Back in April of 2020, the five Wildlife Trusts in Wales joined forces to undertake an ambitious project. The aim was to build a network of young people to tackle the climate and ecological crises head-on. Over the course of 6 years, we worked to empower young people to act for nature and wildlife in their local area. In this youth-led initiative, our members got to decide what action they wanted to see in their communities. They also worked with other forums across Wales to campaign on a national level.

As we say goodbye to this incredible project, we wanted to take a look back on some of the highlights from across the years. Let's celebrate the amazing work our incredible forum members have achieved.

The Cardiff Stand for Nature group did a lot of local green space enhancement. They worked with other community groups to improve local spaces for nature across the city. This included building a pond for the Diana gardens community group. The forum also campaigned with the Cathays wild gardeners in Rhigos and Gelligaer gardens to create wildflower areas. With other Wildlife Trust volunteers in the Roath Wild Gardens, they removed invasive species and install new nest boxes.

We are pleased that the pond is thriving and beautiful wildflowers are growing in Rhigos and Gelligaer gardens. Work in the Roath wild gardens continues, but the management on site is already having huge positive impacts on the native wildlife.

Our forum members have a keen interest in wildlife conservation. So, as a group we focused on developing our wildlife identification and monitoring skills. Over the project, we have led a nest recording scheme at Forest Farm, monitoring 36 nest boxes across the site. We’ve watched over 200 chicks fledge across 4 years, recording vital data for the national nest record scheme. Other species the group have been trained to monitor include bats, newts, reptiles, Otters, Dormice and Water voles. These are all species of conservation concern within Cardiff and beyond.

As well as local actions, our Cardiff forum joined with the other Stand for Nature groups across Wales to run a series of national campaigns. Among them was the pesticide-free campaign in 2023, calling for a reduction of domestic pesticide use in Wales. Members also helped to write the Stand for Nature Youth Manifesto. This document outlined the asks of young people for environmental improvements in Wales and globally. The manifesto was incredibly well received by the Welsh Government. It was also taken to the United Nations Biodiversity Conferences COP15 in 2022 and COP16 in 2024.

Building from the skills we learned from national campaigns, the group have turned their focus to a local issue. We have been campaigning to save the river Taff from sewage, plastic and chemical pollution. To raise awareness of the issue, we created a campaign launch video, hosted a public perception survey, and attended local events. Our volunteers have also been trained to gather data about the health of our river. They have been collecting more evidence about the issue, with the hope to develop this into a citizen science project as the campaign grows.

And although the Stand for Nature project has ended, our youth forum has continued to grow. We now have even more focus now on up-skilling young people to find their way into the green sector. The forum continues under the new name “Wilder Youth Cardiff” and we are always looking for new members. 

So if you’re between the ages of 15 and 30, complete the registration form on this page.