Nature for everyone

By Sarah Watson

Community Organising Officer

Spending time outdoors and connecting with nature has so many benefits for our health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, there are inequalities around how much we can all access healthy, natural places. As many as a third of us in England don’t have access to nature-rich places near home. In some areas, there are few, or no, green places, with children in affluent areas being nine times more likely to have access to natural places for play.

There is plenty of evidence to support the positive impacts of easy access to nature. Spending time in wildlife-rich places, like our wonderful beaches, parks and nature reserves here in Sussex, is good for our physical and mental health, and helps us better connect with each other.

The Wildlife Trusts are committed to bringing about a wilder future – where healthy people live alongside a healthy, natural environment.

Here in Sussex, Hastings is home to our NextDoor Nature project. This initiative supports communities in Hastings to take action for nature where they live or work. The project involves communities improving their local areas for wildlife and wellbeing, or starting projects to connect better with nature and each other.

Nextdoor Nature supports communities in specific neighbourhoods - the wards of Tressell, Baird, Hollington, Wishing Tree, Central St Leonards and Gensing, and Castle. Find out how Nextdoor Nature from Sussex Wildlife Trust is enabling these communities to take action for wildlife.

You can also get involved by supporting the campaign, Nature for Everyone, calling for a new law that will give everyone ‘a right to access nature’ and help make #NatureForEveryone a reality.