Individuals have the greatest effect on renewal when acting together with others. Collective action by people in communities of place and of interest can unlock effective and fair biodiversity renewal. This theme will work to identify and put into practice strategies to accelerate nature-positive collective action at the community level from urban to rural areas. This will include work to understand how identity and cultural norms inform the value communities place on biodiversity and its renewal, as well as examine ways to reduce environmental injustices suffered by communities who can be nature-marginalised by institutions and norms – renewal must be fair and equitable for all. We will work with communities to help identify how community dynamics can encourage renewal, e.g. by utilising social tipping points. Overall, the insights learnt, and applied through our partnerships, will help improve the effectiveness of future renewal programmes.

Objectives

Theme 2 is working to:

• Understand the meaning of nature experiences at the community level (e.g. referencing belonging and collective identity), including communities that are under-represented in previous biodiversity renewal efforts undertaken by governmental and non-governmental organisations.
• Co-create and assess partners’ renewal programmes to increase inclusive and fair access to biodiversity renewal benefits, with a focus on social tipping points in nature-excluded communities to generate beneficial engagement and community-driven renewal activity.
• Assess use of a newly developed Health Wellbeing Nature and Sustainability (HWNS) strategic decision-making tool developed by Natural England and local government partners, and its applications. HWNS integrates health, wellbeing, nature and sustainability outcomes to promote desirable outcomes including biodiversity renewal. To facilitate community participation in use of the tool and engage stakeholders including citizens with information about local performance outcomes. To identify appropriate use of the tool and develop methods for promoting broader adoption across local authorities.