Citizen's Environmental Network  

 

Components

 

A communications network is needed for communities to access the latest know how and see what others are doing.  This has to be an IT facility by which reports from communities can be transmitted by email or be uploaded to a special database through an on-line ‘web viewer’. 

 

The basic components of the network are:

 

  • free downloadable community diaries for each community and its volunteers;
  • a web viewer containing annual reports from communities and a bulletin board with case histories;
  • a public forum for spreading ideas and know how.
  • An e-learning package about biodiversity and how to manage it at a local level.

Partners in action

 

The agenda for action was actually set out in the UK Biodiversity Strategy grouped under the following headings. 

  • action by communities
  • action by supporting organisations

-by informal education

-by formal education

-by Government

 

The idea of a citizen’s environmental network envisaged a partnership between all of the above sectors to give the participating bodies a sense of belonging to a national and international movement with well-defined aims and a common purpose.  ‘Neighbourhoods With Wildlife’ defines a key component to be emedded in the voluntary sector for effective action and continuity of action on the ground.

 

The community

 

The Biodiversity Strategy defined ‘community’ as:

  • a locality, the people who live there and the system within which their lives are organised
  • a group of individuals who are associated through common responsibilities (such as landowners, parents), occupations (farmers, miners), cultures (ethnic, religious), or interests (bird-watchers, gardeners).

The starting point

 

The local starting point is the resident community recognising local distinctiveness and calling on others for assistance to help enhance it and develop a sense of local ownership for valued green assets, whether they be trees in the street, back gardens,  roadside verges, or vacant sites to which the public has access.

Government is envisaged as a prime mover to help mobilise communities and individuals by funding a central voluntary body to create an informal and varied support Network.

 

On going support

 

The nature of the support required will determine the role of the supporting organisations but the invariable core requirements will be:

  • the provision of education about biodiversity;
  • training in making and operating a simple long-term biodiversity management plan;
  • a system of certification to reward outstanding effort
  • a network to spread ideas and achievements.

In terms of organising support, the idea behind ‘Neighbourhoods With Wildlife’ is to have everything available on a website with sufficient self-help  to make the whole network sustainable without the need for face-to-face training  i.e. one part-time coordinator running a website with an integral forum could maintain the whole system.  In the long term, the components would be:- 

 

1 A free electronic diary available on-line with an integral help system

2 A dedicated free server with a forum to which diary plans can be uploaded and downloaded in an html format 

3 A part time on-line coordinator.

4 A network of local sponsors dedicated to helping communities with any additional costs of managing their green spaces as a contribution to the Local Agenda 21 and the local authority’s community plan.