The Youth for Climate and Nature (YouCAN) scheme marks a successful first year: part two
PUBLISHED ON: 11 NOVEMBER 2024The £1.4 million YouCAN scheme was launched in October 2023 to empower young people between 11 and 25 to understand and lead climate action within their communities.
YouCAN also supports green skills and jobs, and an outdoor learning programme for young people from all backgrounds to explore urban, rural, coastal and freshwater areas.
The projects within the scheme span 300 square miles across the New Forest, Southampton and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, and are led by the New Forest National Park Authority in partnership with the Countryside Education Trust in Beaulieu; Freshwater Habitats Trust; The Parks Foundation in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Southampton National Park City project; Theatre for Life, and care and support charity Alabaré.
In this two-part blog series, we explore some of the successes from the first year of YouCAN. This is part two, click here for part one.
Freshwater Habitats Trust:
The New Forest has been identified as one of the few remaining high-quality freshwater landscapes in England known to support priority freshwater species and habitats. Many of these have been given local, national and international conservation status because they have disappeared from almost every other landscape in the UK.
Freshwater Habitats Trust aims to protect freshwater life for everyone to enjoy. By joining together with other partners involved in YouCAN, the team has benefitted from learning more about how to engage younger audiences. This included running sessions in partnership with Alabaré, Theatre for Life, and the New Forest Early Green Careers Network to raise awareness of the unique qualities of freshwaters.
Through the sessions, FHT used real-world examples of freshwaters in the New Forest in a variety of spaces to demonstrate the value of what is possible. This includes rural sector industries such as commoning, farming, campsites, equestrian, and horticulture. Feedback from participants suggests this helped them to develop greater concern for the environment and boost confidence in speaking up for freshwaters.
Through YouCAN, FHT has reached out to over 2700 individuals over the last 12 months via walks, talks, species surveys, conservation tasks, training events, and clean-up days. These activities focused on local and outreach communities of all ages and backgrounds collectively taking action to better protect the unique and special qualities of the New Forest freshwater landscape and ensure resilience in the face of climate change impacts.
Freshwater Habitats Trust Programme Manager, Gemma Stride said: ‘Now, more than ever it’s time to recognise the enormity of the value of this landscape and the significant contribution these habitats make to the UK’s natural capital.
‘Our work through the YouCAN partnership has enabled us to reach audiences we have not worked with before. Sharing the value of this landscape with communities near and far can lead to action to better protect this living, breathing ecosystem.
‘Freshwater Habitats Trust are thankful to be a part of this project. It supports our work nationally focusing on building a national network of wilder, wetter, cleaner and better-connected freshwaters to halt and reverse the decline in freshwater biodiversity – together we can make a difference.’
The Parks Foundation:
Following on from initial sessions held earlier in the year, The Parks Foundation’s Young Adult Ranger Work Experience full programme launched in July 2024. 19 sessions were delivered throughout the summer in parks across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole.
The sessions are designed to help young people aged 16-25 years develop environmental skills in a variety of areas – from managing meadows to surveying butterflies.
19 young people have attended the summer activities with five of them already completing a course of six sessions, and some rangers have gone on to attend even more.
As well as the Ranger Work Experience sessions, five students from Bournemouth University have undertaken short-term work placements, and bespoke sessions have been delivered for students at a local school.
The Parks Foundation Parks Activator, Will Bowskill, said: ‘It’s been brilliant to see our rangers develop their skills and passion for the environment – we’ve helped one ranger learn skills which have enabled him to run his own project with a local Scout group to help protect swifts by sowing wildflowers and building swift boxes, and another has taken positive steps towards changing career into the environmental sector.
‘We’re excited to welcome even more young adult rangers this autumn and winter when we’ll be further enhancing our learning with seasonal skills like bulb and tree planting. Looking ahead to 2025, we also plan to hold more bespoke ranger sessions with local schools and colleges.’
Countryside Education Trust:
The Countryside Education Trust’s mission is to connect people with the countryside. Funding created two new staff roles focusing on conservation and sustainable farming. Not only has this provided vital support to the existing team at CET, but it also enabled the new recruits, Alistair and Kristian, to build and enhance their skills and knowledge across the variety of work involved at the CET’s base in Beaulieu, which includes a working farm and education centre.
During their first year, Alistair – a former NPA apprentice ranger – has been developing a card game to support the delivery of sessions about animals and farming, while Kristian looked into ways to make wool felt using wool from the sheep on site.
A training programme was delivered for 16–19-year-olds providing them with experience in the climate and environment sector. Participants learnt about sustainable farming, practical conservation ecology, and environmental education and had opportunities to develop new skills in running volunteering sessions and delivering activities for local early years groups.
Countryside Education Trust Chief Executive, Jane Cooper said: ‘A particular success of the first year of the YouCAN project for the Countryside Education Trust has been the launch of a new course for young people, ‘Discovering Careers in Climate and the Environment’.
‘This week-long, free course introduced participants (16-19) to the diverse range of opportunities available in our sector, from regenerative farming and woodland management to environmental education and managing volunteer events. Participants rated their experiences highly, the hands-on nature of the week in particular, and we will be running two courses next summer as a result.
‘We are currently looking to recruit interns for some special projects over the winter, continuing our great record of developing people. These short-term projects provide opportunities to learn new skills and broaden their work experience alongside other work or studies. We can guarantee that no two days are the same and that working with our small highly experienced team is fun.’
Alabaré:
Alabaré supports young people, homeless adults, veterans, and vulnerable and marginalised people. Through YouCAN they conducted a joint activity with Freshwater Habitats Trust clearing invasive Rhododendron from a pond site. The session aimed to give the young people better climate awareness as well as improving their physical and mental wellbeing.
In February 2025, Alabaré will host a residency at RSPB site Cameron’s Cottage for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, with support from NPA ranger Hayden.
Alabaré Young People Project Manager, Gemma Snell said: ‘We’ve had a great start with partnering with NFNPA and planning initiatives getting young people into the Forest and starting that discussion around climate.
‘We also had a great session in partnership with FHT where we brought veterans and young people from our homeless service into the Forest, doing some practical conservation and bringing that into context within that specific site and how they are working with a local business/landowner to create habitats and increase biodiversity.’
YouCAN was made possible thanks to National Lottery Players, through which £1.2 million was secured from a Climate Action Fund grant from The National Lottery Community Fund – the largest community funder in the UK – and a further £264,000 in match funding from partners. This month (November 2024) the National Lottery celebrates 30 years of supporting good causes such as YouCAN.
YouCAN is also supported by our evaluation partner, Action Hampshire, which will be undertaking a mixed-methods evaluation of the project to understand if and how it has achieved its intended outcomes and to assess the effectiveness of the partnership working developed to deliver this project.
You can find out more about the Youth for Climate and Nature (YouCAN) scheme here.
