Projects to engage children
A raft of inspiring initiatives are launching to help connect young people in Sussex with nature and empower them to get involved in climate action.
The South Downs National Park Trust has announced several schemes, including grants for schools across Sussex, funding for nature-based activities and a fun eco-art competition.
It comes as the trust, the official independent charity for the national park, is stepping up activities in 2022 to ensure more young people than ever before can enjoy the South Downs and connect with the amazing landscape, biodiversity and cultural heritage.
A raft of inspiring initiatives are launching to help connect young people in Sussex with nature and empower them to get involved in climate action.
The South Downs National Park Trust is announcing several schemes, including grants for schools across Sussex, funding for nature-based activities and a fun eco-art competition.
It comes as the trust, the official independent charity for the national park, is stepping up activities in 2022 to ensure more young people than ever before can enjoy the South Downs and connect with the amazing landscape, biodiversity and cultural heritage.
Julie Fawcett, chair of the South Downs National Park Trust, said :“Nature needs us now and that’s why all these initiatives are so important in the face of climate change.
“Young people are the future stewards of the South Downs, and indeed our planet, and so it’s vital that we help them learn about biodiversity and how we can protect it.
“Fortunately, young people are more nature-focused than perhaps ever before and there’s a real appetite to get involved with climate action.
“There are also many children and young people from towns and cities who may never have had the opportunity to visit a national park and we’re committed to ensuring that everyone gets the chance to connect with the natural world.”
The initiatives include making mini-grants of £150 are available for schools across Sussex to carry out an activity during the forthcoming summer term that helps tackle climate change or helps biodiversity flourish.
It could be creating new habitat for wildlife or encouraging responsible water usage, for example. Applications are open to schools in the national park and within 10km of the boundary .
Youth Action Fund grants of up to £1,000 have now been made available.
Organisations wanting to carry out projects that will empower and support young people between the ages of 12 and 25 to engage with the national park are invited to apply.
Beneficiaries last year included helping young refugees connect with the South Downs and 50 young people with complex learning needs taking part in nature activities and there is funding to support approximately five additional project.
This fund is managed by the Trust on behalf of the national park authority and Clarion Housing and the deadline for applications is April 28.
A fun ‘clean-up and create’ competition has been launched and is open to all five to 16-yearolds living in Sussex.
The ‘Art in the Park’ contest invites young people to create an eco-art masterpiece out of any litter they find while exploring or being inspired by the National Park.
Delivered by Sussex Green Living with funding from The Boltini Trust, winners will win up to £75 of art resources for their school or uniformed youth group.
Individuals may enter via their guardian. The deadline for entries to the competition is midday on June 20.
The South Downs National Park Trust is an independent charity and its aim is to work with partners to enhance and protect the South Downs National Park for future generations.
This involves conserving the landscape and its heritage and working to improve our grassland, heathland and woodland.
These habitats are rare and in decline. For example, 80 per cent of chalk grassland has been lost since the Second World War.
The trust wants to reverse this trend, restoring these precious habitats for future generations to enjoy. Our chalk grassland has up to 40 species in one square metre and our lowland heath is rarer than rainforest and home to all of our native reptiles and amphibians.
Currently 25 per cent of the South Downs National Park is managed for nature.
Together, with the South Downs National Park Authority, The Trust wants to increase this to 33 per cent by 2030. That is an extra 13,000 hectares, the equivalent of around 21,000 new football pitches.
Working with landowners, the Beelines project is planting new wildflower corridors on the South Downs to connect pockets of species-rich chalk grassland.
The trust also aims to engage people in outdoor learning.
Studies show that time spent outdoors helps improve health, wellbeing and social interaction.
They are working to help thousands of young people develop each year, through hands on outdoor learning within the national park.
Another aim of the trust is to improve and increase walking and cycling routes – national parks provide important breathing spaces and spending time in them can improve people’s lives.
They want to make sure everyone can access our national park, by improving rights of way and establishing new walking and cycle routes.
The trust is governed by an independent and experienced board of trustees who oversee its work.
The trust supports projects that enhance the well-being of beneficiaries, individuals and communities of the South Downs National Park and all those who visit it. Among its varied fundraising initiatives, the trust is helping to deliver large-scale nature recovery and habitat restoration, grants to help local communities and inspiring schemes to connect children and young people with nature.
You can find out more about the trust and its work with young people by visiting www. southdownstrust.org.uk.
The website also has many resources which can be used by schools.