Wilder 2030: Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust Strategy
Nature’s still in crisis. Time to change the story.
Nature is not separate from us – it is us.
Our living world shapes our homes and landscapes, Brings joy and wonder, Sustains our health, And powers our economy.
But right now, nature is in trouble – and so are we. We need wilder spaces, Healthier soils, rivers and seas, More room for wildlife to flourish, And more people willing to stand up for change.
This will take courage. Fresh thinking. And a shared belief that together, we can create a wilder world – for all of us.
In 2020, we started something. The first version of our Wilder 2030 strategy marked a shift not just for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, but for how our communities saw their relationship with the natural world. It was bold, ambitious, unapologetically urgent. It was our response to the nature and climate crises, and a rallying cry to double the space for wildlife and create a tipping point for social change through connecting people with nature and supporting them to act. Even through the shockwaves of a global pandemic, something took root, and a movement started to grow.
Since then, we’ve seen remarkable progress. Thousands have joined Team Wilder, leading urban rewilding, standing up for nature and donating time and money. We’ve pioneered transformative naturebased solutions to mitigate pollution and restore ecosystems. We’ve secured 500 hectares more land for wildlife, expanding our nature reserves and making them more resilient. We’ve welcomed landowners wanting to rewild their farms and estates and we’ve driven ambitious marine projects, including the innovative restoration of seagrass meadows in the Solent.
We are proud of these successes and the people who have joined us in our mission to create a wilder future. But we must do more.
The system is broken. We know that nature is essential for our health and economic security, and yet it is still overlooked, undervalued – and increasingly attacked. In the relentless quest for growth, a damaging anti-environment rhetoric is on the rise, painting nature as a blocker to progress. This is a dangerous story that we must change. Nature is not the problem; it is the solution.
We need more space for wildlife. We need more people standing up for nature. But above all, we need to change the systems that drive decline. Climate breakdown, biodiversity collapse, pollution, poor health, stagnant growth, inequality – all are symptoms of the same crisis: our broken relationship with the natural world, a disconnect between how we live and what life needs to thrive.
At the end of 2025, we have refreshed our strategy as a renewed call for action and a bold vision for change. There is no time to waste. To see wildlife – and ourselves –thrive, we must act now. Join us. It’s time to change the story.
Debbie Tann MBE Chief Executive
Our vision for a wilder future
Stopping the loss of nature is not enough – we urgently need to bring back the wild, embrace it, and let life flourish. We envision a future where…
• Nature doesn’t just survive in isolated pockets but thrives everywhere –expanding to and beyond 30% of land and sea safeguarded for our richest biodiversity.
• Nature is properly valued for everything it gives us – from beauty and inspiration to climate resilience and food security.
• Nature is harnessed as a solution to some of society’s most pressing issues, including climate change, pollution and poor public health.
• Our economy, farming systems, communities and way of life are designed with ecological health as the foundation.
• People are connected to and feel benefit from a thriving natural world.
• Citizens have a voice in shaping their wilder future.
• Economic success is redefined to embrace wellbeing for people and planet alike.
Why this matters
Although nature is recovering in some places, wildlife decline, pollution, and climate breakdown are worsening – eroding the very foundations of our social and economic security. When ecosystems degrade, the air, water and food we depend on becomes less safe, and the risks from climate change increase. Meanwhile, large sections of society have become disconnected from nature, treating it as irrelevant to daily life, while our economy is locked into a model of continuous growth that fuels environmental damage, social inequality, and economic fragility. Beyond a
certain point, this type of extractive growth ceases to improve our lives – it traps us in cycles of overconsumption and ecological collapse.
Our vision
Our vision is for a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight where wildlife thrives, not just survives – where nature powers solutions, connects communities, rebuilds resilience, and helps both people and planet flourish.
We need to change the system
Realising our vision for nature’s recovery demands urgent and lasting systems change. To avoid ecological collapse and climate catastrophe, we must embrace a new kind of thinking, shifting to a way of life that supports and regenerates nature, rather than depleting it. To achieve this, we need a fundamental rewire of the incentives, structures, and cultural norms that currently drive decline. This includes transformative shifts in how people view and interact with the natural worldcreating the conditions for everyone to build a connection with, and appreciation for, the very thing that sustains them.
