We want great places to live that are both good for people and good for wildlife. We want nature to be normal, for children to grow up with wild and green spaces to explore. So, increasing biodiversity and capturing carbon through nature is of vital importance, and communities are best placed to improve both.

The Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust will help us to map our community, whilst understanding what valuable habitats we already have. We’ll then put together a plan to decide how we want to invite nature into our community, create new habitats, link habitats with corridors, and improve existing habitats.

One of the benefits of protecting, restoring and creating these habitats in your community, while at the same time helping wildlife recover in the best locations, is that they help create and protect carbon stores, offering a nature-based solution to the climate crises.

Our community will find out what already lives in our wild spaces, and it will be such an eye-opening exercise to learn what rare species are living beside you, or what habitat you can help create. It can be public spaces, community owned spaces, council owned, privately owned, and most effective of all are our own back gardens!

Don’t forget how being in Spaces for Nature can support conversation, mental health, keeping cool in the summer, and simple connections with a wild environment can make us relax and feel calmer – or put another way, it starts to fill us with joy.

All we need to do is take a step towards taking part! When the community supports nature, magic happens!