Every year the Welsh Wildlife Trusts host a youth summit for all the Stand for Nature forums across Wales, and this year was our final summit before the 4-year project ends in September. The theme for this year was “looking to the future” and we hosted a variety of workshops, guest speakers and events to explore what this means for the young people of Wales.

The first day was filled with fantastic guest speakers, including talks about species reintroduction projects happening right here in Wales. Thank you to the Durrel Wildlife Conservation Trust, Vincent Wildlife Trust, and Alicia from North Wales Wildlife Trust for delivering three fascinating talks, and for facilitating some great discussion led from questions by our forum members.  
 

The second day started with a tour around the Senedd, where Stand for Nature members were shown around the building at the very centre of politics in Wales. We believe that young people should feel less intimidated by engaging with politicians and decision makers, and this project has provided a great opportunity to build confidence when standing up for nature & wildlife.

We concluded the event with a youth opportunities fair, where each forum from all 5 of the project areas were able to showcase the incredible work they’ve achieved over the course of the project.

Our Cardiff forum hosted a stall focusing on our local river pollution campaign, where we shared updates about the campaigns progress and also ran an interactive river wildlife game to generate interest.

The opportunities fair was not only a chance to show all the incredible work being done across Wales through the Stand for Nature project, but also to show the amazing opportunities available through other conservation organisations. Many different groups and NGO’s were in attendance, allowing our young people to network and engage with other projects happening in Wales.

It was a bittersweet event to round-up this life changing project, but we are excited to continue youth engagement here in Cardiff beyond the conclusion of Stand for Nature.

Thank you to all the young people who made this event one to remember, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact each of these future conservationists will have for nature here in Wales & beyond.

Alex Griffiths, Stand For Nature Project Officer at WTSWW.