Youth led action to address biodiversity crisis withing the UK
There is overwhelming evidence that biodiversity within the UK is drastically declining and has even been highlighted as having some of the lowest biodiversity in Europe and the Western world. So the speed and scale of nature recovery over the next decade must be to a scale sufficient to address this crisis. It’s organisations such as Youngwilders that look to take this moment seriously and to make sure young people are at the centre.
It is with a postive outlook and boundless optimism that they envisage the posibilities of an exhilarating explosion of life and the largest nature engagement opportunity this country has ever seen.
Youngwilders is a youth-led non-profit that works to accelerate the nature recovery of the UK and to centre young people in the process and movement by running youth-led ecological restoration projects, creative and skills-based educational programmes, and outreach to build the next generation of environmental stewards. Co-director Noah Bennett first contacted the Alpkit Foundation looking for support early on in their journey. He told us a little about how things have been progressing.
“Registered as a CIC in 2022, we wanted to build an organisation that we wished existed when we first became engaged in environmental issues. Now, as a growing team with huge ambitions for youth-led nature recovery across the UK, we’ve established 188.5 acres of new nature recovery projects across ten active sites in England and Wales."
Their sites differ hugely in habitat types and environmental processes, but are united by the fact that every element of the project is designed to encompass substantial youth involvement, with all project interventions conceived, designed and delivered by young people.
"These range from wildflower meadows in urban Islington to 30 acres of rewilded floodplain in Monmouthshire. We’ve restored 1.3km of river habitat, and supported the return of endangered nightingales at one site through youth-led habitat intervention.
Our founding mission was twofold: to accelerate nature recovery of the UK and involve young people in the process and movement. Our youth-led ecological restoration projects are central to achieving this.”
The Alpkit Foundation has had the pleasure to add a little support over the last couple of years, most recently to help with their Overgrowth - Youth Rewilding Summit, a gathering of 100 young people at the Knepp rewilding project.
“Overgrowth was created to address the fundamental generational injustice faced by young people in the context of UK Nature conservation. The weekend-long summit is designed to energise a community of young people with a passion for the natural world, preparing them for the challenges they will face in tackling the ecological emergency.
We particularly wanted to focus on engaging with groups of young people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, who are highly underrepresented in the environmental sector. To provide a welcoming introduction, and by following a youth-led approach, we can avoid the mistakes of some larger organisations who have failed to appropriately engage with these groups.”
Youngwilders wanted to help in being able to provide a number of free tickets and with added support from the Alpkit Foudnation the event was able to have 50% of tickets free and provide strong representation from ethnically minoritised and low-income communities.
Being very much the first of its kind and still one of the only examples of a large group of young people given affordable access to a significant rewilding project, it was wonderful to hear back on just how positive the event was. With even more exiting news that they have recently recieved further, extensive funding from Rewilding Britain as part of their mission to build nature connectivity and bring young people to the forefront of rewilding.
Previosuly, we were also able to help towards their youth led rewilding project Maple Farm in Sussex, a 30-acre rewilding project on former grazing land. A cash award went towards the costs of hedgerow creation and a tree planting volunteer day with a group of young peoplea aged 18-25 back in 2022. This was to provide vital scrub corridors across the site, and increases habitat for the endangered nightingale, which has we’re delighted to hear has since made its home at the site thanks to actions taken by young people!
Noah outlined a bit more behind this project at Maple Farm.
“Hedgerows are a vital way of increasing connectivity between woodland habitats by offering sheltered corridors and foraging areas for wildlife. We wanted to create more hedgerow habitat at Maple Farm by planting a further 200 metres of hedge - comprising around 800 individual trees. Once complete, all pockets of woodland on the site will be connected up to at least one other pocket. We expect this increase in habitat connectivity to be especially beneficial for small mammal and bird populations on the site. As well enhancing local biodiversity, local residents, ramblers, and visitors to the site will be able to walk through and enjoy a wild landscape.
This all helps towards our three core aims for the site.
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Ecological: To rewild Maple Farm, returning a diversity of native species and habitats to the farm and connecting these to habitat features in the surrounding landscape.
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Showcasing: To demonstrate the possibilities of small-scale rewilding - providing an exciting and actionable blueprint for landowners with fewer than 100 acres.
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Social: To use the site and rewilding activities to empower and educate young people, preparing them for a career in the environmental sector, while helping them to connect to their natural environment.
It is amazing to have had a small helping part in this project within the wider Maple Farm site, which is also encompassing an area of woodland creation, the creation of a wildflower meadow, the excavation of a wetland area, and various other young engagement activities. What’s special is that this volunteer day was led by the team at Youngwilders and their Youngwilders Volunteer Council (YVC). A group of five young adults between the ages of 18-25, all living nearby to the site and who want to develop experience in the environmental sector.
Combined with the youth summit, it is really exciting to see what Youngwilders are doing in facilitating young people to work together, to plan and execute various ecological and engagement projects. It’s a powerful way to really engage and build that love for our environment. Demonstrating how giving direct, practical hands on experience can be so impactful in deepening the connection with nature and empowering them to make change happen.
“Over 1000 young people have taken part in our in-person events, which focus on ecological learning, community-building, and joy. We also run two key programmes: Wild Stewards, which places young people in paid, decision-making roles on sites, and Wayfinders, a series of field skills weekends building peer-to-peer learning in conservation.
We’re now entering a new phase: scaling nationally to ensure every young person in England and Wales is within an hour of a youth-led nature recovery project.”
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