Inclusive Action Group
Meeting 7
Biodiversity & People
Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol, 21st April 2004
Introduction: IAG 7 was a meeting which combined presentations with
discussions based on the subject of people and their connection/disconnection
to the environment. Jane Stoneham, Director, gave a brief outline of Sensory
Trust , working with various partners, including Eden Project and Landlife,
to create and promote inclusive access to public open space for everyone,
including older people and people with disabilities.
Issues around the barriers that people face in public open spaces, were
introduced by Wendy Brewin. She talked about physical, intellectual and
social barriers. For example, are resting places provided frequently enough?
Are any sensory stimuli provided, such as textures, scents, sights, sounds,
things to taste?
Intellectual barriers often occur in deprived areas. Due to low educational/literacy
skills people often can’t read information or maybe even understand
it. Social barriers occur within communities as well as between them.
An event organised between Landlife and the Sensory Trust last year brought
people together from three communities that had no interaction even though
they were geographically linked. The outcome being that a community group
will be formed from all three communities to do further conservation work
in the area.
Landlife - Presentation by Richard Scott
Landlife was set up in the mid 70’s at a time when people were
having all kinds of different visions concerning conservation of the environment.
We found that something as simple as sowing wildflower seeds would bring
people out of their homes and into their local environment. The challenge
was bringing it into urban areas particularly in areas of low deprivation.
Initially it was difficult to influence people, and so we looked at creative
solutions to the way that they worked. In areas where people had barriers
to getting out to the countryside, Landlife was showing that conservation
could happen on street corners literally just by sowing wildflower seeds.
It was a cheap low-cost way of demonstrating practical ways in which people
could change these urban wastelands.
In the mid 80’s Knowsley Borough Council started to give us small
areas of land to work on with local communities. This provided us with
the opportunity to get communities involved in looking at spaces and how
they could be used recreationally. Using annuals as a quick-fix product,
we were able to get local people interested in doing something quite simple
which showed results in a short amount of time. People are now encouraged
to pick flowers and hold events and celebration days on sites which is
something a lot of people have never done before.
People within a community put a different kind of value on a site compared
to the financial value that someone such as a surveyor or planner may
do. When we’re looking at potential sites we tell communities that
it’s possible that a site might not be there in 10 years time.
Richard went on to give some examples of projects:
An area was planted at the side of a busy road in Kirby, Liverpool, by
people from the local community. The response was amazing - buses were
slowing down to give passengers time to look. Taxi drivers re-routed to
allow their passengers to see the wildflowers. A letter came from a doctors’
surgery saying how a photograph of the flowers was brightening up their
waiting room.
This type of event also gives people the confidence to display skills
outdoors. For example a group of ladies from an aromatherapy class gave
massages at an events day in Kirby. It seems to help people break down
barriers and provide them with a stage on which they can celebrate their
successes.
We are now looking at different ways we can inspire communities. We are
forming links with other groups by taking people from Liverpool to meet
groups in other areas.
Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Record Centre -
Presentation by Tom Cairns & Carolynn Jureidini
This new project has been set up to recruit and train ordinary people
to record wildlife and changes, in the local environment using selected
species. The impetus for this project is the decline in the number of
people coming forward to do the recording. Most of the volunteers are
older people, mainly male, but without younger ones coming in there is
a real danger of having no recorders at all in the future. The advantage
of using local volunteers is that it helps people to understand and appreciate
their local area.
The sites and species have been chosen and publicity for the project
is underway, using a postcard mail-out which will be sent to public places
such as doctors’ surgeries, libraries etc. The design for the postcard
is a selection of some of the chosen species and people will be asked
if they have seen any, where and when – the idea being that people
will complete the cards and return them and in doing so are taking part
in the recording survey. They are holding a public launch event at one
of Swindon’s country parks, and will include workshops to encourage
people to come along.
Many people know more than they realise about their local wildlife, and
doing this kind of work will give them the opportunity to boost their
self-confidence. Initially new volunteers will be ‘under the wing’
of a more experienced recorder however the more they do it, the better
they will become and hopefully develop an interest in their local environment.
Discussion
A discussion on people’s enthusiasm or the lack of it followed.
Enthusiasm shouldn’t be taken lightly or disregarded, especially
if it’s the only way to obtain information. There is a decline in
the number of younger people coming forward to do this type of work, even
though environmental issues are discussed all the time on TV and radio
programmes by well known personalities. Some people who develop an interest
as a child, become embarrassed by it when they reached their teens. It’s
as though recording species needs to become something ‘cool’
to do. There is a real ‘indoor’ culture today and maybe we
should concentrate on encouraging a more ‘outdoor’ culture.
Enthusiastic volunteers are an excellent resource. They could be used
as ‘Ambassadors’ for an organisation – they would have
an opportunity, socially, to promote the work that you are doing, helping
to pass the message on. They could also help to encourage others within
their local community to come along and make use of their local space.
