Poverty & Conservation > Making the Connection

It seems straightforward to make a connection between conservation and poverty in Kenya, India or Ghana (all places where A Rocha works), but what about in Canada? Are we worsening the poverty in other parts of the world by our resource-heavy lifestyles? In our current global context, it doesn’t take much effort to make the connection between our lifestyle choices here and associated poverty and biodiversity loss elsewhere.

A useful tool in making this connection is the concept of the ecological footprint which measures our environmental impact in terms of the productive land needed to support it. A recent study on the “Ecological Footprint of Nations” gives alarming figures: the average North American requires 30.8 acres of productive land to sustain his/her lifestyle compared to the world average of 7.1 acres. If the global average were to rise to the North American level, we would need four to five planets to survive! In light of these statistics, conservation gets framed in the larger context of our relationship with God, each other, and the wider creation. It is, in essence, an issue of justice. 

But even in affluent Canada, poverty exists. Often the poorest and the newest immigrants to Canada live in neighborhoods with limited access to green space. Our vision for A Rocha in Canada includes working towards healthy communities and healthy ecosystems locally while fostering care for creation and concern for members of marginalized communities across the country. We understand that as we work towards transformation here, both in attitude and actions, the impact will be felt around the world. We are therefore listening very carefully to our brothers and sisters in the developing world, learning from them, and striving to work alongside them for a sustainable world.