Access to Nature Community Pilot

This pilot’s aim was to investigate what are the key elements impacting Black and racially minoritised people’s access to nature and to identify solutions that could increase their access and ultimately improve the quality and frequency of their engagement with nature. 
 
Through surveying attendees at a tree-planting day and a tree pruning day, the report includes the demographic and engagement data of 31 Black and racially minoritised people. 

The first event of tree planting at Pucklechurch Wood took place on a cold and wet February day, resulting in lots of people not attending on the day. Potential attendees reported that weather was often one of the main things stopping them attending nature-based events. This mostly came down to concerns about safety (for example slippery paths) or not having the right footwear or clothing. 

The second event took place at Shirehampton in Daisy Field in March and it was a warm and sunny day for learning tree pruning and orchard management skills. There was a much lower drop-out rate, however this raised a different engagement challenge. The delivery team noticed that only 5 people initially signed up for the event within two weeks. They phoned up potential attendees, and realised that there was a language barrier, with second language speakers often asking for clarification of the word ‘pruning’. By explaining the activity in more inclusive language, the team were able to engage another 5 attendees via WhatsApp.

 Ultimately, this second event was particularly successful as it became an opportunity for people to learn about the practice of tree pruning from the expert facilitator on site.

When asked what would make attendees engage with nature more often, there was a clear community benefit, which ‘the feeling of being part of something bigger’ selected by 67% of respondents. 
 
The second more common response was green skills training, More than half of respondents also stated that seeing more diverse representation in marketing and during the event made them feel more welcome and they would love to see this approach more often moving forward.  
 
Safety returned as a theme, now being linked not only to physical safety but also to the mental and emotional stability that comes from feeling confident and familiar with the people around you. 

47% mentioned that they would like to engage with nature more, but they don’t have the time/financial means, hence paid activities would make them engage more often. 40% also stated that better transportation and links to nature sites would be hugely helpful. In fact, 60% of attendees signed up to our pre-paid and pre-arranged transportation offer to reach the two events sites and they all rated the service as “extremely useful”. 

An equal 40% discussed the opportunity to have events that focus on nature and culture at the same time and showed a high level of interest. 33% of respondents also mentioned that being able to join with people they already know make them feel less excluded and that they would attend more events if they were promoted better in their areas.  

Every attendee enjoyed the two events, with almost all selecting ‘Excellent’ and one person selecting ‘Great’ on a question about how they found the activities.  
 
When asked to list the thing(s) that they enjoyed the most from the day, 73% (11 people out of the total 15) have selected on the survey that they “loved being in nature”, they “loved doing physical activities outdoors”, they “loved learning a green skill”. 67% (10 people out of 15) mentioned that they loved being around other people and finally 47% (7 out of 15) felt mentally relaxed on the day. 

Overall, the findings suggested that the approach taken by this pilot is already making an impact on the lives of the individuals involved by increasing their engagement with nature and having provided safe and inclusive opportunities for Black and racially minoritised people to increase their green skills and confidence to engage in nature-based activities. The pilot has provided insights into a more inclusive type of engagement and an overview of the key elements that persuade people to engage as well as of the barriers hindering their access to nature.