Building an army of guardians to protect our planet for future generations.

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What is backyard nature?

Backyard Nature is inspiring families to tackle the nature crisis and make a real difference to the planet. How? By providing them with the tools they need to help plants and animals thrive on their patch of nature – whether they live in the heart of a city or the middle of the countryside.

By signing up to be Backyard Nature Guardians, parents and children will discover lots of easy ways to protect their patch and take on seasonal missions that focus on helping out wildlife that really needs our help.

Our Goal

There is a nature crisis in the UK. Plants and wildlife in our own backyards are under serious threat. At the same time, children are spending less time enjoying nature, meaning they are less likely to care about and protect it.

Our goal is to get all children to spend more time enjoying and protecting nature where they live.

No-one will protect what they don’t care about and no-one will care about what they have never experienced.
David Attenborough

How it all started

Backyard Nature was a campaign waiting to happen. Richard Walker, Managing Director of Iceland Foods, was hearing from store colleagues that they wanted to help young people protect nature where they live.

At the same time, the Eco Emeralds, a group of young environmentalists from Liverpool, approached Iceland with a similar request. They met with Richard to share their ideas and ask for his help. Richard brought in ActionFunder (then called Semble), the UK’s leading organisation for grassroots community projects, and the Backyard Nature campaign was born. ActionFunder, with a collective of charitable partners and the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, is now making this grassroots vision a reality.

ActionFunder logo

 

“Spending time in nature can play a pivotal role in helping children grow up to become happy, healthy adults.

The great outdoors provides an open playground for children to have fun and learn life-long skills – from balance and coordination to empathy and creativity – with their friends, their parents, their carers, or their family members.

I hope the Backyard Nature campaign inspires children, families and communities to get outside and engage with nature, wherever they live.”

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

 

And Supporters