We know we cannot achieve this alone; these are major global issues. But every
citizen can make a difference. We all have a role to play. As a place-based organisation with deep roots in our communities –and the backing of tens of thousands of supporters – the Trust is in a unique position to make change happen.
Our mission
Our mission is to drive nature’s recovery by transforming the systems and values that shape our world. We work locally to restore nature and support positive change, taking action through people, partnerships, policy, practice, and place – to help create a healthier, more resilient, wilder future for all.
Who we are
As part of The Wildlife Trusts, we belong to the fastest growing federation in the UK working together for nature’s recovery. As a local Wildlife Trust, we have strong and longstanding roots in the community, and we are proud of the legacy we have built with our many supporters. Over 65 years, we’ve safeguarded some of the most iconic habitats and special sites in Hampshire and the Island. We’ve pioneered innovative approaches to connecting people with wildlife and inspiring action. We’ve embraced new ways of financing recovery, showing how nature can be a solution to environmental risks. And we’ve led ambitious rewilding and species recovery programmes on land and at sea.
Our role
As a locally rooted organisation, we have a vital part to play in the global effort to restore nature and create a wilder, more resilient world. We believe transformational change is possible when people work together – and that it must start here, in the places we live.
We lead with purpose
We bring passion, commitment and focus to everything we do for nature and people.
We act with integrity
We do what’s right, with honesty, accountability, and trust at the heart of our work.
We work together
We collaborate with openness and respect, embracing diverse voices, partnership and shared goals.
We are bold and creative
We face challenges with courage and curiosity, embracing innovation and always seeking better ways to make a difference.
We strive for excellence
We aim high, learn constantly, and take pride in doing things well, seeking to continually raise the bar for wildlife.
Our strategy for change
Our strategy sets out what we will do to start to change the system in favour of nature’s recovery – working across five strategic priorities and delivering through integrated place-based programmes.
1. Thriving nature
Through protecting and restoring wild places, nature can flourish, recover and spread.
2. Powerful partnerships
By working together, we can scale the transformation of landscapes and seascapes.
3. Connected communities
People are inspired and enabled to play their part in nature’s recovery.
Our Role: Nature Restorer, Solutions Provider.
PRACTICE
Our Role: Local Leader, Collaborator, Convenor.
PARTNERSHIPS
PLACE-BASED DELIVERY
Our Role: Educator, Mobiliser, Culture Shifter.
PEOPLE
4.
Nature-positive society
The value of nature is understood and is central to decision making.
Our Role: Policy Shaper, Change Maker. POLICY
5.
Future-ready team
We are a strong organisation, embedded in our communities, with the people and resources needed to make change happen.
Our Role: Employer, Partner, Moderniser.
PURPOSE
1.
Thriving nature
Ecosystems are revived with diverse and abundant wildlife - through the protection and management of core nature sites, habitat restoration, species recovery, and delivery of nature-based solutions. This will scale impact by shaping practice and showing what works.
Our Role: Nature Restorer and Solutions Provider
Why this matters
Nature recovery begins with what we already have. At the heart of the Trust’s work lie our nature reserves which include some of the most valuable wild places in the two counties. Safeguarding them is critical for species survival and ecosystem health, and they are the foundations from which wildlife will spread as the wider landscape recovers, under the Government’s target of protecting 30% of land and sea for nature. In addition, nature-based solutions are increasingly being seen as ways of mitigating damage from pollution, development and other impacts on the environment, and it is vital these schemes are delivered in a way that maximises wildlife recovery including by connecting and expanding existing sites. Using our decades of land management expertise, and as a leading provider of nature-based solutions, we are well placed to deliver innovative and effective approaches to nature recovery and influence wider action through proof of concept and demonstration of impact.
What we will do
• Ensure our nature reserves deliver best practice in wildlife management, adapting to the changing climate and embracing opportunities for ecological restoration and rewilding.
