A Rocha

A Rocha is an international network of environmental organisations with a Christian ethos. A Rocha, which means "the rock" in Portuguese (see entry Rocha), was founded in Portugal in 1983.[11]

A Rocha

Motto	Conservation and Hope
Predecessor	A Rocha Trust[1]
Founded	13 December 1983
Founder	Miranda and Peter Harris[2]
Type	environmental NGO network
Focus	community-based conservation projects[3]
Headquarters	London, UK
Origins	Constituted in the UK[4]
Area served	Worldwide
International chair	Rebecca Irvin[5]
Key people	Chris Wright (Council of Reference, ARI)[6] • Chris Naylor (Executive Director, ARI)[7] • Andy Atkins (CEO, UK)[8] • Rev Dave Bookless (Director of Theology, ARI)[9]
Revenue	GBP 0.8M for ARI (2017),[4] £4.6M globally[10]^:18 (2016)
Employees	144 (FTE)[10]^:20
Volunteers	841[10]^:20
Website	arocha.org

Organisation

The organisation network is constituted by A Rocha International (ARI), as a supporting body, and other organisations, which can be National Organizations or Associated Projects. Each organisation is independent.[12]

As of 2016, A Rocha is working in several countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Netherlands, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States.[12] There are ongoing conversations with other potential groups around the world, particularly in East and Southeast Asia.[10]^:8–9

A Rocha's modus operandi is based on five guiding principles: Christian, Conservation, Community, Cooperation, and Cross-Cultural.[3]

Work

A Rocha aims to protect the environment through local, community-based conservation, scientific research, and environmental education,[13] and they have “a track record of successes”.[14]

A bird ringer ageing a Hoopoe at the Cruzinha field studies centre, Portugal

A Rocha operates field study centres in Canada (two centres), France (two centres), India, Kenya, Portugal[15] and also in the Czech Republic.[16] These serve primarily as a base for A Rocha's and other organisations’ field studies and for environmental education, and most also offer accommodation for visitors.

Areas of A Rocha's work include:

• Species and landscape surveying and monitoring, such as raptor counts in Pembina Valley, Canada,[17] camera trapping of mammals in India,[18] the Kenya Bird Map,[19] dry grassland biodiversity surveys in Switzerland[20] and mapping tropical forests using unmanned aerial vehicles[21][22]
• Habitat and species restoration projects, such as mangrove restoration projects in Ghana,[23] and improving breeding chances for Grey-faced petrels by eradicating invasive mammals, restoring habitats and deploying artificial nests in Raglan, New Zealand[24]
• Reducing human–wildlife conflict in India, notably with elephants[25][26] and leopards[27]
• Setting up private or public parks and reserves such as the Kirosa Scott Reserve in Kenya,[28] and Foxearth Reserve[29] and Minet Country Park in the UK
• Enlarging and campaigning for the safeguarding of existing natural and protected areas, such as the Atewa Forest in Ghana,[30] and the Alvor Estuary in Portugal[31][32]
• Bridging biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods, such as via sustainable agriculture and community garden projects across Canada;[33] the Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Eco-tourism Scheme in Kenya;[25][34] the establishment of CREMAs (community resource management areas) around Mole National Park[25] and Lake Bosumtwi,[35] Ghana; and training community members in Uganda to construct bio-sand water filters[36]
• Environmental education activities and resources, such as the Wild Lebanon website in Lebanon[37] and "creation care camps" in the USA[38]
• Carbon footprint reduction and mitigation projects, such as producing charcoal briquettes from waste in Uganda,[39] the "Eco Church" church greening programme in the UK,[40] and running "Climate Stewards", a global programme which encourages people to reduce their carbon footprint, and accepts donations to offset emissions via community forestry and cookstove projects in Ghana, Kenya and Mexico[41]
• Cooperating worldwide for nature conservation, such as being a member of IUCN[42] and IUCN's European Habitats Forum[43]
• Engaging Christian communities with the relevance of nature conservation to the Christian faith, through conferences,[44] speaking engagements,[45] books[7] and papers,[9] and partnerships such as the Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network[46]

A Rocha also serves as an Erasmus+ / European Voluntary Service agency in France,[47] the Netherlands[48] and Portugal.[49]

