Meet the 2023 Lancashire Wildlife Trust Youth Council

Your Wildlife is leading the way with our young people helping us to create strategies for their own and future generations of conservationists.

What is the Youth Council?

The LWT Youth Council is a group of young people aged between 13 and 25 who live across Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside.

They are volunteers who are dedicated to improving the Trust and its offering for young people. They meet six times a year to help shape campaigns, marketing plans, events; and volunteering opportunities and ensure that the youth voice is embedded across all our work.

They are all passionate about protecting wildlife, nature, and the local environment as well as inspiring other young people to create positive change.

What are the goals of the Youth Council?

 Help us to work towards our goal of 30 per cent of land and sea in the North West being protected for nature by 2030

 Ensure that youth voices from across the Northwest are heard on environmental issues

 Ensure that young people from all backgrounds find a place to learn, grow and work together

 Ensure that young people sit at the heart of LWT

 Create a community of learning using evidence-based knowledge for positive action

 Help us to hit our goal of reaching 1 in 4 people in order to make a change for nature

 Nurture future young leaders, environmentalists, and campaigners

Chief Executive Tom Burditt said: “We are so proud of our Youth Council; they are young people who are really making a difference and are the future faces and voices of conservation and the Wildlife Trusts. They have led the way for concerned young people in their actions and words and are an example to us all.”

Rose

"I joined the Youth Council because of the unique opportunities that the council offers. I love volunteering and the experience from the council will help me pursue my dream career!"

Eshan, Vice Chair

"I joined the LWT YC to be more involved in the preservation of natural areas, especially because they're so prominent where I'm from, in Burnley."

Caitlin

"I joined the Youth Council to meet like-minded individuals and to make a difference. It is important to me that we restore our connection with nature and conserve and protect our ecosystems."

Jaz

"I joined the Youth Council to help spread the beauty of our natural world and show the joy it can bring, while hopefully inspiring more people to start taking some everyday actions to help Nature."

Phillip

"I want to be able to raise the profile of younger people in the conservation sector whilst also being able to meet like-minded folk, who all bring a variety of knowledge to the table."

Euan

"I joined the Youth Council because I wanted to strive to raise awareness for our local ecosystems and how people can come together in order to protect our environment at large."

Archie

"I would like to help improve and sustain local wildlife habitats and make LWT more accessible and appealing to people of all ages and abilities."

Abbie, Vice Chair

"There are limited volunteering opportunities for young people to make a legitimate impact and I would like to help change that, no one should be excluded because of their age."