• Reintroduce missing keystone species
to restore ecosystem health to our nature reserves where it makes sense to do so.
• Seek to increase, expand and connect the land under our care to build its resilience to climate change and other external pressures.
• Develop and deliver high integrity nature-based solutions to mitigate environmental harm, provide benefits for society and contribute to nature’s recovery.
• Strengthen our role as a trusted deliverer of quality land management, nature restoration, habitat creation and ecological services.
• Grow our services to include advising on and overseeing delivery by others, aiming to raise the bar for wildlife.
• Underpin our work with robust monitoring and evidence, using our experience to demonstrate good practice, influence others and accelerate nature’s recovery.
Powerful partnerships 2.
Collaboration drives nature recovery across our region and beyond, along with the return of missing species, the transition to regenerative farming and the widespread adoption of nature-positive development. Through bold new partnerships, we make our landscapes, river catchments and seas wilder, resilient, and fit for the future.
Our Role: Local Leader, Collaborator and Convenor
Why this matters
To achieve the Government’s 30% target, the space for wildlife must be doubled by 2030 - through creating bigger, better, and more connected nature networks. Beyond this, our vision is of nature thriving and abundant as part of healthy functioning ecosystems, helping to manage climate risk and improve economic resilience. Success will depend on making naturepositive, regenerative approaches the norm – especially within the sectors most responsible for decline, but most capable of delivering recovery at scale. With 70% of land under agriculture, regenerative farming is central to this, alongside sustainable freshwater and marine management, and nature-positive development. Collaborative effort will be essential: by joining forces, we can share resources, knowledge, and skills to accelerate and secure lasting change.
What we will do
• Expand our work to create wilder seas through targeted restoration of marine habitats, collaborating to join up efforts across the south coast.
• Push for effective management of marine protected areas and for action to reduce the pressure on marine wildlife and ecosystems.
• Develop ambitious plans to restore whole catchments, rewilding rivers and
bringing water back to our landscapes for wildlife recovery, climate resilience, pollution reduction and sustainable water management.
• Support the transition to naturefriendly food production, working with regenerative farmers to champion how farming and nature recovery can, and must, go hand in hand.
• Seek opportunities to deliver largescale rewilding projects, working with ambitious landowners who wish to transform their land.
• Champion and support the return of missing species, such as beavers, and their critical role in restoring ecosystem health.
• Challenge and encourage local government and the private sector to plan and deliver development that gives back more than it takes – creating thriving places to live and work.
Connected communities
People and communities everywhere join with nature and each other, building an inclusive movement that drives cultural change and places nature at the heart of our lives.
Our Role: Educator, Mobiliser and Culture Shifter
Why this matters
Change starts with people. When enough of us act, we shift culture. And when culture shifts, systems follow. To build that momentum, and create a tipping point for change, we must open the door for many more people to connect with nature in ways that feel accessible, meaningful, and inspiring. Connection creates belonging. Belonging sparks care. And care fuels action. Our role is to educate, enable and mobilise - helping people step into nature’s recovery as leaders in their own right. Through communications and working with communities, we can grow a movement too powerful to be ignored.
What we will do
• Provide communications, events, activities and experiences that connect people of all ages with nature, inspiring them to take the next step towards action.
• Work with educators to embed nature in school life and the curriculum, nurturing the next generation of environmental advocates.
• Advocate for urban greening and campaign for greater access to nature close to home.
• Support individuals and groups to create wilder, greener, more resilient communities, empowering local action.
• Connect committed advocates, encouraging them to share knowledge, inspire others and grow the movement.
• Provide training and share skills to help businesses and organisations act for nature and drive sustainable change.
• Create pathways for young people to have a meaningful voice in nature recovery and the Trust’s future.
• Remove barriers to participation and build strong partnerships, ensuring everyone can take part in the movement.
• Mobilise supporters so the movement multiplies – creating ripples that inspire others, broadening our reach beyond the usual circles.
