BP, the third largest energy company and the fifth largest corporation in the world, announced April 15 that it has no future plans to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The announcement came immediately following comments by the Bishop of Alaska, the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, who helped present a shareholder resolution directing the company to report on the risks associated with operating in environmentally fragile areas.

“This is certainly a significant announcement for the Gwich’in people, who are arguably one of the most Anglican native nations in the world,” Bishop MacDonald told reporters after the meeting. The Gwich’in are the only humans to inhabit ANWR. They rely on caribou for a significant portion of their food supply and have consistently opposed plans to open the wildlife sanctuary to oil and gas development in part because it would disrupt the annual migratory behavior of the caribou.

“For centuries, the Christian moral tradition and the Western legal tradition have consistently promoted aboriginal rights as a fundamental element of basic and minimal commitment to justice,” Bishop MacDonald said in his comments to shareholders. “Though these traditions are accepted almost unanimously in theory, governments, corporations and sadly even religious institutions have far too consistently undermined or stolen the capacity for aboriginal peoples to survive.”

Episcopal News Service contributed to this report.