The Nature of Scotland

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Ecofusion was inspired by the ‘Working with Difference’ programme, set up by the Forum for Environmental Volunteering Activity and Backbone. This involves a partnership of environmental organisations and minority ethnic community groups who have been working together over the past year to encourage greater diversity in Scotland’s outdoors. Black and minority ethnic communities are often underrepresented in environmental and outdoor activities, and the Working with Difference programme aims to address the barriers by supporting partnerships working between environmental and black and minority ethnic organisations. Monthly ‘getting to know you’ meetings and a ‘learning by doing’ approach led to visits to the outdoors for 200 people from black and minority ethnic communities and a number of ongoing projects. For instance, a visit to Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, hosted by Forestry Commission Scotland, was enjoyed by a group from the project for minority ethnic carers of older people and the Nepal Scotland Association. “This trail reminded us all as if we were walking in the Himalayas,” remarked one of the group. “You don’t feel lonely when nature is with you.” Recently, seven community groups received funding from the Paths for All organisation to set up local health walk programmes, and a number of groups are planning the John Muir Award with Historic Scotland’s ranger service. Pammy Johal of Backbone was delighted by the partnerships and projects that quickly grew out of the programme. “In setting up Working with Difference, we discovered that environmental organisations and black and minority ethnic community groups found it difficult to make connections. A year later, the Ecofusion celebration event brought together everything that this programme set out to achieve!” “Many people felt ownership of the event because they were involved in the planning process,” commented Adil Ibrahim of the Community Organisation for Race Equality, who organised a football tournament at the event. “Ecofusion was an excellent 32 5 5 The climbing wall was a big hit with the children. 6 There were opportunities to get up close to wildlife. The Nature of Scotland
“We all enjoyed the outdoor space at Holyrood Park. We have never felt so relaxed and cheerful in Edinburgh before.” Adil Ibrahim, Community Organisation for Race Equality way of bringing communities together, offering them the opportunity to try new outdoor activities, meet environmental organisations and simply appreciate the outdoor spaces. We all enjoyed the outdoor space at Holyrood Park. We have never felt so relaxed and cheerful in Edinburgh before.” Tasnim Rafiq of the Beyond the Veil organisation had a stall at the event and was equally enthusiastic about the introductions made on the day. “We met up with so many people connected to Ecofusion,” she remarked, “and we exchanged numbers, so we’ll hopefully be able to work together.” For SNH, Ecofusion was an opportunity to promote Scotland’s natural heritage to a new audience. We were able to highlight the special qualities of national nature reserves, as well as encouraging people to enjoy nature and landscapes closer to home. A key aim for SNH is to get more people to access the outdoors more often, and to ensure that the health and wellbeing benefits of the natural heritage are shared more widely. So, whether you prefer your dose of nature on a quiet walk in the park, hitting adrenaline highs in adventurous outdoor pursuits, visiting one of Scotland’s special places for nature, or helping manage your local greenspace, the outdoors has something to make everyone smile. 6 www.snh.gov.uk 33
Page 1: Scottish Natural Heritage Summer 20
Page 4 and 5: Credits The Nature of Scotland The
Page 6 and 7: Summer Wild calendar Kenny Taylor g
Page 8 and 9: A bunny runs through it Mammal watc
Page 10 and 11: The great big paddle 1 Work has beg
Page 12 and 13: Celebrating 100,000 awards There ha
Page 14 and 15: Journey of discovery The John Muir
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Page 18 and 19: NEWS Positive and negative Beaver a
Page 20 and 21: NEWS ‘Operation Caesar’ launche
Page 22 and 23: Dualchas coitcheann Common heritage
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Page 28 and 29: A recent research study looked at p
Page 30 and 31: Welcome to Scotland’s nature 1 1
Page 32 and 33: oakwoods, there was a lot of chat a
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Page 38 and 39: 36Reserve focus Wetland wonder The
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Page 42 and 43: 5 4 Watch out for redstarts and tre
Page 44 and 45: SNH Area News Grampian Corresponden
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Page 56 and 57: Survey work Fifty years later, and
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Page 60 and 61: Kids only! Explore A rock pooL and
Page 62 and 63: Sound judgement A series of researc
Page 64 and 65: New discoveries Scotland’s coastl
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