The project offers young people the opportunity to acquire competences in scientific studies of flora, fauna and ecosystems and to put this into practice by implementing projects for managing and protecting the sensitive and threatened wetlands of the Vallée des Baux near Arles. Volunteers will take part in observation, monitoring or censing of species, taking samples and analyzing them, protecting biodiversity of the sites managed by A Rocha by direct actions (tree planting, vegetation cutting, setting up nesting boxes or perches, etc). Specific time (up to 10%) will be devoted to learning French language, 10% of the time will be devoted to communicating about the ESC through different medium (video, stands, articles). 30% of the time will be spent on tasks related to the proper functioning of the Centre A Rocha France: – Welcoming visitors – Maintenance of the domain and its park, various tasks related to Community life.
Send resume and motivation (with two references) to Coline Raillon, Nature Projects manager at Les Courmettes : coline.raillon@test.arocha.org
The volunteers are housed at the study centre, which is also the logistic base for the projects, the head office and the hub for running the life of the team. They share rooms (1 to 2 people of the same sex per room). Lunch and supper are eaten together during the week with the team and any other participants at fixed times. Breakfasts are self-service. The team members take turns at preparing the meals for the group. Special diets are catered for. The centre is no-smoking. Bikes are available for getting around. Rules of life might be adapted due to the COVID situation.
Training will be provided at arrival concerning the rules of life at the center, community life, week planning and project and activity description. Field work training is provided all along the project to the volunteer such as: species identification skills, protocols, use of observation tools and other field equipment. Training in database management, data analysis and report drafting is also provided depending on the volunteer skills at arrival.
We are looking for volunteers who have a real interest in protecting the environment. They will need to enjoy life in the country and the contact with the flora and fauna, which means sometimes putting up with difficult conditions, getting around by bike, the wind, dry heat, etc. The volunteers will have to show that they can take initiatives in the tasks they undertake and take them through to completion. They should not hesitate to ask for clarification or direction if necessary for their projects. A basic knowledge of French is an advantage for the volunteers, but not a necessity.
Starting by the end of February 2023 for a year
Les Courmettes is a natural site of 600ha in a Natura 2000 area. Located nearby Nice, scientific studies and monitorings are implemented along side actions to raise awereness and train people. The European volunteers, under the direction of the nature activities manager, will participate in protecting this rich site by reconciling both nature conservation and welcoming the public. Volunteers will develop competences in environmental education, scientific studies and natural site management.
Send resume and motivation (with two references) to Coline Raillon, Nature Projects manager at Les Courmettes : coline.raillon@test.arocha.org
Volunteers will take part in :
Volunteers are housed at the Courmettes centre, which is also the logistical base for the projects, A Rocha France’s head office and the hub for running the life of the team. Rooms are shared (1 to 2 people of the same sex per room). Lunch and supper, prepared by a cook, are eaten together at fixed times during the week with the team and any other participants. When the cook is absent, team members take turns to prepare meals. Breakfasts are self-service. Vegetarian diets can be offered. Cars are available (with a fee) to get around. The modus vivendi ‘rules of life’ may be adapted due to the COVID situation.
As part of A Rocha’s 40th Anniversary, we’re excited to introduce the new five-part video series, ‘Elements of hope’. From discovering the beauty in the small things, to understanding the importance of planting roots long-term, to exploring the connection between nature and mental health, the series offers a powerful message of hope in the face of today’s conservation challenges. Stay tuned for all five videos premiering throughout the year – starting with the first video, ‘I am a conservationist’.
We all have a role to play in protecting and preserving our planet. Being a conservationist doesn’t mean you have to be a scientist or work for a non-profit. It’s about making small changes in our daily lives and using our unique talents and skills to make a difference. Conservation needs everyone.
Join the movement and show the world that conservation is not just for scientists or activists, it’s for all of us. Show us what you’re doing for nature by sharing your stories, photos, and videos on social media with the hashtag #iamaconservationist. Together, we can create a more sustainable and resilient future for all creation.
Over forty years, A Rocha has been peacekeepers in elephant/human conflict in India, planted indigenous trees from Nigeria to Peru, fed undernourished children with the produce of our sustainable agriculture programme in Canada and become a credible voice of hope in the increasingly fraught environmental conversation.
As we reach this significant milestone, you are invited to become part of the story of God’s work through us in this world. We are looking for 40 gifts of $40,000 for 40 A Rocha locations. Whether you are an individual, a church, a family or a group of friends, our hope is that investing in A Rocha’s next forty years will bring you into deeper relationship with this beautiful world and the one who created it.
If you would like to find out more, please email Avery Robson, Director of Development at avery.robson@test.arocha.org.
We realize for many a smaller gift will be more manageable – we are grateful for any gift, large or small. Regular gifts are particularly appreciated, as they help us make longer term plans with confidence. Check out the A Rocha Table, our community of regular givers. We’d love to have some new sign ups this year – perhaps 40 of you!
In 1983, the migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP was officially completed and the internet came into being. A man named Chuck Hull invented the 3D printer. Saint Kitts and Nevis became an independent state and brand new country. And a tiny organization was formed to care for creation in God’s name, beginning with a wetland in southern Portugal. The internet has come a long way in 40 years, and so has A Rocha!
This year, look out for:
If you are new to the A Rocha family and would like to know more of our story, we recommend you read Under the Bright Wings and Kingfisher’s Fire by Peter Harris, or explore this page on our website.
If you’re stuck for present ideas for your loved ones this Christmas, why not peruse the A Rocha gift catalogue and make it a Christmas with a difference? We have new products for 2022, plus a range of other Gifts with a Difference that will bring lasting benefits to nature and community members across Africa, Asia and South America.
