Safeguarding creation

Creation care is at the heart of Anglican identity, expressed in the Fifth Anglican Mark of Mission: Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Anglicans therefore not only take creation care seriously but also see it as one of the principal ways we share in God’s ongoing story of love in the world. This is lived out in many different ways by Anglicans across the Communion.

The environmental crisis is an existential threat to millions of people and species of plants and animals across the globe. It is exacerbating poverty and inequalities across the world – the very things the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seek to address.

Slow onset disasters, such as drought and sea level rise, as well as rapid onset disasters, such
as catastrophic flooding and wildfires, take lives, destroy habitats and beloved homes, devastate livelihoods, cause food shortages, force migration, disrupt communities and break up families. They have a vastly disproportionate impact on women, Indigenous peoples and young people. The impacts of the crisis are costly, both financially and in terms of the trauma they cause.

These are issues of justice. Those experiencing the worst impacts of climate change are least responsible for causing it.

The Anglican Alliance exists to connect, equip and inspire the worldwide Anglican family to work for a world free of poverty and injustice and to safeguard creation. The integrity of creation is under severe strain as a result of the triple environmental crises of climate change, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Environmental degradation and climate change are also major factors driving poverty and migration and are therefore cross-cutting issues that are part of each of our three pillars of relief, development and advocacy. Safeguarding creation is therefore one of the five priority areas of the work of the Anglican Alliance.