The Bishop of Norwich is in Colombia, leading the Anglican delegation to the United Nations biodiversity conference (COP16).
It is expected to be the biggest UN biodiversity conference in history, with world leaders discussing joint action on biodiversity loss.
The Rt Revd Graham Usher is the lead bishop for the environment for the Church of England and has been giving, and attending, talks and presentations, and taking part in discussions.
His input includes talks about the role of faith communities in local nature recovery, and finance for biodiversity.
The Anglican delegation includes Anglican youth and indigenous representatives from around the world and will be highlighting five key areas as they share the Church’s call for immediate action on nature loss:
Reforestation – with a call to governments to ‘choose hope’ and work with faith groups on tree planting initiatives to restore ecosystems and address biodiversity loss.
Peace-building and reconciliation – with a call to governments to ‘choose peace,’ stop nature loss and slow climate change.
Supporting indigenous voices – with a call to governments to ‘choose wisdom,’ protecting indigenous land and learning from indigenous world-views which balance ecological and financial growth to ensure we live within natural boundaries
Fair finance – with a call to governments to ‘choose justice’ and fund plans for nature restoration in developing countries with grants not loans. They point out the poorest cannot afford nature restoration but those who have economically benefited from the extraction of resources have a moral duty to provide funding. They also call on individuals to find out how their banks and pension funds invest.
Protecting nature – with a call to governments to ‘choose wellbeing,’ highlighting how important a connection to the natural world is for childhood development and adult mental health. They also call for businesses to be obliged to disclose their impact on nature.
Ahead of the conference Bishop Graham told the Church Times: “This is a critical moment for the future of life on Earth. We are living in the midst of a biodiversity crisis: species are vanishing at an alarming rate, ecosystems are under pressure, and the delicate web of life is fraying faster than we can repair it.
“For too long, we’ve taken nature for granted, forgetting that our well-being depends on it.
“At COP 16, world leaders will meet to assess how well we are living up to promises to protect biodiversity—and the decisions made in Colombia will shape the future not just of the natural world, but of humanity itself.”
Just before the conference began Bishop Graham took a guided hike in a nearby national park, seeing the Andean motmot bird, the wood nymph hummingbird, butterflies, flowers and leaf-cutter ants. “My initial experience of biodiversity in Colombia is that it’s as if God kept the brightest colours of the creation paintbox for this region,” he said.