You can give a wormery to improve the hygiene of families in India as well as the health of the soil, or an elephant crossing to ensure the safety of elephants and people living around Bannerghatta National Park. A clean cookstove for a family in Peru will help save the threatened dry forest landscapes and improve the health of local communities, or you can help train young people to create an organic garden, improving their diet and bringing them closer to nature.
Each order comes with a free gift card to remind your loved one of the difference made in their name. Or, if you are feeling particularly virtuous, you can go paperless and opt for an ecard. (Hint: they are also great if you run out of time!)
Meandering through A Rocha Canada’s Brooksdale Environmental Center is the Little Campbell River / Tatalu. Walking around the watershed, you might spot a flowering Vancouver Island Beggarticks, a nesting Barn Swallow or even an elusive Salish Sucker, thought for a time to be locally extinct. This little river, once a place of bounty, is now the greatest source of faecal contamination into Boundary Bay (Pacific Ocean). Harvesting shellfish in the Bay was an integral part of Semiahmoo First Nation nutrition and culture, but due to contamination, the Bay has been closed to harvest since the 1970s.
To address this issue, A Rocha Canada works in partnership with the Semiahmoo First Nation and other members of the Shared Waters Alliance to monitor water quality in 19 locations: 17 freshwater sites along the Tatalu and its tributaries and two marine sites in Semiahmoo Bay. Water quality is an excellent indicator of overall watershed health, and this data addresses a knowledge gap about the current state of faecal contamination and how and where conditions have changed since the 1970s.
A Rocha Canada is also undertaking microbial source-tracking to determine the causes of this contamination. These can include septic system discharges, runoff from agricultural land containing livestock waste, pet waste and cross-connections between storm and sewage pipes. A Rocha also partners with landowners and local municipalities to discuss the extent of the issue and how to combat it. One solution is to restore habitat along the river – putting up fences to keep out cattle and horses, replacing invasive plants with native species, for example – to increase the forest buffer, which helps filter contaminants and supports biodiversity.
Ultimately, improving the ecological health of the water is important for everyone: from plants, to fish, from birds to people. A Rocha hopes that together, our efforts will enable everyone to enjoy the bounty and biodiversity that this watershed has to offer.
You can hear more from A Rocha Canada and Semiahmoo Chief Harley Chappell in this video.
The Sunkpa Shea Women’s Cooperative (northern Ghana) uses shea nut butter production as a way to care for the beautiful and biodiverse Mole Ecological Landscape. Through shea nut collection and shea butter processing, the collective of around 1,000 women encourages landscape restoration and builds a green value chain in the shea butter industry.
The Sunkpa Shea Women’s journey started in 2013, when their daily task was to walk several miles to collect shea nuts and either sell or process them into butter to sell at the local market. Collecting shea from the wild is a time-consuming effort; making hand-made shea butter is a tedious process. The women faced additional challenges: a lack of transport to bring the nuts to a processing centre, inconsistent local or export markets, the felling of shea trees by charcoal producers – and less than premium prices for their shea butter.
Through the Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) and support from A Rocha Ghana and the Savannah Fruits Company, the women organized themselves into a cooperative to address their challenges. Collaboration allowed them to establish a green value chain for quality hand-made shea butter and to address challenges across the chain. For example, the women established – and now manage – a nursery where they grow shea and other indigenous seedlings to use for landscape restoration to ensure a consistent supply of shea nuts.
They also now have an ultra-modern shea butter processing facility, tricycles to ease transportation challenges and a link with a cosmetic company, Evolution of Smooth, headquartered in New York – the first organic shea butter from the Mole Landscape went to New York for sale in June 2021! For nine years, the Sunkpa Shea Women have been steadfast in their efforts to have their everyday rural livelihood bring sustainability both to their landscape and their business.
The contribution of these women was recognised nationally and internationally in July this year with the awarding of the prestigious Equator Prize, a biennial recognition of outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. This achievement highlights the importance of indigenous people as defenders of a country’s natural resources and the crucial role they play in conserving the environment.
On 17 September, Friends of A Rocha in Singapore joined in with the A Rocha family for International Coastal Cleanup Day and World Cleanup Day! 16 volunteers gathered at the beach of Sembawang Park – one of the few natural beaches remaining on the island – located in the north of Singapore, facing the Straits of Johor and overlooking Malaysia. The A Rocha team was encouraged to see several other groups already cleaning the beach, so they walked to a more secluded part of the beach at Eagles Point and piqued the interest of Long-tailed Macaques Macaca fascicularis! The team stood on the sandflats covered with sand balls of Sand Bubbler Crabs Dotillidae and began the day with the 2022 Season of Creation Prayer, adapted to include ocean ecology.
As they started cleaning up, they found food wrappers, single-use food containers, plastic bags and films, clothes, glass, polystyrene, a fluorescent tube and diapers still intact – in less than an hour, the team collected 29 kg / 64 lbs of rubbish. But the highlight of the day was freeing a foot-long Mangrove Horseshoe Crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda caught in a giant knot of fishing nets! Alongside a second individual that was already dead, the crab was covered in barnacles and was probably stuck for a long time. Using scissors, the team worked on disentangling the trapped crab and finally, it was free! They released it back into the sea with a great sense of relief and joy. Even though beach cleanups do not solve the systemic issue of plastic pollution, they can save lives! What an encouragement to continue working in faithful hope that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21).
You can see a video of the Mangrove Horseshoe Crab rescue on Instagram here.
