Thousands unite for nature during 2025 New Forest Awakening Festival
PUBLISHED ON: 1 MAY 2025A record number of people took part in this year’s New Forest Awakening Festival – a month-long celebration of nature, climate action, and community.
Led by the New Forest National Park Authority in collaboration with a wide range of partners, the Festival has become an annual event each March, raising awareness of the nature and climate emergencies and how we can respond together.
More than 130 events were held throughout the month thanks to dozens of New Forest organisations, businesses and charities – including local ‘green groups’. More than 4,000 people enjoyed various walks, talks, arts and crafts, a local produce roadshow, growing advice, climate-themed workshops, film screenings, a community tree planting weekend, volunteer days, repair cafes, litter picks, and behind the scenes tours.
Overall, messages about the climate and nature emergencies in the New Forest reached more than 1.4 million people through social and traditional media, while more than 370,000 engaged directly with posts or events – by attending, commenting, sharing, or liking content online.
The New Forest Awakening Festival is about helping people better understand the special qualities of the New Forest, the challenges it faces, and how each of us can play a role in protecting it for the future.
Mary Davies, National Park Authority board member and chair of its Sustainable Communities Fund said: ‘The New Forest is an incredibly special place, home to diverse habitats and rare wildlife. Climate change remains the greatest long-term threat to this landscape, but we all have a part to play in safeguarding it.
‘The Festival highlights what makes this area so unique and shows how, by coming together as “Team New Forest”, we can truly make a difference.’
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