Weekly Action - 7 August 2023 - Rainforest Summit
Rainforest Summit
This Tuesday 8 – Wednesday 9 August, the leaders of the world’s main rainforest nations (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Peru, the Republic of Congo, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Venezuela) met in Belem, Brazil, for a major summit on deforestation. Arise’s weekly action this week focuses on the outcomes of the summit, and our weekly blog takes a wider look at deforestation. The summit didn’t reach universal agreement on the goal of many of the participants to end deforestation by 2030 and stop oil drilling or illegal mining in the Amazon. Nevertheless, there was still important progress on regional cooperation in the Amazon against illegal deforestation, protecting the rights of indigenous communities, cooperation on water management and establishing a scientific body to publish papers on the Amazon. The nations will also go into the COP 28 UN climate change talks at the end of the year with a solid platform to request further support from the international community to help them in the crucial role of protecting the rainforests, something which benefits all of us. [1]
Ending deforestation really matters. The destruction of rainforests around the world releases an enormous amount of stored carbon into the atmosphere, accelerating global climate change, which is already at incredibly dangerous levels. It also massively reduces complex and diverse biological ecosystems that benefit the whole world, and on which the whole world, and human society, is deeply dependent. Rafael, a friend of Arise from Brazil describes how deforestation has devastated the part of the country where he lives. After driving all day on roads in the hot sun though dusty and arid semi-desert, degraded land, he describes how “When I was a child this entire day’s journey would have been made in the shade of the trees. The rainforest was all around us. Now that has all gone, like it was never here.”
Caring for creation
As Christians we know that God’s beautiful creation belongs to him, not us, and we should cherish and take care of it. As the Psalms tells us, “How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures … All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.” (Psalm 104: 24 – 28) However, we have fallen far short of this. Our current linear economic model uses polluting methods to extract, consume, and then discard natural resources like the trees of the rainforest, faster than the planet can replenish them. We must shift to what experts call a circular economy. Just as God designed his creation so nothing is wasted in nature but gets broken down and reused in the biosphere (like we see in a rainforest), a circular economy would eliminate all pollution, overconsumption and waste and push resources back around the economy in a circular fashion, moving us back into balance with creation as God intended. Arise’s 4 Shifts Campaign calls for a shift to a circular economy as a key part of rewiring of our global economy to be green and fair, so it still creates the jobs and wealth that lift people out of poverty, but does so without relying on fossil fuels and overconsumption which is wrecking our planet.
A global circular economy law
To permanently end deforestation forever, the governments of the world should negotiate a new global circular economy law. This new global treaty should revise, strengthen and incorporate the existing global agreements on the environment into a single global agreement on the circular economy. Specifically this law should ban all polluting activity, further human expansion into wild lands (such as the deforestation of the rainforest), the production of natural resources that takes out more than it puts back in (thus ensuring all logging is done sustainably, replacing the trees cut down with new ones of the same type), and all waste. It should also prevent invasive species, and invest in conservation, re-wilding and reforestation programmes, so we can grow rather than reduce the world’s precious rainforests. This law should be implemented in every nation.
Will you take action as part of Arise’s 4 Shifts campaign this week and call for a global circular economy law?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Message the Prime Minister via social media. Ask him to respond to the concerns of the world’s rainforest nations over deforestation by shifting the UK and the world from overconsumption and waste to the circular economy. The government should call for a global circular economy law. This law should ban all polluting activity, further human expansion into wild lands, the production of natural resources that takes out more than it puts back in, and all waste, in order to trigger the shift to a circular economy. The government should also bring in a UK national circular economy law to implement it here in Britain. You can find the Prime Minister’s social media, details here
Pray
Pray for a complete end to the scourge of global deforestation. Pray for protection for the world’s rainforests and for replanting and regrowth. Pray that a global circular economy law will be brought in to end all forms of pollution and unsustainable production, including unsustainable deforestation.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like A Rocha that are doing crucial work to protect and preserve the species and habitats of God’s amazing creation, including rainforests. Consider giving to secular organisations like the World Wildlife Fund that are doing similar things.
Ethical Consumption
Avoid buying products that come from unsustainable deforestation, and instead buy products that display the little green frog of the Rainforest Alliance certification seal. This guarantees the product has come from farmers, foresters and companies who are working in sustainable ways to protect and enhance the environment and are not involved in unsustainable deforestation.
Practical Action
Arise is looking for volunteers to join our Council of Reference, and help strengthen our movement to tackle global challenges like deforestation. Contact us at info@ariseuk.org if you are interested.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.
Find out more about why the world needs 4 Shifts to transition to a green and fair global economy in Arise’s 4 Shifts Report, and how this forms part of God’s bigger vision for our world in the Arise Manifesto.
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[1] Rainforest countries form pact to demand conservation cash from rich nations, Reuters, (9 Aug 2023), https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/brazils-lula-seeks-global-rainforest-nation-pact-amazon-summit-2023-08-09/