Two men emerged and picked up the dead bird, probably destined to make a bedraggled trophy on a shelf somewhere. For many migrating birds of prey in southern Europe and the Middle East, that destination is almost as probable as the remaining woodlands of northern Africa. Estimates vary of the number of all kinds of birds who fall prey to hunters and trappers around the Mediterranean each spring and autumn, but it is probably over 20 million.
On this particular morning, at least, the eagle's demise did not go unlamented; there was an opportunity for A Rocha team members to explain to its hunters a little more of how the bird might have lived if allowed to continue on its way, and to ask them to consider whether they were happy with the idea that their grandchildren might never see the bird in the wild. That was a new idea, it seemed.
Stewardship
So what is A Rocha, and why hear about eagles and extinction in a Christian magazine? And what is a project with a Portuguese name doing in Lebanon? The A Rocha Trust was established 14 years ago to set up a field study centre and bird observatory in southern Portugal. The project aimed to express in practical ways our biblical convictions about environmental stewardship, and to find common ground with conservationists so that we could explain the relevance of the gospel. Since then, the centre has been visited by hundreds of students and others, from all over Europe and beyond, who have been part of its various activities. For many of them, it is the first time they have met committed Christians, and the shared interest in environmental studies gives a powerful context for explaining the gospel .
The team has grown to six people plus two or three volunteers at a time, and the work is now the responsibility of Associacao A Rocha, a national association with strong links to the national Christian movement, the GBU. It has been involved in a lengthy campaign to protect the Alvor estuary, one of south-west Portugal's remaining wetlands, and have carried out many fundamental surveys of the area's rare inhabitants.
An extensive schools programme has been developed, and the fieldwork of the centre has covered most of the animal and plant groups, as well as insect studies. A database of over 50,000 birds ringed at the centre is available to national and international researchers, and both the European Community and the Portuguese government have funded some of the studies. Over the years, we have seen a dramatic change in local attitudes to the environment, the implementation of effective planning controls and the growth of several new conservation groups.
Creed and conservation
Meanwhile, environmental concerns in many parts of the world have become more pressing, and Christian churches find their communities increasingly subject to the effects of pollution, loss of firewood or clean water, or degraded agricultural land. At the same time, there is a growing realisation in the secular conservation community that the way we all treat the world around us has a lot to do with what we believe about it. Organisations such as the World Wide Fund for Nature have given resources to encouraging the link between belief and the environment, and analytical work by groups as technocratic as the Presidents Council on Sustainable Development in the USA have given clear recognition to the strength of Christian work in environmental issues.
Many people have come to realise that ecological problems cannot be addressed by purely technical solutions. For A Rocha, this has emphasised the need to respond to a growing interest in the work we have done, as we have tried to tackle the problems of nature conservation in a local area by expressing our Christian belief in study, campaigning and education. One initiative has been the establishment of a small office in Cambridge, to enable the Trust to set up further projects and to share what it has learned more widely.
New work
The first steps towards an A Rocha centre in Lebanon were taken last year, following some energetic work by a Christian university lecturer in Beirut, and it is hoped that initial support from the UN will continue as the full-time team forms later in 1997.
In Poland, A Rocha supporters have been working with a youth camp to evaluate the surrounding habitats so that they can be used for environmental education. In Argentina, links have been formed with a church centre running a programme of environment education for schools. November saw the beginning of work in France and the first steps towards a centre in the south of the country.
In Kenya, a former team member, now working as an ornithologist at the National Museum, is actively exploring possibilities for A Rocha work with students and teachers. Meanwhile in the UK, the Trust worked with the Evangelical Alliance's Creation Care initiative in order to sponsor Conservation Sunday, this year to be held on June 15.
August 17 sees the third year of A Rocha events at the Birdwatching Fair which attracts 30,000 visitors to Rutland Water, and John Stott will be speaking at a special service on Sunday morning.
Why bother?
The questions that faced A Rocha from the Christian community in the early days are rarely heard now. We do not often have to explain that there is an environmental crisis, or why it is the poor, worldwide, who bear the heaviest burden of environmental abuse rather than the wealthy, or why it is not sufficient simply to leave it to Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth.
Now we can point to what we have done, it is easier to explain our commitment to human communities, as well as the natural habitats in and around them, than it was in the early days when it was just a bright idea.
The real issue of the day seems to be that in the face of such enormous problems, it is hard to see the point of doing anything at all. As the biologist Charles Bowden said: 'For people who hate to learn the names of things, the world is getting better every day.' These are not good days for conservationists. A recent survey, published by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, estimates that within the next decade over 10% of the world's mammal species will be lost, a tendency to extinction that is matched in every area of the natural world. Our own study site in Portugal remains precariously protected, and the Lebanon team confront a landscape that is irreparably damaged.
As we begin work in France, no-one is under any illusions that it will make much difference for many years to come. Inevitably, therefore, the question: 'Why bother?' is often put to A Rocha. The forces shaping our landscapes and changing our world seem beyond the reach of any group or organisation, let alone a tiny one such as we are. If we accepted that the only reason for working was to bring about major changes, then we would have to agree that it seems hopeless. But three strong themes in the work of A Rocha keep us going in the face of bad news.
Three themes
The first is that while we want to see widespread changes, we must start by taking responsibility for change in ourselves and the places where we can work. Lots of famous sayings about lighting candles in the darkness and good people doing nothing, echo a conviction that the only issue is not dramatic results on a large scale. One of Jesus' better known ornithological observations began with the story of a buried mustard seed; eventually it became a roost site and a breeding colony. Meanwhile, for him and for us, the important question is how we will live before any highly visible consequences can appear. In fact, all mission can only be sustained by a concern first of all for integrity, and only secondarily for results.
The second conviction follows. We want to be clear that what we do is first of all done for God. In that way, our fieldwork can be truly worship in the spirit of Paul's exhortation in Romans 12 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. It is in relation to God that the most significant human decisions are worked out, either negatively or positively, whether in the context of the environment or of the personal or social life. This is not an escape clause: it proves truly satisfying to direct our efforts firstly to living and working in ways that are pleasing to God, rather than taking a merely pragmatic route to environmental change. So the question: 'Why bother?' is replaced for us by another: 'Does God bother?'. Five minutes exposure to what we can learn of God through what he has made and caused to be written is enough to answer that. And if God cares, then so should we. And if we care, it must change how we live.
Finally, it is clear that Jesus bothered, and that outwardly the society of Israel did not look very different afterwards. Nevertheless he came, lived our life, suffered, died and was buried, rising on the third day. The yeast was in the bread, the seed in the ground, the kingdom in the world and on its way to eternity. The incarnation, which represents the local, undramatic presence of the living God, is our model for all we do and we pray for the grace to be true to Jesus, the Word made flesh, the proof of God's affirmation of his creation.
The future
There are now many A Rocha mustard seeds scattered around the world. Thanks to E-mail, conversations are going on with at least a dozen people who are thinking about work in six or seven countries on four continents. As experience in Lebanon and France has shown, it takes a lot of careful planning and work for good ideas to turn into good projects. There is no doubt that this is a time of remarkable opportunity, and we hope that at least some of those who read this will join us in catching the vision and become involved in the challenges of the coming years.
For more information about A Rocha, please contact Rachel Simonson, A Rocha Trust, 3 Hooper Street, Cambridge, CB1 2NZ, tel./fax 01223 358830, E-mail: 101646.643@compuserve.com.
Peter Harris
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