Bristol Wildspace - Presentation by Sally Oldfield
Working for Bristol City Council, funded by English Nature’s Wildspace
fund and New Opportunities Fund, this project encourages local communities
in urban areas to make more use of their local nature reserves. The emphasis
of the project is very much on people, particularly disadvantaged and
socially excluded groups such as older people, children, teenagers, ethnic
minorities and people with disabilities.
Various barriers are faced on these urban nature reserves, many of which
are located in the poorer urban areas: Damaged signs (including some with
bullet holes in them!), rubbish dumping, fly-tipping, burned-out cars,
damage caused by motorbikes. Several ideas have been tried to involve
local people, such as guided walks by a local expert which were popular
but didn’t attract the groups they wanted to reach. A ‘Walking
for Health’ group was set up for older people, who use one of the
reserves for walking. It has proved successful and people from the nearby
housing areas now come along. Many had never used the reserve before because
they hadn’t felt safe walking on their own. School groups are also
encouraged to use the reserves - it means that they are more likely to
be involved in events held during school holidays. An artist was brought
in on one reserve, to do some art-themed events such as creating pictures
of mammals which were then printed onto t-shirts. These events can be
advertised through the school newsletter which has an escalating effect
because the children come back to future events bringing their parents
with them.
One particular event involved making and hanging a large piece of art
over the side of a viaduct. It was promoted as a family day of music,
art workshops, face-painting and a barbeque, with no mention of wildlife
or the environment, and attracted people who wouldn’t otherwise
have come. Oddly enough, it wasn’t the children’s art work
that attracted attention from the local media, it was the abseilers who
gave their time to come along and hang it!
Encouraging people to be involved in the actual management of the reserve
proves to be more difficult. The reserve which is located on a very steep
hill, has a very strong ‘Friends’ group, which has been going
for about 6 months. With a membership of around 70, only about 15 regularly
come out to do practical work on the reserve. A questionnaire put around
the area to find out why showed that there were a lot of older people
living in the area, which explained why not many were able to work on
the reserve. The group has started a project on the history of the hill,
which has now attracted others to be involved, and they are hoping to
link local wildlife in with the history to broaden people’s interest.
General Discussion
At the end of the day there was a discussion on people’s use of
open spaces. Many people in urban areas don’t realise they have
these sites on their doorstep, and feel that they have to get into their
cars and travel to rural areas to experience wildlife. Some people don’t
visit these places because there’s nothing there for them to do,
and will only go when there is an event/workshop organised. Perhaps some
management of these sites should be done through the use of events. Although
it is recognised that events can be very time-consuming to organise and
manage, they are a way of getting people on to the site that wouldn’t
normally have anything to do with wildlife /environmental projects. Perhaps
we should be persuading communities to hold their fetes on this land rather
than in church/village halls, and encouraging schools to make more use
of local open spaces as ‘outdoor classrooms’.
Understandably, there are certain times of the year when it isn’t
good of lots of people to be trampling over the ground. We tend to talk
about fragile eco-systems these days and become very concerned, rightly
so, about people trampling over the ground. We build boardwalks to protect
the ground. But there are hardy species out there which can cope with
that. Maybe there should be some guidance for senior managers as to when
they should/shouldn’t allow people into some areas.
It’s also about getting the right message across. For example,
one reserve in Bristol held a family day to which a lot of local people
attended and they felt had been a big success in getting the message across
about using local sites. However, one gentleman definitely got the wrong
message – he came back on his motorbike, obviously feeling that
he had discovered a new place in his locality through which he could ride
it, and promptly rode it across the nature reserve!
The difficulty for park managers, who have to oversee several sites,
is that people have differing views on how they can use their local space.
You have to try and manage those conflicts by sometimes saying “no”
and sometimes saying “within certain parameters, yes”
People don’t see their connection to biodiversity. It’s almost
like they have a fear of the environment because they don’t know
the Latin names for species, or because there’s nothing for them
to do when they get there. We have to encourage them to use their local
space in a science-free way. The Sensory Trust uses some unconventional
ways to get communities out: making tiaras using natural materials, building
mud pictures impregnated with seeds. These have been successful in connecting
people with other in their communities as well as connecting them to their
local environment.
The discussion turned to the possibilities of rewarding people for making
great efforts. Would an award scheme directly for people work or should
their reward come indirectly through it being granted to the site? How
can they be given recognition for their hard work? The Green Flag Scheme
has been set up for parks and gardens, in which they have to meet eight
criteria. But it only relates to the place and not the people working
there.
Another issue to do with rewarding people is the opportunity, or lack
of opportunity, to take small groups from local communities to look at
best practice in other areas/countries. This provides an opportunity to
exchange ideas, practices, to enter into communication with others and
encourages networking. The obstacle is getting the funding to do this
as some funding bodies don’t place a value on these visits.
It’s about involvement and individuals. If you give people the
opportunity to have their eyes opened by visiting other places and people,
it allows them to engage in further communication. This in itself helps
people to take a fresh look at the design of places. It’s very hard
to get groups together to share experiences, yet park managers are now
being actively encouraged to compare and network – at least within
the UK, if not yet abroad. It’s a matter of persuading senior management
of the value of benchmarking and sharing experiences. There’s a
need to put the argument in local authority area to the highest level.
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