David Britton, who recently joined the team as Campaign Officer, reflects on the Restore Nature Now march in London that Operation Noah  took part in.

On Saturday 22 June, Operation Noah and many other Christian organisations joined over 60,000 people to gather in London for ‘Restore Nature Now’ – the biggest march ever in the UK organised to take action to protect the natural world and tackle the climate emergency. 

We were part of a large and diverse coalition of wildlife and environmental organisations including established national charities such as the RSPB, Woodland Trust and The National Trust along with Extinction Rebellion and hundreds of local and national campaign groups. 

The day began at 11am with an ecumenical service at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair, known locally as ‘Farm Street Church’. The ‘Creation Cries Out’ service, a collaboration between A Rocha UK, Green Christian, Christian Climate Action, and Operation Noah, was an important moment to come together as Christians across all church denominations to unite in prayer and petition for our natural world and for our politicians and business leaders. A family-friendly event, it included a Forest Church service for children and young people reinforcing the importance of involving the next generation in this crucial cause.

Following the service we joined thousands of others, decked in brightly coloured costumes and all manner of creative placards and banners, to march from Park Lane to Parliament Square, taking in Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square along the way. Gathering outside Parliament we were joined by Chris Packham and renowned campaigners and leaders from conservation organisations for a rallying cry to protect and restore our natural world. 

We lamented over the depletion of nature in this country, the loss of habitat, the destruction of our rivers and waterways and the lack of leadership from our government. Yet we also heard stories of hope: places that have been successfully rewilded, species and birdlife that were once endangered now thriving and inspiring stories of successful campaigning to affect change.

I was particularly inspired by hearing from Sarah Finch of the Weald Action group, who recently won a landmark legal case in the Supreme Court against Horse Hill, an oil production site that had been approved planning permission to produce oil for the next 20 years, despite the council declaring a climate emergency. Thanks to the dogged campaigning, petitioning and prayers of intercession held at the site, the Supreme Court gave a landmark ruling declaring the planning permission as unlawful and forcing fossil fuel companies to account for emissions in their environmental impact assessment. 

I was reminded of the story that Jesus told about the persistent widow who continued to bother an unjust judge for justice from her adversary (Luke 18:1-8). Because of her persistence the unjust judge concluded, “‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice.” The success of the Weald Action group reminds us how persistent campaigning, even at a local level, can affect profound change at national and even international level. 

We are blessed in the UK to have some beautiful countryside, yet the natural habitat is in a shocking state of depletion having suffered from decades of destruction, abuse and overuse. However, there is hope that things can improve and that together we can make a difference. Our campaigning efforts may seem meagre but collectively and with persistence we can bring about change. Restore Nature Now united around calls for action which included:

• Providing more funding for nature-friendly farming
• Making polluters pay for the damage they do to the environment
• Creating more space for nature by expanding and improving protected areas and public land
• Enshrining the legal right to a healthy environment in law, ensuring clean air, water, and access to nature for all communities
• Delivering fair and effective climate action to halve UK emissions by 2030

You can find out more about those calls to action, and watch the speeches on the Restore Nature Now website.

If you have not yet done so, do have a read of our Call to Action for Church land use campaign.

About the author

David Britton has recently joined Operation Noah as Campaign Officer. An ordained priest in the Church of England, he served for nine years as Vicar in the Diocese of Chelmsford leading a church in East London and has held a variety of roles in the charity sector. He is passionate about the church leading the response to the climate crisis and his parish was particularly involved in leading grassroots climate activism in the community.