The Natural History Museum has announced it will work in partnership with the Department for Education on a national project connecting school children with nature and biodiversity.
Led by the Museum and dubbed the ‘National Education Nature Park’, the partnership will work with the education sector to help map, manage and enhance all the land across the education estate, creating what it calls “one, vast, nature park”.
The Museum reports that England’s primary and secondary schools cover an area twice the size of Birmingham, on which the project will be run.
The project’s goal is hoped to encourage “young people in England to play a driving role in mapping and monitoring biodiversity on their grounds using citizen science and, critically, taking action to enhance it.”
The National Education Nature Park is part of the Department for Education’s plans to make the sector “a world leader in climate change by 2030”.
Students will be tasked with managing their green space like a National Park, taking on leadership roles such as managers, ecologists, communicators, fundraisers, grounds people and data analysts.
A new climate action award scheme has also been launched, which will recognise the work being undertaken in schools and colleges to protect green spaces and promote biodiversity.
Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum said, “We applaud the Department for Education’s initiative in encouraging a love for nature and are absolutely delighted to be the lead partner on the National Education Nature Park.
Biodiversity loss is as catastrophic as climate change and our own research has shown the UK to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.”
The Museum will also create an online hub where information and teaching resources will be provided to teachers to support them in delivering climate education across the curriculum.
