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In May 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown, a group of volunteers came to develop an idea put forward by environmental campaigner Beth Thoren – that a National Nature Service should be set up to provide jobs in nature for those who needed them.
The concept was rooted in the Civilian Conservation Corps President Roosevelt set up in the USA in the 1930s’, which created 700 national parks and planted 3 billion trees. Like’s Roosevelt’s Corps, the National Nature Service was envisioned to deal with a human emergency, the unemployment arising from Covid, whilst also addressing the twin ecological and climate emergencies that loom on the horizon. By investing in people and nature to help cure the Covid-jobs crisis, the NNS could help prevent the next one.
Over the course of 2020 the volunteers working on the NNS proposals, supported by Wildlife and Countryside Link, developed and presented the proposals. Key moments in the campaign included:
• A letter sent to the Chancellor setting out the case for the NNS. The letter was signed by over sixty organisations and individuals, including creatives, youth groups, nature charities and councils.
• The publication of a detailed briefing, setting out a National Nature Service could work and contribute to a Green Recovery from Covid-19.
• The commissioning of a Yougov poll, which found that 83% of the public support proposals for the Government to fund new jobs in nature.
We are very grateful to everyone who backed the campaign, from the 8,000 people who signed the petition in support of it, to the professionals who recorded videos telling their own stories of finding rewarding employment in nature, to the prominent people who wrote articles and recorded interviews in support of the scheme, to the parliamentarians who spoke in favour of the NNS in both the Commons and the Lords.
This support helped build the case for the NNS and secure its inclusion as a policy proposal in three key papers, which set out how a Green Recovery could be delivered:
• The University of Cambridge’s ‘A Blueprint for a Green Future’.
• The Labour Party’s ‘Green Economic Recovery Plan’
• The Environmental Audit Committee’s report ‘Growing back better: putting nature and net zero at the heart of the economic recovery’
March 2022 update
The recommendation for a National Nature Service is now being implemented across UK nations, through a number of initiatives including a National Nature Service for Wales, a Land and Nature Skills Service in Cumbria, and a Youth Environmental Service in the Midlands.
With the rapid changes in the workforce over the course of Brexit and the pandemic, there is a renewed focus on the need for good and meaningful work, that pays financially, as well as environmentally and socially, and responds to the needs of different communities.
The Food, Farming and Countryside Commission’s Genevieve Agaba explores latest developments in more detail here.
How the National Nature Service could make a difference
This May 2021 paper sets out how the National Nature Service could contribute to the Government’s levelling up agenda: Levelling up through the National Nature Service – Piloting the next step – May 2021
The below case studies illustrate how the NNS could transform nature and people’s lives in individual communities:
National Nature Service Case Study Northwich Urban Rangers
National Nature Service Case Study Leeds Rangers
National Nature Service Case Study – Humber Sea Rangers
To find out more about these papers, please contact Matt Browne at Wildlife & Countryside Link.
