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Fresh Vision for the Fens
Being able to positively impact the lives of local young people is a hopeful ambition – and one which the Wildlife Trust in Cambridgeshire aim to realise in a new project.
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In an initiative called Peatland Progress: A New Vision for the Fens the Trust's team at the Great Fen will be looking to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss (expanding on the pioneering wet farming trials which have been ongoing over the last two years) however, as well as offering hope for the future of farming, an equally important strand of this project will be offering fresh hope to young people in the rural communities surrounding the Great upon to make post-Covid interventions: the Trust's work with YPCS will evaluate needs, and develop and deliver natural environment health and wellbeing programmes which young people and their families can use as therapeutic toolkits. It is hoped that by focussing on helping improve mental health in young people, inspiring them to consider current issues through exploring their local environment will
help address issues of wellbeing, employment and Covid-19 recovery, tackling the anxieties of the next generation head-on. The Wildlife Trust's Head of Communities Louise Rackham says: “Young people are the future generation, we know they are very anxious about the climate emergency but we at the Wildlife Trust are looking forward to working with this partnership so that we can help them feel empowered to take action - however small - that can make a huge difference to both their lives and our natural world.”
Michelle Lay, YPCS Clinical Services Director says: “YPCS is really excited to work alongside the Louise and her team at the Wildlife Trust on this innovative project. Mental health has been severely impacted by the pandemic and we are looking forward bringing young people families into the Great Fen as another tool to support their wellbeing.” The funding was announced in July when the Trust were awarded £8 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund via a Heritage Horizon award for this double stranded project at the
Great Fen. Kate Carver, Great Fen Project Manager, said: "This project tackles some of the biggest challenges of the day - climate change, biodiversity loss and the anxieties of the next generation in our post Covid world. Peatland Progress will bring genuine improvement to people’s lives, and to make sure that happens we’ll be talking to our local communities over the next year to make sure we get it right. We want to bring communities into the heart of the Great Fen, showing people that climate change is being tackled on their doorstep and empowering them to take action. We have exciting times ahead.”
Fen, as well as in socially deprived areas of Peterborough. Aiming to understand and remove barriers to accessing and engaging with nature, the Trust will explore views on the climate emergency and the future of conservation and farming collaborating with Young People’s Counselling Service (YPCS), a Peatland Progress partner organization. YPCS supports young people aged 11-18 years and their families, working to build resilience for family and relationship difficulties, loneliness, anxiety, low self-esteem, bullying, self harm, abuse, addiction, bereavement, loss, depression and decision making difficulty. Increasingly YPCS is being called
