Aviva Community Fund provided £1,235 of match funding
Community Wildlife Link
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To deliver a wildlife education programme for young people to focus on caring for and get actively involved with British wildlife
What is Wildlife Link?
Wildlife Link is a community learning programme delivered by The WildAid Foundation Trust, a registered charity with a clear aim to deliver a skills focused experiential wildlife education programme focussed on getting young people to care for and get actively involved with British wildlife.
Founded in 1996 WildAid became one of the UK’s busiest wildlife rescue centres saving the lives of several thousand injured and orphaned animals each year as well as delivering educational activities in the local community. People are at the heart of our work and we have been connecting the community with wildlife rescue and the natural world ever since.
The BIG question is - are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never get to see a wild Hedgehog except on a screen?
In 2016 over 50 UK conservation organisations collaborated to bring successive investigations on the State of Nature in the UK. A major conclusion was: “That the UK is one of the most nature deprived countries in the world. The plan was that we’d all work together to live more sustainably and respectfully for biodiversity. In many areas, huge progress was made – but things still seem short lived.
A range of factors affect the state of nature in the UK. Two of the most important being agriculture and climate change and the other being a paucity of knowledge and skills about nature. The major impacts of changes ‘collide’ with the demand for production and climate change, which can reduce habitat and push wildlife to the extremes of their preferred habitats. Wildlife is being squeezed and this means they come into complex human related conflicts. The wildlife rescue community receive the result of this conflict:: injured, displaced and orphaned wildlife.
We talk with rescuers about what will make a difference for the wildlife in their care. It could be veterinary equipment, a new hospital, 50 hedgehog boxes for release sites, or rescue equipment. We start to engage with the community encouraging them to focus on raising awareness of wildlife and the benefits of this to them. We often find that the community is concerned about pollution, litter, behavior targeted toward the environment. We then enable a call for action at a local level. Slowly, sensitively, this connection encourages people to come together – and have a say in their own community.
That’s where we send in ambassadors with the skills and knowledge about ‘linking’ people with wildlife; this link encourages health, motivation and new beginnings. It’s then, when this connection is established and confidence is growing, that we really start to initiate Wildlife Link.
The Community is the Heart of Wildlife Link
When people have knowledge, they can make informed choices about their lives and bring about change for the long term. Our charitable work is moving to Tyneside in Spring 2022. We have an exciting prospect to bring Wildlife Link to Newcastle Upon Tyne. We will look to work with 60 young people co-creating resources to establish a toolkit that equips them with natural history skills and we will work with them to measure biodiversity and establish opportunities to enhance and increase natural habitat for the benefit of wildlife. Our intention to deliver the following outcomes will be measured by:
Short-term outcomes
- Participants will be able to identify common and conspicuous native wildlife.
- Participants will gain knowledge and understanding about biodiversity and British wildlife, the threats and solutions.
- Participants will create richer local wildlife habitats providing for native flora and fauna.
- The community will establish links to wildlife rescue and these will have access to more safe and secure release sites.
- The wider community will develop a culture of environmental stewardship.
Long-term outcomes
- Addressing how intrinsic biodiversity is for physical and mental health wellbeing.
- Young people are motivated to consider a career in wildlife conservation and wildlife welfare.
- Long term stewardship in combating the ecological change crisis, by addressing biodiversity recovery, at a local level.
- Contributions to delivering local biodiversity targets through practical and educated approaches.
- Establishing a network of communities working for nature and being passionate about passing on knowledge and skills to others to care for and protect wildlife.
- Motivating social action through fundraising ventures that can be directly channeled into supporting local British wildlife causes.
We know that working with communities, to educate, equip and empower people is far better in understanding the valuable impact Wildlife Link provides. It works, it lasts and it’s far more cost-effective.
By measuring our impact, our successes and critique we aim to increase the capacity to deliver Wildlife Link across the north east. This would mean that the benefits of natural spaces would be felt and we would educate thousands of young people, teachers, youth leaders and communities as well as providing voluntary action about the importance of protecting and caring for British wildlife.
Why we need your help
So now you know who we are, what we do and what we are offering to the people of Tyne and Wear. This is where we'd like to ask for your help.
Our promise to our participants is is that they will not pay a penny towards Wildlife Link. We estimate that it costs £50.00 to deliver Wildlife Link per person. Initially we would like to engage 60 young people on this inspiring journey.
We hope, with your help, this is just the start.
Thanks for reading. For more information you can visit our website www.wildaid.co.uk
This project successfully funded on 12th April 2022