• Celebrate meaningful action, connecting people as part of Team Wilder’s collective movement for change.
• Use storytelling, communications, and lived experience to humanise and localise the tangible benefits of nature’s recovery.
Nature-positive society
Policies and plans consistently prioritise nature-positive approaches, placing the value of nature at the heart of decisions, investment and innovation, so that a thriving natural world becomes the foundation of our economy and society.
Our Role: Policy Shaper and Change Maker
Why this matters
Individual action is vital, but it must be galvanised into collective pressure for change. By combining public support with evidence and real-world examples, we can create a compelling case for positive shifts in policy, planning and practice at every level. We will speak up when decisions put wildlife at risk, press for nature’s rights to be recognised, and use our expertise to build demand for nature-based solutions. To do this, we will expand our advocacy efforts, communicate with a bold and confident voice, challenge business-asusual, and take a leading role in shaping fresh, nature-positive approaches. Ultimately, we need to reframe nature recovery not as a niche environmental agenda, but as essential infrastructure for wellbeing, climate resilience and a rejuvenated economy.
What we will do
• Mobilise our supporters to show widespread support for nature’s recovery, giving decision-makers the confidence to act boldly.
• Speak up for nature with courage and clarity, holding decision makers to account when choices threaten wildlife and natural ecosystems.
• Capture and share compelling evidence, stories, and insights that demonstrate how nature rich landscapes, seascapes and urban spaces deliver wellbeing,
climate resilience and local economic benefits.
• Work with environmental economists and specialists to make the business case for investing in nature and naturebased solutions, while highlighting the costs of continued degradation.
• Champion nature’s rights alongside environmental justice, ensuring that nature-positive changes benefit all communities and that the costs of inaction do not unfairly impact the most vulnerable.
• Secure a strong voice in regional economic development discussions, in the context of a new mayoral authority, positioning nature as a driver of lasting prosperity and thriving communities.
Future-ready team
The Trust is a thriving, resilient, inclusive organisation, equipped with the expertise and resources to achieve bold, collaborative action for nature’s recovery.
Our Role: Employer, Partner and Moderniser
Why this matters
To bring nature back across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, we need to be a strong, effective and efficient organisation. Our work depends on a dedicated, skilled and diverse team, backed by systems and resources that help us make the biggest difference possible. We will need to secure the long-term funding and partnerships required to protect and restore wildlife, and remain flexible enough to seize new opportunities.
We are building a future-ready Trust – one that welcomes everyone, collaborates and contributes and stays true to its values as we evolve.
What
we will do
• Deliver the scale and diversity of funding required for nature’s recovery, embedding a strong fundraising culture throughout the Trust.
• Run a financially sustainable organisation that drives effective delivery today while investing wisely for the future.
• Grow our movement by inspiring more people to support the Trust as members, donors and volunteers.
• Strengthen relationships with our supporters by deepening engagement, building trust, and celebrating shared successes.
• Champion inclusion, ensuring we are relevant to everyone, and reflect the diversity of our local communities in all we do.
• Invest in our staff and volunteers, fostering a safe and positive working culture.
• Support continuous learning and create clear pathways into careers in nature recovery through internships, traineeships and placements.
• Deliver a digital transformation utilising new technology to make us more connected, agile, and effective in achieving our goals.
• Decarbonise our operations and lead by example on environmental sustainability – achieving net zero emissions by 2030.
• Uphold the highest standards of governance, leadership, compliance and risk management.
• Play a leading role in the UKwide federation of Wildlife Trusts, contributing to nature’s recovery and environmental leadership at a national scale.
Place-based delivery
Nature’s recovery is always rooted in place. Every landscape and seascape carries its own history, character and potential, from ancient woodlands and wetlands to estuaries and urban green spaces. Place is also where people live, work, go to school, and build a sense of identity and belonging.
Place enables us to respond to local ecological needs while also reflecting cultural connections and community priorities. When people see rivers restored, meadows thriving, and wildlife returning, it builds hope, pride, belonging, and a sense of stewardship – turning passive observers into active guardians, creating connections that are long lasting and deeply felt.
