Ep 46: Cindy Verbeek – The costly calling of a conservationist

This is the United Nations Decade of the Ocean, bringing an increased focus on caring for the ‘blue’ bit of the planet. Governing marine and coastal areas involves convening a multitude of groups - often with competing interests. Agreeing a management approach that works not only for the humans but the many other living things in the ecosystem may be difficult but it isn’t impossible, as Environmental Geographer Dr Tim Stojanovic can testify.Over his 30 year career, Tim has researched how nations and communities are managing their coasts and seas, and what is being achieved and he has some hopeful stories to tell. In this episode of Field Notes, we ask whether sustainable development is an oxymoron, whether humans ever have a net positive impact on the world around them, and why we need to pay attention to a wider range of benefits to a healthy ocean than economic growth.

Cindy Verbeek left her city life for a rural Eden in northern BC, Canada, where the air was clean, bears nonchalantly wandered along the local high street and preserving nature was hardwired into community life. It might have seemed an ideal situation for a dedicated naturalist giving her life to conservation. In reality, many years of struggle, discouragement and isolation were to follow, before she learnt how to speak the heart language of her adopted home and everything changed.If you have ever been tempted to give up, to bow out or run away from the challenges of caring for the world, you will find Cindy’s story both soothing and stirring. Fiercely courageous, funny and honest, she is as good a role model as any you’ll find for this costly vocation.You can read more about Cindy and her work with A Rocha Canada here.

To halt and reverse the terrible trends in nature loss and climate change requires collaboration at international levels. With every country coming to the table with its own interests and agenda, it is no small task to agree joint commitments that stand a chance of changing the global outlook. Thankfully, there are good people in the room equal to the challenge.Among them is Dr Cyriaque Nikuze Sendashonga, who has worked in the policy and politics of biodiversity conservation for over forty years. She has had influential roles with the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Program, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and more. In this wide-ranging conversation she explains how her deep Catholic faith has been a source of hope and helped her persevere, both in work and in withstanding the traumatic personal losses she has suffered along the way.

The choice to start a family is always a great act of faith, hope and courage. In these unprecedented days of biodiversity collapse, climate change and societal upheaval, all the more so. Doro is a marine biologist from Germany, whose love of the ocean goes back to her earliest memories. She is all too familiar with the state of the planet and yet she has recently become a mother. In this honest and raw conversation, she brings us into the adventure of motherhood and marine biology and her hope in the God who holds all things together.Doro lives in Bremen, Germany, where she works in the Marine Protection Office of BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany). She has a scientific background in coastal ecology. In 2022 she co founded “Hope for People and Nature” with the goal of building up an A Rocha presence in Germany.

Is carbon offsetting just something to make us feel a bit better about our climate-harming behaviours? How does it actually work and is there good science behind the numbers? Caroline leads Climate Stewards, one of the organizations in the A Rocha family. She talks us through the principle of the downward spiral underlying their measure, reduce, offset process and tells some captivating stories which bring to life the wholistic benefits of offsetting to habitats, species and human communities.

Raised in Southern Chile in a family of farmers, teachers and pastors, Cristina never realized how all those areas could be linked with God's purposes to bring redemption to all his creatures. For most of her life, she worked as a staff member in a church in the big city, leaving her love for nature for holidays. In this delightful conversation, she shares the story of how some unexpected friendships and an internship with A Rocha Canada gave her a new purpose and a community. She co-founded the organization Fundación Retoño, where people can meet around a table and share their struggles and hopes, cook delicious local foods, work the land and walk the woods, figuring out how to protect and care for the piece of land they’ve been given. 

Most of us live largely disconnected from the production of our food, but whether or not we give it much thought, each mealtime puts us in relationship with our fellow creatures, the soil, the air and the water. Abby and Carly are farmers at A Rocha Canada’s Brooksdale, BC site. They tell us why a conservation organization grows, eats and gives away so much food, why they love to welcome inexperienced helpers who often slow them down, and what the rhythms of the seasons have taught them about living well. You might just find they make you want to pull on some muddy boots and head into the nearest field to get stuck in!

In 2023, Rui, his wife Debora, and their two young children moved their life from a campervan to Cruzinha, A Rocha Portugal’s field study centre in the Algarve. It is hard to imagine a more radical change but it is one their family has embraced wholeheartedly and with delight, notwithstanding the challenges. In this honest and inspiring conversation, Rui tells stories and reflects on how it feels to live in a home with a constantly changing array of people, united by a common love and concern for the natural world.

More and more Christians acknowledge God’s call to care for his creation, and yet resist taking action. Kuki has preached, taught and written on creation care to audiences around the world for decades, and believes the main barrier is our love of convenience. From Mizoram in North East India and recently appointed as A Rocha International’s first Director of Church Engagement, she tells us about her hopes for the role and what spurs her on despite the challenges.

Federica Marsi is a multi-lingual freelance journalist who has filed dozens of hard-hitting reports from everywhere from Tunisia to Lebanon, Jordan to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Federica’s life and career were going well and then lockdown happened and everything was taken away.  Here she shares her remarkable story about what happened next, and how she left her flat in Milan on an improbable journey to Kenya which eventually leads to A Rocha and Mwamba, its field study centre on the Indian Ocean. A non-believer, Federica not only discovers the wonders of Kenya’s breath-taking land and seascapes and lush wildlife but is challenged in everything she has ever believed before.