The Stand for Nature project aims to empower and inspire young people to take action for nature and wildlife in their local area, while the My Wild Cardiff campaign is all about looking after this wonderful wildlife by educating and inspiring members of the community to care for Cardiff’s wildlife.
From an early age I have always been inspired by nature, and a lot of my childhood was spent exploring the wild spaces in Snowdonia and across Northwest Wales. After graduating from the University of Exeter with a BSc in Environmental Science back in 2018, I returned to North Wales to work as an Environmental Officer on the Menai Rivers Biodiversity project. I decided to return to academia to build on my knowledge of the natural world, and in October of 2022 I graduated from Cardiff University with an MSc in Global Ecology and Conservation. I fell in love with Cardiff as soon as I moved here, mostly due to the abundance of green spaces across the city and the friendly community of people working within them. I can’t wait to take my experience of wildlife conservation and apply it to helping communities get out and enjoy the wonders that nature has to offer!
There has never been a more important time to take action for nature, with the dual threats of the climate and biodiversity crisis looming over us. That is why the 6 Wildlife Trust from across Wales have come together to run the Stand for Nature project. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Stand for Nature project can bring together young people between the ages of 9-24 to help tackle the climate and nature crises in their local areas. Recent projects include writing a youth manifesto for COP15 back in December 2022, where young people from across Wales wrote a manifesto outlining their demands for World leaders to tackle the nature crisis. The manifesto was incredibly well-received, and CEO of the Wildlife Trusts, Craig Bennett, even mentioned it in one of his panels. The project is entirely youth-led, and it will be exciting to see what the young people of Cardiff want to do to enhance nature in their local communities in the coming months.
My Wild Cardiff is funded through the generous support of the players of People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL). This project aims to support local communities through education and engagement, to hopefully create a network of habitats dedicated to nature across the parks and other green spaces in the city. I am really looking forward to supporting this work, and to creating long-lasting connections within the communities of Cardiff to help promote meaningful action for wildlife.
I can’t wait to get started on my role within the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, and to continue creating meaningful action for both people and wildlife within our communities.
If you’re living in the wider Cardiff area and are interested in any of these project, please get in touch with me via email – a.griffiths@welshwildlife.org