Conservation Futures

Louise Senior, Species on the Edge People Engagement Officer for the North Coast, Plantlife

The urgency of our biodiversity crisis makes it critical to involve a wide variety of people in conservation action.  

As a youth and community worker, I have seen how young people in Scotland and across the world have demonstrated their capability to engage with environmental and other societal challenges, establishing their centrality to the project of creating a more sustainable world. I believe that providing young people with the knowledge, skills and ability to constructively harness their energy to pursue environmental change should form an essential pillar of conservation action. 

With these factors in mind, I partnered with Dunnet Community Forest to deliver a Conservation Summer School on the north coast of Scotland, with additional support from Highlands and Islands Climate Hub. The summer school aimed to inspire the next generation of environmentalists, whilst also promoting the wellbeing of the young people by providing an accessible opportunity to engage with nature, gain skills and confidence, and explore how to put conservation science into practice. 

Over the course of the six-week summer holidays in 2023, our young participants learned basic fieldcraft skills, undertook species surveys and habitat management, met with a variety of conservation professionals including RSPB and Highlife Highland Countryside Rangers, and took part in foraging, meditation and team building activities. They hosted their own public event to share some of the knowledge they had gained, which included a quiz, a game of hide and seek and a foraged feast. Summer school participants were able to gain a Scottish Countryside Junior Ranger award, a John Muir award, and to accrue hours for their Saltire award. Most of the young people have continued on to further volunteering with Dunnet Community Forest. 

The young people agreed that the highlight of their summer school experience was a very early morning session in torrential rain. We erected tarp shelters and cooked a campfire breakfast together as the day dawned. The driech conditions could have made for a pretty miserable morning, but everyone threw themselves into the spirit of the activity and there was lots of laughter and bonding.  

Some of the comments the young people made about their summer school experience were:  

 “We learnt a lot of skills.” 

 “Builds your confidence.” 

“It helps you reconnect with nature a bit.” 

“It helps you get used to communicating with very, very different people.” 

“It has definitely increased my confidence with people.” 

As leaders, watching the self-assurance of the young people grow over the course of the project was a joy and made all our efforts worthwhile. Being able to confidently take a step back and allow them to lead their own event, to watch them stand up in front of their family, friends, and invited professionals to share their learning in an articulate and collaborative way, was incredibly rewarding.  

Our local delivery partners also gained from the process. Garance Warburton, Forest Development Officer at Dunnet Community Forest, points out that not only does she now have a new troop of young, enthusiastic volunteers, but that she has also learned a great deal about how to deliver this type of project in the future: 

“This is the first project of its kind to be held at Dunnet Community Forest and I did as much learning and had as much fun as the young people. I have been delighted at the response, delivery, and positive outcomes. 

The project attracted a wide range of young people from different backgrounds and each looking for different outcomes. The young people came together and committed to learning, working together as a team and enjoying the experience whatever the weather or time of day. During the project it was wonderful to see the young people supporting each other and growing together.  

I have been very fortunate to continue working with a number of the young people at our Sunday Green Gym where they volunteer and continue to learn, undertake conservation activities and work as a team. They are an asset to the forest.  

If you asked for one main take away from this project, it would be working in partnership with Louise and Species on the Edge. Together we have been able to achieve much more than we could individually, by drawing on one another’s skills and experience. This has been such a fantastic project that the young people who benefited from it often ask if they can come back and help us deliver another one!” 

Luci Ireland, Community Engagement Officer at the Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, also highlighted how the young people’s development mirrored her own experience of learning from the project: 

“It was lovely to see the confidence and knowledge grow within the group and see a few future conservationists in the making! As a new member to third sector work, it was a brilliant opportunity to throw myself in at the deep end and learn from Louise and Garance’s experience. I have taken the learning from this opportunity with me for other projects and engagement that I have been involved with and it’s really made a difference.” 

As today’s conservation workforce, we have a responsibility to support young people gain the knowledge, skills and experience to become tomorrow’s environmental leaders, and to ensure that their voices inform the decisions we make on behalf of their futures. This work is time consuming and many of the benefits are intangible or may take years to materialise, but I believe that carrying it out is an ethical imperative if we are to create an equitable world where future generations feel enabled and encouraged to participate.