Drawing on evidence from the Place Matters framework, we see place as the key engine of change. Place provides a powerful way of addressing interconnected, locally relevant priorities – from climate resilience and flood management to job creation and improved wellbeing. With a common agenda, shared measures, reinforcing activities, and strong communication, local action can generate collective impact.
Importantly, local delivery lays the foundations for national and global change. By showing what works, we can build
partnerships beyond our boundaries, and translate lessons to influence policy, funding, and culture. We can ensure local delivery contributes directly to national and global ambitions with change at scale achieved when successful approaches are replicated across multiple places.
The following pages set out our plans to restore and transform places across our counties – demonstrating the economic, social, and environmental value of investing in nature. We invite everyone who cares about the future of these places to join us.
Map key
Wilder North Hampshire
Wilder Chalk
Wilder Coast
Wilder New Forest
Wilder Wight
Wilder Rivers & Wetlands
Wilder Seas
Trust Nature Reserves
Alton
Eastleigh
Romsey
Lyndhurst
Havant
Southampton
Basingstoke
Petersfield
Sandown
Ringwood
Andover
Lymington
Portsmouth
Gosport
Winchester
Newport
Ryde
Hook
Wilder North Hampshire
The twin pressures of urbanisation and climate change are squeezing north Hampshire’s wildlife and impacting important habitats including the Thames Basin Heaths, ancient woodlands and chalk streams like the River Loddon. Development along the M3 corridor and beyond is fragmenting ecosystems, while pollution and climate stress is compounding the risks. We will work with active, engaged communities to champion nature-positive development and river rights, seeking opportunities to reconnect fragmented habitats. We will collaborate with landowners and key partners to rewild landscapes and catchments and increase climate resilience – for example, through grazing management and holding more water on the land to guard against wildfire risk. We are particularly keen to identify opportunities for a flagship project to increase the Trust’s presence in the north of the county.
Wilder Chalk
Our chalk habitats are as globally rare as they are iconic, supporting precious wildlife and sustaining people through providing water, food, and access to nature. But most species-rich grasslands are gone, and climate change is a major threat. We will work with key partners and landowners to reconnect fragmented chalk downland and woodland habitats, from Broughton Down to Noar Hill, build resilience to climate change and help specialist species of butterfly, moth and plant thrive once more. We will seek opportunities to mitigate development impacts through nature-based solutions in a way that supports both nature recovery and regenerative land use, reducing pollution into the chalk aquifers. We will work with farmers and the Big Chalk partnership to improve the balance between food production and nature recovery. A key ambition is to reconnect the severed landscape around the M3 cutting at Twyford Down and create a future-facing, wildlife rich gateway into the South Downs National Park.
Wilder Coast
Our coastline is the place where climate risks are most acute. It is under huge pressure from relative sea level rise, erosion, pollution and urban growth, with most of our important coastal habitats, including Farlington Marshes, at risk of being lost in the decades to come. These are home to globally important populations of wintering wildfowl and wading wetland birds as well as being important to people. Our primary aim is to help wildlife adapt to these pressures - with key strategic acquisitions and creation of compensatory habitats and refuges being an urgent priority. Working with partners, we will build resilience across our coastal and estuarine areas – improving the functional connections between land and sea, safeguarding the most important areas from unsustainable development and strengthening connections between fragmented areas to ensure these ecosystems can thrive.
Wilder New Forest
The New Forest is one of the most important and extensive habitats of its type in lowland Europe, with exceptional wildlife and cultural value. The National Park attracts millions of visitors and faces a number of compounding pressures threatening its future. We aim to play a vital role within the broad partnership of organisations working in the Forest, championing nature recovery, climate resilience and areas for wild tranquillity. A key priority is our Forest to Foreshore vision which aims to establish an unbroken, vibrant wildlife corridor through the Lymington valley from the stunning Roydon Woods nature reserve to Keyhaven marshes, including transforming large areas of arable farmland into new coastal wetlands. This will take strategic land acquisitions, close partnership working, and community engagement, alongside nature-based solutions that tackle pollution, boost climate resilience, and draw investment into the area.
