Connecting people and nature

1. About

Nature recovery is not just about wildlife. Connecting with nature is now known to have huge benefits for people’s health, wellbeing and education. So while restoring and managing wildlife-rich habitats is vital to make sure we have food, clean water, fresh air and fewer and less damaging floods, it’s also vital to help us get the most from life.

Connecting people to nature in Devon is about creating fair, inspiring and meaningful opportunities for everyone to experience the benefits of the natural world—wherever they live and however they engage.

Devon already has lots of organisations and initiatives that help people get outside and connect with nature. This strategy is rooted in their shared goals and will help to bring communities, planners, funders, organisations and decision-makers together to ensure that nature is part of everyday life. The Devon Local Nature Partnership has three county wide networking forums for connecting people and nature. See the drop downs below.

Wild About Devon

Wild About Devon (WAD) is a Devon Local Nature Partnership platform and network to help guide and inspire community action for wildlife. With so many fantastic community groups in Devon playing their part to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergency, WAD provides a central place to link communities with conservation organisations and experts. WAD includes a forum which is open to anyone to join and meets a few times a year. There is also a Facebook Group, grant scheme and map showing community groups across the county. Examples of members are: Teignbridge Wildlife Wardens, Sustainable South Hams, Devon Communities Together, Devon Association of Local Councils, Devon Wildlife Trust, Protected Landscapes and lots of community groups. See the WAD pages on the LNP website for more details and how to join.

Naturally Healthy

The LNP’s Naturally Healthy initiative is about ensuring that everyone can get outside, get active, and experience the powerful benefits of connecting with nature nature and for health and wellbeing. The initiative is led by Devon County Council and Active Devon. It brings together the environmental, access and health and wellbeing sectors with Forum networking meetings a few times a year. To find out more and join the network see the Naturally Healthy pages on the LNP website.

Network of Environmental Educators in Devon

The Network of Environmental Educators in Devon (NEED) is a group of people who facilitate environmental education across the county. The NEED vision is that everyone, everywhere, has access to the outdoors to learn and care about Devon’s nature. The group has a large network of members who regularly meet to share information and best practice. To find out more see the NEED pages on the LNP website.

Explore Devon website

Devon County Council’s Explore Devon website promotes great places to visit across Devon to explore wildlife, history and geology. The website includes a map, information about sites and how to get there. Through the LNRS work we have added more wildlife sites to this map and each habitat and species page includes a few examples of places to visit and a link to this website.

Access to nature is about more than physical proximity. It’s about valued and used local spaces, inclusive design and community-led action. From mapping need and opportunity to supporting grassroots projects and improving strategic planning, there’s lots of great work going on across Devon to connect people to nature in ways that reflect local priorities, support wellbeing and contribute to nature recovery.

This is a collective effort to make Devon a place where nature is for everyone – now and for the future.

2. What we need to do and where

Priority

Everyone is able to connect with nature where they live.

Actions

Manage and create accessible wildlife-rich spaces in Devon’s cities, towns and villages

Include access to nature in relevant strategies such as: local plans, local cycling and walking infrastructure plans and health strategies.
Support communities and schools to use these wildlife-rich spaces and to connect with nature.
Improve sustainable travel to more rural and accessible wildlife-rich spaces across Devon such as the coast, Dartmoor and Exmoor.
Improve and promote the Explore Devon website to help people find local and accessible sites.

Increase outdoor learning

Join or support the Network for Environmental Educators in Devon to embed outdoor learning into the curriculum.
Use Devon’s natural environment to help achieve education outcomes.
Support to teachers to enable them to deliver outdoor learning.

Support the Devon Naturally Healthy initiative

Join or support the Devon Naturally Healthy initiative to embed access to nature into public health work and social prescribing.

Support community action

Join or support the Wild About Devon community action network to help communities take action for wildlife across Devon.

Where to focus action

All cities, towns and villages! Accessible wildlife-rich green spaces are needed everywhere across Devon. However, a good place to start is within local communities, especially places where people congregate such as schools, village halls, libraries or other key community hubs.

Community Access to Nature Opportunity Areas have been mapped for the LNRS. These are simple 500m zones around all Devon’s village halls and state schools. They show where creating wildlife-rich spaces could be beneficial for communities in rural and urban areas. If the mapped areas are already rich in accessible nature, then great! See Mapping for the LNRS Viewer.

Other information to guide the creation of accessible wildlife-rich greenspaces

The 500m zones mapped for the LNRS are a simple way to show where accessible wildlife-rich green spaces could be created to benefit communities. We recognise that this mapping works better in rural areas than in urban ones and will discuss this further with Plymouth City Council and Exeter City Council during the public consultation.

Communities themselves will obviously know where wildlife-rich green spaces should best be created. There are lots of reasons (including opportunities) which may mean that the best place to have accessible wildlife is not in a mapped zone.

In many cases, Devon’s local authorities will have developed more detailed accessible greenspace targets and maps (often as part of their green infrastructure strategies) and these should be referred to.

Areas with higher levels of deprivation often stand to gain the most from improved access to nature. Deprivation layers for Devon can be seen on the Viewer – look under Other useful layers>Deprivation to see national census data.

Devon County Council offers a helpful tool that combines deprivation data with indicators like smoking rates, physical activity and obesity levels. These can support more informed and equitable planning.

Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Map is a valuable resource for identifying where investment in nature could have the greatest impact (but note that the mapping is not comprehensive for Devon).

By combining local insight with strategic tools, we can prioritise action where it matters most—and make sure everyone in Devon has the opportunity to connect with nature.

3. Inspiration

Case studies

To be added through Consultation – need some case studies from NEED and WAD – and then link to LNP website for more information. These are possible examples.

Green Minds

Green Minds was an ambitious urban nature project led by Plymouth City Council that reimagined how cities could integrate nature into everyday life. Focused on ‘urban wilding,’ the project restored nature in urban spaces through systemic change, inclusive engagement, and co-design. It piloted innovative approaches to nature-based solutions, empowered communities and reshaped policy and planning frameworks to support long-term ecological and social resilience.

Connecting Actively to Nature

Connecting Actively to Nature was a programme led by Active Devon under the umbrella of the Devon Local Nature Partnership’s Naturally Healthy initiative. Active Devon worked with a wide range of partners to encourage older adults (55+) to be more active outdoors by connecting with nature. The program offered a wide range of inclusive activities – from nature walks to conservation volunteering – designed to improve people’s physical and mental wellbeing while fostering a deeper connection to the natural environment.

Nature Buddies

Nature Buddies is a peer-support initiative that pairs trained volunteers with individuals to help them become more confident about accessing nature. Whether it’s a walk in the park or joining a local group, Nature Buddies helps people who may face barriers—such as anxiety, isolation, or health conditions—to take their first steps toward enjoying the outdoors and reaping the benefits of nature connection. Active Devon is leading this in Devon?

Where to visit

Please share examples of accessible wildlife-rich sites, including in our cities, towns and villages that we can add to the Explore Devon website.

4. Find out more

Please see the Devon Local Nature Partnership website for more information and links, in particular the following sections: