30-on-land-in-england-confirmed-criteria-and-next-steps

(3) https://www.wcl.org.uk/30by30-press-release-2025.asp

PS You can still add your name to the petition – https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/help-save-nature-by-rewilding-the-church-s-massive-landholdings

PPS you can read Helen’s beautiful address here – 

In the story of  Noah  and  his Ark  you may notice all sorts of things  but the  bit  that always bugs  me is that Noah’s  wife doesn’t get a name…………… 

So, let’s start  this  morning by  celebrating loud and  clear  what a delight  it  is  to be addressing Sarah Mullaly first  ever  woman to hold the  post of the Archbishop  of Canterbury

At the  helm as the Archbishop of Canterbury , she will become our  very own  21st century   Noah and  inherits a precious ship  that  must  not  sink.

We pray  that she will not be overwhelmed  by  the  floods  that threaten  us,  but that instead,  she will read the signs  of the  times and have the courage to save the  biodiversity  of this land –  that she will do all  she  can to advocate for wilding church land and to  act as a bulwark  against the biodiversity and nature  crisis of our times

Bishop Sarah’s first words to  a waiting world were so  encouraging  – 

‘ In the apparent chaos which surrounds us, in the midst of such profound global uncertainty, the possibility of healing lies in acts of kindness and love.’

Our hope this  morning is that  it will be kindness and  love  for  our  ‘other  than human’ kin that will  move Bishop Sarah to  do all  that  she can to steer and shepherd us through these times, 

to lead the church  with  the urgency of  Noah  building the ark,  

and to  act now to  use  church land for  healing, regeneration and restoration.

How amazing would  it  be  if the Church of England, through  pressure  on the Church Commissioners, could  be  the dove that bears the  olive  branch of  hope, setting a  tide change for  other  major  land holders to  wild their land.

Bishop Sarah also said …….. 

‘In parishes across this nation, I see faithful clergy and congregations worshipping God and loving their neighbours.’ 

In  my  tiny little  parish,  we  have a church yard where we are trying, through  careful land  management    to bring  back species of  flora and  fauna  lost to  the  Surrey  Hills. 

We have created a wildlife corridor the  length  of the  boundary  wall between us and the  neighbouring  agricultural  land. 

In our  small  way  we are seeking to  restore,  and so, I call upon on our  new Archbishop to join us  on  our  journey  of  messy  churchyards and  No Mow Mays to let  nature do it’s  healing even when it doesn’t  look tidy??? Even  when it  doesn’t fit the financial portfolio to do so.

Imagine  200/108,000 acres of wonderful  untidiness and what  that  could  do – could   church, like the ark be a beacon of hope to  a  world  in crisis ?

Today  we  implore Bishop Sarah to include  in her  new  vocation,  the vanishing wildlife  of  our  precious land, 

And I say  this directly to her, “as the first  female Archbishop of Canterbury unlike Noah’s wife you will have a powerful voice with  which to  advocate for all species and  you  do not  even need to build an Ark !”

In this  role you have the  power to guide and shepherd the Church Commissioners and the broader Church to recognise that ecological collapse and climate crisis are intertwined issues that need to be addressed with the urgency of Noah.

In the words  of the recent  vision  statement  from Christian Climate Action we   appeal  for the Church of England,  to  find  its  courage, cease doing  harm  and  return  to its roots, to  Stop Crucifying Creation and  to be a place  of resurrection.

The church  commissioners  could  cease doing  harm by  simply  dedicating  one third  of their  land to  biodiversity  restoration , yes, this would take courage but  it would represent a  return  to  the roots  of a radical  living  out  of the faith that honours  all things and  sees  all creation  as sacred. Today,  as a lover  of  God’s creation  and  member of her clergy I want to  thank Bishop Sarah  for her words in Canterbury cathedral:

‘Hope’, she said, ‘is made of the infinite love of God, who breathed life into creation and said it was good’

That  goodness  now  lies  precariously close to collapse , can she  give  us back  that  hope and  be the Noah we  need to steer  our  ark through the  biodiversity crisis  towards that moment when we can, once again, see in the distance the dove  bearing  an olive  branch?

Helen Burnett

Counting on … day 110

16th July 2025

Might one think that a ditch is just a wasted bit of land that collects water as and when it rains? Or might it, like the verge, be a potential green corridor benefitting wild life? Here is an example from Bedfordshire where a ditch was  turned  “into a complex wetland habitat.” (1) Or in southwest London where the work of previous generation, who canalised a local stream with the consequence that rainwater quickly flowed through causing downstream flooding, was overturned to create a vibrant biodiverse rich habitat. (2)

Rewilding ditches, streams and ponds not only improve biodiversity but help with flood prevention. (3)

  1. https://restorenature.com/turning-a-ditch-into-a-complex-wetland-habitat/
  2. https://www.southeastriverstrust.org/beverley-brook/

(3) https://assets.rewildingbritain.org.uk/documents/Rewilding_FloodReport_AUG2016_FINAL.pdf

Counting on … day 108

14th July 2025

The UK has committed to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30by30), to support the global 30by30 target agreed at the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) in 2022. (1) Currently just over 14% of land in England meets this target so achieving this goal will require significant change and input from landowners and government. 

Gardens can make a small contribution. Rewilding part of a garden is not to waste one’s garden but to create a space where wildlife – be that insects, beetles, birds etc or wild plants (often discarded for being weeds) can thrive. Collectively wild spaces in gardens can provide green corridors for wild life. 

  1. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criteria-for-30by30-on-land-in-england/30by30-on-land-in-england-confirmed-criteria-and-next-steps

Further information

https://greentau.org/2022/04/04/the-green-tau-issue-39/ (Since writing this blog, the green proportion of Greater London is now almost 50%)

Third Sunday of Easter

4th May 2025

Reflection with readings below

What is our calling in the new age of the resurrection?

Jesus after that first Easter morning, is the same but not the same. His physical appearance is the same or perhaps not; his physical abilities are the same but also not the same. And his relationship with his disciples is the same but not the same.

Last week we heard of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Jesus. She recognised who he was when he spoke her name. Thomas recognised the risen Jesus when he was shown Jesus’s wounds. And where as Thomas was invited to touch Jesus and feel his reality, Mary was told ‘Don’t touch, don’t cling to me.’ And whilst Mary has a unique personal encounter with the risen Jesus, Simon Peter and the beloved disciple don’t get to meet the risen Jesus until several hours later and then in the company of the whole group of the disciples. 

In today’s gospel reading, the disciples – certainly those whose trade was fishing – have gone back to Galilee and back to their old jobs. Although as chance would have it, without much success! Close to dawn, they see Jesus on the shore – but as with Mary Magdalene – not  recognising who he is. Then, whether it is because of his voice or because of the super abundant catch they make, the beloved disciple realises who it is. And Peter is overwhelmed and, in his desire to once more be with Jesus, jumps overboard the faster to get to the shore and Jesus. 

As Jesus gives them breakfast, sharing the bread and fish with them, all the disciples know for true, that this is the risen Jesus. Then Jesus asks Peter three times ‘Do you love me?’. And because Peter does, Jesus gives him a task that will take a life time to complete – to feed, to care, to ‘shepherd’ all those who are or will become Jesus’s followers. Peter and his fellow companions are not going to return to their previous fishing careers. These disciples who had journeyed with Jesus back and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem, who had witnessed the signs Jesus had performed, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, lubricating a wedding; who had listened to Jesus debate with the scribes and Pharisees and win the argument; who had seen Jesus befriend the outcast and the despised – these disciples were now being called take on this mantle that had been Jesus’s and to share the gospel far and wide.  This is their new calling in the new age of the resurrection. 

Our first reading from the Book of Acts, tells of the conversion experience of Saul (also known as Paul).   As dedicated but short-sighted Pharisee, Saul does what he thinks is right and with his trademark vigour, sets out to persecute any who have become followers of Jesus – followers of from Saul’s viewpoint, of a dead and gone renegade. But on the road to Damascus, Saul has a resurrection encounter with Jesus which transforms his vocation. Now, within the resurrection age into which he has, so as to speak, been born from above/ again, Saul (or Paul) becomes one of the most ardent missioners taking the gospel to many people and all the time deepening his relationship with the risen Jesus and expanding on the theological understanding of the church.

So for us in the 21st century when some people are still persecuted for holding onto the wrong faith, where some people are still despised and abused, when there is still hunger and suffering, when there is still greed and the abuse of power, when the natural world is being destroyed by the hour, what is our calling as people of the resurrection age? What is our relationship with the risen Jesus? 

Do we feed and tend the sheep? Do we share the gospel? Do we continue to explore and develop our relationships with Jesus and our theological understanding of our mission? 

Yes! And in particular I would suggest that one thing the world especially needs to hear is truth – the truth about the climate and ecological crisis; the truth about the widening gap between rich and poor; the truth about the injustices that many people face across the world; the truth about the failure of war as a means of establishing peace. And that that the message of truth should be backed up by actions. 

For example, the level of biodiversity in the UK makes us one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, yet a rich biodiversity is essential for pollinating crops, for keeping the soil fertile, for limiting the effects of flooding, for cleaning the air. Improving and maintaining biodiversity is a key part of Jesus’s  call that we should ‘feed my sheep’. Yet is this a truth widely spoken about or heard?

We should talk about the importance of nature, of biodiversity, of its importance for human flourishing. Both with friends and family, with local authorities and businesses, with government and corporations. 

And then there are many ways we can then act in response. By promoting wildlife in our gardens, church yards, etc. By eating a richer plant based diet. By supporting groups such as the RSPB, the Wild Life Trusts, the National Trust. By campaigning, pressing the government to properly fund the agricultural sector so that farmers can care for the land sustainably and to support rewilding. Indeed the UK government has signed an international treaty pledging to rewild 30% of the land and sea for for the benefit of nature by 2030. By campaigning for the Church of England to give a lead by rewilding 30% of the land in its care – including that held as an investment. And what better investment than securing a rich biodiverse environment!

Acts 9:1- 20

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptised, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Psalm 30

1 I will exalt you, O Lord,
because you have lifted me up *
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.

2 O  Lord my God, I cried out to you, *
and you restored me to health.

3 You brought me up, O  Lord, from the dead; *
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.

4 Sing to the  Lord, you servants of his; *
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.

5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, *
his favour for a lifetime.

6 Weeping may spend the night, *
but joy comes in the morning.

7 While I felt secure, I said,
“I shall never be disturbed. *
You,  Lord, with your favour, made me as strong as the mountains.”

8 Then you hid your face, *
and I was filled with fear.

9 I cried to you, O  Lord; *
I pleaded with the Lord, saying,

10 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? *
will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?

11 Hear, O  Lord, and have mercy upon me; *
O  Lord, be my helper.”

12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; *
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.

13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; *
O  Lord my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

Revelation 5:11-14

I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honour and glory and blessing!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

John 21:1-19

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

31 Days Wild: 2nd May 2025

In Braiding Sweetgrass,  Robin Wall Kimmerer writes of the reciprocal nature of gift. The Earth gifts us with plants and we gift the Earth the care and attention with which those plants thrive. The same is true for other living beings including insects.

I was gifted a bee hotel. For several years there were no guests. Then the bee hotel was blown down in a storm so temporarily I placed it in a nearby bench. The following summer every room in the hotel was occupied, each bamboo tube sealed with a paste of soil or brick dust. And every year since then red mason bees have made a beeline for the hotel. 

It seems that rewilding our environment can involve positive intervention – reciprocating nature’s gift. 

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/bees-and-wasps/red-mason-bee

Counting on … day 200

25th October 2024

There are a multitude of other petitions out there calling for the restoration of nature as more and more people realise the desperately depleted state of biodiversity in both the UK and world-wide.

Last month WWF handed in a petition to all the major political parties with 57,685 signatures to prove that the public want real action from the new government, and all political leaders, to stop the destruction of nature. (1) 

Here are a selection of similar live petitions –

Wild Card has a petition calling on the Church Commissioners to rewild 30% of the estates they control  – currently this petition stands at over 100,000 signatures

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/help-save-nature-by-rewilding-the-church-s-massive-landholdings

The RSPB is calling on the government to provide better funding for nature friendly farming 

https://action.rspb.org.uk/page/156168/petition/1?locale=en-GB

And Rewilding Britain is calling for the government to rewild 30% of British land and waters by 2030

https://act.rewildingbritain.org.uk/
  1. https://www.wwf.org.uk/success-stories/stop-destruction-nature-petition

Counting on … day 192

15th October 2024

Rewilding the sea – seawilding – is as important as rewilding the land. Rewilding Britain explains why. “Britain’s seas used to be home to the biggest creatures on the planet: blue, humpback, fin, sperm, bottlenose and sei whales. Our rich, soupy waters helped fuel a thriving, diverse ecosystem, attracting huge numbers of small fish, and in turn massive balls of herring and whiting, which would bring these ocean giants to our shores to feed. Like the decline of large mammals on land, whales were hunted to near local extinction for their meat and oil. Alongside the decline of these very visible giants, all marine ecosystems are suffering. The UK has lost around 92% of its seagrass meadows, 95% of its native oyster reefs and nearly all its kelp in regions like Sussex where it once was abundant” (1)

In February 2023 three areas of water of the coast of England were given the status of Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMA) where all activities such as fishing, mining and laying cables that might damage the sea bed, are banned. The aim is to protect marine biodiversity by allowing seaweeds such as kelp and sea creatures to recolonise the sites. That said, these areas cover only 0.5% of English seas. 

There are other projects where a proactive approach has been taken by actively replanting new kelp meadows – such as the Sussex Kelp Recovery Project – or in the Humber Estuary by creating oyster reefs to serve as nurseries for the reintroduction of native oysters (2)

  1. https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/what-is-rewilding/examples/introduction-marine-rewilding

(2) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/02/oyster-restoration-project-rebuild-uk-reefs-overfishing-seabed-trawling?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 191

14th October 2024

As important as restoring the biodiversity of our land, is restoring the biodiversity of our coasts. In particular this can include restoring wetland areas which can receive the varying inflow of water, whether tidal or flooding from rivers. These are liminal areas which can support a diversity of plants, birds, animals and sea creatures – many of which are only to be found in these areas of water flow and retreat. 

Salt marshes are wetlands that are regularly inundated by sea water, of which WWT Stewart Marshes in Somerset is an example. Steart Marshes are part of an ongoing rewilding project that aims “to recreate natural wetland features that would protect the area against flooding, restore biodiversity, provide a place for people to enjoy nature and mitigate for climate change. The area has already attracted otters, egrets, owls and spoonbills, as well as providing grazing for locally produced saltmarsh lamb and beef.” (1)

In the Thames Estuary another rewilding project has been evolving. “RSPB Wallasea Island is a stunning landscape of marshland, lagoons, ditches and sea. The landscape has been restored through a managed realignment project. This ambitious project used more than three million tonnes of earth from the tunnels and shafts created by the Crossrail project in London. The material has allowed the project to create a new 115 ha intertidal area of saltmarsh, mudflats and islands. This has created an important habitat for a wide range of species – from plants, to birds and invertebrates. The whole area now supports an abundance of species rich habitat. Grazing animals on site provide an income stream to the farmer. The project offers guided walks and nature trails, and this increase in visitors has benefitted local shops. (2) 

  1. https://www.wwt.org.uk/discover-wetlands/wetlands/saltmarsh/
  2. https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/rewilding-projects/wallasea-island

Green Tau: issue 96

13th October 2024

The biodiversity crisis and the Church

Globally we have been loosing vast amounts of the rich biodiversity which God gave us – both with the extinction of individual species and with the loss of numbers within species. The Natural History Museum has produced the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) which “measures biodiversity change using abundance data on plants, fungi and animals worldwide. The Index shows how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human pressures such as land use change and intensification.” A BII of less than 90% is considered to be detrimental to planetary wellbeing. Sadly large amounts of the globe, including Europe, fall below this level. (1) For the UK the BIK is 53%.

The UK’s State of Nature Report 2023 noted that species studied had declined on average by 19% since 1970; that 16% of species were threatened with extinction – including 43% of birds, 31% of amphibians and reptiles, and 28% of fungi and lichen – and that 151 of the 10,008 species assessed had already become extinct since 1500.(2)

This year’s Big Butterfly Count Big Butterfly Count revealed the lowest numbers on record. (3)

Biodiversity loss in the UK – as well as globally – is real and alarming. 

Why is the of concern? 

Agricultural production is dependent on healthy soils but this relies on a multitude of organisms that live in the soil. If these become depleted in both number and diversity, the health of the soil suffers – and this is not something that can be repaired by the addition of artificial fertilisers.

Many crops are dependent on pollinators, typically insects. If these decline in number and diversity, yields decline. 

Agricultural yields can be adversely affected by flooding. Declining areas of wetlands, of peat moors, of woodlands, and of natural river courses and floodplains, increased the risk and extent of flooding.

Food security is also threatened if we become reliant on only a few commercial species. A virus or a change in climate can wipe out crops. Future losses can be avoided if scientists can access wild plants that have more resilient characteristics. But what if those wild alternatives are no longer there? 

Air quality too is affected by the decline in biodiversity. Trees in particular, but other plants too, are important natural absorbers of pollutants both in the air and in the water. 