Wilder Wight
As one of only seven UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the UK, the Isle of Wight has a unique opportunity to lead the way in demonstrating the power of a nature-led economy to help address some of the economic challenges the Island faces. Working with partners, we aim to create a bold, innovative, whole-Island approach that acts as an international exemplar for how people and wildlife can thrive together. We aim to drive ambitious landscape-scale recovery that works seamlessly with regenerative farming. We will return missing species including beavers, create thriving habitats, and deploy nature-based solutions to tackle climate change and development pressures. We will champion circular economy initiatives, eco-enterprises and strategic planning that integrates nature recovery, sustainable land use, job creation, community prosperity, and resilience. We envision an Island where nature is central to daily life and decisionmaking, and where partnerships and community leadership deliver meaningful change – as a living beacon of hope for the UK.
Wilder Rivers & Wetlands
Hampshire has some of the rarest and most important rivers in the world, but these are under huge pressure from pollution, abstraction and modification. Our vision is to restore natural, healthy, and functioning rivers, floodplains and wetlands that flow freely with clean water and support diverse wildlife. We will continue working to ensure our waterways, including our internationally renowned chalk streams, are rich in life, function naturally, and are resilient to climate change. Our priorities include seeing beavers return to our waterways, restoration of salmon populations and conservation of rare species such as southern damselfly and white-clawed crayfish. Through targeted restoration, stakeholder collaboration and campaigning for better regulations, we will fight to ensure these precious habitats are protected and polluters are held to account. We are looking to increase our presence in the Meon Valley to balance our work across all river catchments.
Wilder Seas
The Solent and wider marine habitats are of international importance but under immense pressure from pollution, development and increased temperatures. And yet, our coastal waters and deep seas play a vital role in supporting biodiversity, capturing carbon, and sustaining livelihoods. We are working towards a future where our seas and intertidal habitats are in a far healthier state, home to flourishing seagrass meadows and bursting with colour, character and life. We aim to scale up our efforts to protect and enhance our marine ecosystems through community action, scientific innovation, and habitat restoration – joining forces with our neighbours on an ambitious vision for nature recovery across the whole south coast. Through inclusive engagement and environmental stewardship, we want to see more people becoming champions of marine conservation, ensuring a resilient, thriving seascape that benefits future generations.
Wilder Towns & Cities
Many of our towns and cities are devoid of nature, increasingly vulnerable to overheating and flood risk, and lacking the green spaces people need for health, wellbeing, and daily connection with the wild. We will work with communities, local leaders, and partners to embed nature into the fabric of towns and cities, focusing on securing fair and inclusive access to high-quality green space, restoring nature across schools, streets, gardens, and public areas, and ensuring that planning and design decisions put nature first. Our role is to build capacity, mentor champions, and enable individuals and groups to lead action for nature. By enabling communities to shape decisions and take ownership, we will create healthier, more resilient urban areas where nature is woven into daily life, supporting both people and wildlife and fostering greater environmental justice.
A call to action
This strategy is more than a plan – it’s a call for a shift in how we live, work, and define progress. A transformation in what we value and how we act, grounded in the understanding that nature is essential to our health and economy, and yet it is in crisis.
We invite collaboration across all sectors:
• Individuals – to make everyday choices that help people and planet.
• Farmers and fishers – to care for land and sea in ways that restore and sustain them for the future.
• Planners and developers – to design places where people and nature thrive together.
• Business and finance – to invest in projects that support nature, manage risk, create good jobs, and build strong communities.
• Public institutions – to measure success not just by growth, but by health, fairness and a thriving natural environment.
If we fail to repair our relationship with nature, we risk a future shaped by instability and loss. But if we act with courage and collaboration, we can create
thriving communities, healthy ecosystems, and a legacy of positive change.
This is bigger than any one of us – but it starts with all of us.
It’s time to change the story.
We’re building a wilder, more resilient world and it starts with people like you. Scan to get involved.
