The webinar was very well-attended, with about 350 people joining us to see how we can drive forward this campaign into tangible outcomes.

Building off an amazing legacy from the Church that has already fully divested and set a net zero target, as well as the 100 acre nature restoration project started by the Church Commissioners.

Farmers and Rewilding

By pioneering nature-friendly tenant farmer, Naomi Oakley

Naomi manages a regenerative farm on Dartmoor uplands, and is doing her PHD on social opportunities and barriers for regenerative land management of upland peatland. Through regenerative farming she’s been able to build a sense of community so that her farm has become important for a lot of people. Everyone is truly welcome and completely free to visit and enjoy nature. 

Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) was introduced in 2023, providing opportunities for landscape scale recovery. The Duchy of Cornwall, the landowners of Naomi’s farm have been very supportive of the creation of the Central Dartmoor Farm Cluster, leading to a Landscape Recovery Scheme. The Duchy is now looking at their farms and the commons to see how they can change their businesses to areas where they can reduce production, looking more at the quality of animals and the water. Nature is at the heart of that, and that’s a very different way of running businesses. 

The Church and the Duchy both have tenanted farms. A good land agent has been a major asset for the Duchy, liaising between the between landowner and farmer, dealing with the everyday operations. A framework like a natural capital plan can also show farmers what natural assets on their land they should be looking after; peat, trees, hedgerows and more. 

It is vital to take a systemic view and see food production and nature as interdependent. We need to see ourselves as a part of nature, that should define how we see land and how the Church sees land. This would provide social, economic and ecological benefits.

Theological Reasoning for Rewilding

By Dr. Revd. Clara Rushbrook

Revd Dr Clara Rushbrook is the Co-Principal of Northern Baptist College, co-director of the Network for theology and justice and a Baptist minister. Her PHD is in eco feminist theology . 

Contrary to hierarchical views, alternative interpretations are that humanity is part of God’s created order, utterly dependent on the earth. Traditional interpretations of “dominion” have often justified exploitation of the earth.

 Many indigenous cultures view the land as sacred, not as property to own but as an embodiment of the divine, held in trust for future generations, aligning more closely with Biblical narratives that emphasise creation’s goodness.

Jesus throughout his ministry uses images from the natural world in order to teach his disciples and us. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, a pearl, yeast kneaded through the dough. The lilies of the field neither labour nor spin but even Solomon in all his glory is not dressed as one of these. Jesus likens himself to the shepherd, the vine. Jesus says when you care for the least of these among us you care for him.

Climate Crisis and Land Access

By Chris Packham

Climate breakdown is here. We’ve seen the extreme weather events recently that have taken people’s lives, and the science is telling us that these events are being exasperated by our climate impacts. We tend to see climate and biodiversity as completely separate, we even have different COPs. This is counterproductive, we know that they are intrinsically linked.

About 50% of land in England is owned by 1% of the population. As a consequence, despite all of those practices, technologies and skills that we have been developing, we simply haven’t been able to change more broadly in the face of the climate and the biodiversity crises, not because of lack of want but because we haven’t had the land or the resources to be able to apply these practices at scale.

What we have done traditionally is acquired land (at enormous cost), put a fence around it and done everything we can to nurture it, and called it a nature reserve. Since we’ve started doing that all the other land has gone to hell in a handcart.

The nature reserve model has left us with a great legacy, each of those SSSI’s, if properly managed which not enough are, leaves a repository of biodiversity. They’re what we hope to spread into our residual landscape.

We need access to more land- only 3% of our land is for nature. So what Wild Card have been doing is looking at those who have a public duty with lots of land. So we’ve been to the Royals and the Crown Estates and now we’re going to the Church. It’s land that ought to be available for environmental solutions. 

Rewilding isn’t new, but the term and the broader practice is something we’ve only seen in the last 25/30 years, and it’s added to our portfolio of nature restoration. One of the reasons it’s so attractive is that we get talk about nature restoration at scale. 

What is the Church but a community built on kindness and goodness. Our role as Wild Card is to open eyes and facilitate those acts of kindness and patience and tolerance which will allow the Church Commissioners to transition their land to something better. This isn’t a fight, like it is with the fossil fuel industry. Here we are in conversation with, we know we have significant supporters within the Church. We’re asking them to come together to pass a motion and facilitate this act of kindness.