The lack of anyone species can cause a cascading affect where other dependent species also decline. Declining numbers of insects lead to declining numbers of species of birds and bats. Biodiversity decline can accelerate at speed.

Biodiversity loss affects us as spiritual beings. Our lives are diminished as biodiversity is diminished. I have never heard a nightingale sing – that is a loss. I am lucky that as a child I did hear cuckoos, and even now as an adult, I do hear sky larks because they are still resident in Richmond Park. If I did not have green spaces to walk in, my mental health would suffer. 

God too suffers from the loss of biodiversity. By their very nature, the flora and fauna of this world praises God in an endless wordless song. As they decline, so does this profound worship. 

The nations of the world have been rightly concerned at the rapid loss of biodiversity globally and the impact that was – and increasingly would have – on human life and wellbeing. In 2022 the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) agreed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). This set out to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30 per cent of the planet and 30 per cent of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030. This is often summarised as the 30:30 target.  (4) 

The UK government was party to this UN Conference and undertook the commitment to achieving this 30:30 target. However it is a tough target and progress to date has been slow and patchy. 

Earlier this year  Restore Nature Now organised a march in London in which between 60,000 and 100,000 people took part, representing  a wide range for groups including the RSPB, the National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts, the Climate Coalition, WWF-UK, the WWT, the Woodland Trust, the Wildlife and Countryside Link, Rewilding Britain, Extinction Rebellion and Christian Climate Action. 

Their demand was for more and greater action by the government. (5)

Last weekend another march took place organised by the group, Wild Card. A scroll was unrolled before the vast edifice of St Paul’s Cathedral, revealing 95 theses as to why as Christians and therefore as a Church, we should care about biodiversity and the well-being of the natural world. Just as Martin Luther’s 95 theses were put forward to stimulate theological debate, so too are these theses. (6) 

Hymns were sung and speeches given, highlighting the plight of biodiversity and calling on the Church to show leadership in addressing the crisis. In particular the call was made that the Church Commissioners, as stewards of extensive land holdings (105,000 hectares) , should undertake to rewild 30% by 2030. (7)

Wild Card defines rewilding thus: “To rewild the land and water is to allow untamed life to return to ecosystems and landscapes, such that they are once again sustained by the natural processes that created them in the first place. In restoring these processes, humans are often intimately involved. Be it from rewetting bogs to reintroducing missing species, humans are very much invited to the rewilding party.” (8) Rewilding goes beyond goes simply protecting the biodiversity we still have and seeks to restore the biodiversity of our environment back towards 90% BII needed for a sustainable future. 

Of course rewilding church land will have a profound effect on what we harvest – less meat and milk, more diverse horticultural and sylvocultural products; less cereal crops for animal feed, more meadows, fenlands and heaths; less livestock, more wild birds and animals; less mono-species plantations, more mixed broadleaf woodlands; less factory farming, more blue and green spaces for spiritual and mental re-creation, and more green jobs. There will be tough decisions to make and we all need to be part of the discussion: what changes in the lifestyles we live are we prepared to make. As Christians we are called throughout our life time to repent and believe, we are called embrace ‘metanoia’ – to see things differently, to change direction, to transform our relationships.

(1) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/services/data/biodiversity-intactness-index.html

(2) https://stateofnature.org.uk/

(3) https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/uk-butterfly-emergency-declared

(4) https://www.cbd.int/gbf

(5) https://www.restorenaturenow.com/aims

(6) https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-church/95-wild-theses

(7) https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-church

(8) https://wildcard.land/about/about-wildcard

Counting on … day 189

10th October 2024

Restoring biodiversity and protecting 30% of the UK is going to need a widespread reworking of farming practices and objectives. This will mean taking some land out of food production – eg to create peat bogs or woodlands – but on the other hand if we view land as the means of supporting not just food production but primarily as the means of supporting life, this makes sense. Should we be paying a life support tax to finance this? 

Restoring biodiversity will also mean reducing the intensity with which the land is farmed for food – widening existing, and planting new, hedges, cultivating the borders of fields as wild flower meadows, creating ponds and rewiggling rivers, reducing stocking levels (and reducing the total number of livestock to a proportionate level given that for every animal more land has to be used to grow feed crops), changing crop planting patterns to reduce the need for fertilisers that then pollute waterways etc. 

All this will mean a change in the way we eat. We need to switch to diets that are largely plant-based and dependent on locally grown crops. Diets that will in fact be both tasty and healthy.