References

1. Charity Commission for England and Wales. A Rocha Trust. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
2. A Rocha. Peter Harris. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
3. A Rocha. Meet A Rocha. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
4. Charity Commission for England and Wales. A Rocha International. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
5. A Rocha. Rebecca Irvin. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
6. A Rocha. International council of reference (People page filtered by team and position). Retrieved 26 October 2016.
7. Naylor, Chris. Postcards from the Middle East: How our family fell in love with the Arab world. Oxford, England 2015: Lion Hudson.
8. A Rocha UK. Meet the team. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
9. Bookless, Dave. The Bible and Biodiversity. The Jubilee Centre Cambridge Papers. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
10. A Rocha. International Review 2016/17. Retrieved from http://www.arocha.org/en/publications/international-review-20162017/ on 29 October 2018.
11. Elsdon, Ron (1992) Greenhouse Theology pp 193–195, Monarch, ISBN 1-85424-153-2.
12. A Rocha. Overview. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
13. Johnson, Marina. The Church of England Newspaper 1 August 2008: A Rocha: Spearheading the Green revolution in the church.
14. Awoyemi, S. M. (2008). "The Role of Religion in the HIV/AIDS Intervention in Africa: A Possible Model for Conservation Biology". Conservation Biology. 22 (4): 811–813. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01007.x. PMID 18786094.
15. A Rocha. Stay at our field study centres. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
16. A Rocha Czech Republic. Our field study centre Krupárna – The Mill. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
17. Stelmach, Lorne (17 June 2013). "Record raptor counts in the valley". The Morden Times. Morden, Manitoba. Retrieved 26 October 2016 – via pembinatoday.ca.
18. A Rocha India. Camera trapping. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
19. Animal Demography Unit, University of Cape Town. Welcome to the Kenya Bird Map project. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
20. A Rocha. Dry grasslands biodiversity surveys. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
21. A Rocha. Mapping tropical forests. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
22. Vaglio Laurin G, Chan JC-W, Chen Q, Lindsell JA, Coomes DA, Guerriero L, et al. (2014) Biodiversity Mapping in a Tropical West African Forest with Airborne Hyperspectral Data. PLOS ONE 9(6): e97910. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097910. Published 17 June 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
23. A Rocha Ghana. Community mangrove restoration project. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
24. Smallman, Elton Rikihana (14 September 2016). "Oi, grey faced petrel making a Raglan comeback". Stuff. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
25. Sluka, Robert D.; Kaonga, Martin; Weatherley, Janice; Anand, Vijay; Bosu, Daryl; Jackson, Colin (2011). "Christians, biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation: a potential synergy?". Biodiversity. 12 (2): 1–8. doi:10.1080/14888386.2011.599780.
26. Varma, S., Anand.V.D., Gopalakrishna S.P., Avinash, K.G., and Nishant M.S. (2009). Ecology, Conservation and Management of the Asian Elephant in Bannerghatta National Park, southern India. A Rocha India/ANCF: Asian Elephant Ecology and Conservation Reference Series No.1. A Rocha India and Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, Bangalore. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
27. A Rocha. Bangalore Leopard attack – what now?. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
28. A Rocha Kenya. Dakatcha Woodland. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
29. A Rocha UK. Foxearth: dawn of a new quest. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
30. A Rocha Ghana. Save Atewa Forest Archived 5 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
31. Taylor, Jenny (29 February 2012). "Religiously literate campaign secures prison sentence for rogue developer in Portuguese beauty spot". Archived from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
32. Donn, Natasha (5 February 2015). "Environmentalists slam council over Ria de Alvor development plans". Portugal Resident. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
33. A Rocha Canada. Sustainable Agriculture: Creation care through food. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
34. Collins, Susan Ashley (March 2008). ransformative Learning Through Conservation: A Case Study of the Arabuko-Sokoke Schools and Eco-tourism Scheme, Kenya (PDF) (Master of Natural Resource Management). Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
35. A Rocha Ghana. Collaborative Ecosystems Conservation of Lake Bosumtwi. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
36. French Republic. 100 Projects for the Climate: Women, Water & Climate. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
37. A Rocha Lebanon. Wild Lebanon – Powered by A Rocha. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
38. A Rocha USA. Creation Care Camp. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
39. A Rocha Uganda. Charcoal briquettes. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
40. "St Paul's Goes Green for Eco Church". St Paul's Cathedral. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
41. Climate Stewards. Home page. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
42. IUCN. Members database. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
43. IUCN. European Habitats Forum. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
44. Regent College. Holy Ground: Answering God’s Call to Creation Care. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
45. Olelo Community Media (5 September 2016). IUCN 2016: High-level Session 5 Sep – Connections: Spirituality & Conservation (ID: #WCC_13830) (Video). Honolulu, Hawai‘i: IUCN. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
46. Lausanne/WEA Creation Care Network. About. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
47. European Youth Portal. Volunteering organisation information: A Rocha France. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
48. European Youth Portal. Volunteering organisation information: Stichting A Rocha Nederland. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
49. European Youth Portal. Volunteering organisation information: A Rocha – Associação Cristã de Estudo e Defesa do Ambiente. Retrieved 25 October 2016.