PLANET4B Market Research Interviews UK Civil Society and Policymakers 20250227 v1

PLANET4B TASK 5.5 - Enhancing the capacity of enabling players and change agents to initiate transformative change Background Research Data collection took place via phone and online interviews between the 6th of Jan 2025 – 27th Feb 2025 Interviews recorded with the participant's consent. Interviews lasted between 20–45 minutes and included questions on community engagement strategies within their organisation and their thoughts on the design and implementation of the online training resource. Notes Participant B01 – NGO:  Launched at EDI strategy to attract more volunteers  Usual demographic is white, middleclass, middle age, men  Visibility is a barrier to participation – what methods can be used to increase viability?  I Record, was used by younger women – is this something that can feed into a photo exhibition?  Are working with other groups, e.g. Muslims for Sustainability  Time 1 – 2 hours a week  Shorter methods might be better for volunteers Notes Participant C01 – [Redacted] Council  Find it difficult to engage different groups (white, affluent, older people tend to engage)  Mapping exercises would be useful, community mapping  Community and Engagement teams in councils often separated from the biodiversity, environment/ biodiversity teams  There is mandatory training for council staff that could potentially be involved.  3 –5 hours in total – the council survey said it should ideally take 1.5 hours total to complete. This feedback was discussed at the team meeting, with the main points collated and used to feed into the plan for implementation. Notes Participant WW1 – Wildlife Trust  [Redacted] Wildlife Trust has been effective in advancing Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS), showcasing good practices and impactful outcomes.  Many LNRS initiatives are reduced to box-ticking exercises, failing to achieve their intended outcomes.  Councils often engage in superficial compliance rather than meaningful action.  Public understanding of biodiversity is limited; many associate it with television depictions rather than local ecosystems.  "Biodiversity" is an unfamiliar term for many, particularly in middle-aged and older demographics.  Younger generations are more likely to be taught about biodiversity in schools, leading to a generational gap in awareness.  Traditional methods of consultation often favour those who are most vocal, overshadowing quieter voices.  Efforts are needed to democratise community consultations to ensure fair representation.  Active community groups are present in [Redacted - town] and [Redacted] - town  Innovative techniques have been utilised, such as "Hot Spot, Grot Spot" and "Dotmocracy" to identify areas of concern and priorities for action.  Door-knocking campaigns have successfully engaged individuals who might not have otherwise participated.  Community group initiatives feed directly into management plans, ensuring grassroots contributions are reflected in decision-making.  Activities designed to engage both parents and children simultaneously are effective in drawing families into discussions and initiatives.  Proposing tandem activities that cater to all age groups could further enhance engagement.  Struggles with engaging broader communities often lead to reliance on "usual suspects" who consistently respond.  To address this, lunch events are recommended to attract a diverse audience, along with offering online sessions for convenience and broader reach.  Methods to incorporate critical thinking skills into community engagement strategies should be explored to foster informed and reflective participation.  Allowing at least six half-days for community engagement work ensures sufficient time for participants to prepare and contribute meaningfully. Notes Participants CC1 and CC2 - [Redacted] Council  [Redacted] Council, find it hard to reach demographics who are not willing to engage with public authorities  [Redacted] city is one of the mostgreen deprived areas  EarthWatch – [Redacted] has funding to run some initiatives with Earthwatch including to run consultation events, this is around Tiny Forests – getting people involved in Tree Planting. Earthwatch are leafleting and being present in the community.  Language barriers – socio-economic barriers  A lot of the community engagement is patchwork, not a lot of joined up thinking across the council  [Redacted - city] is running a lot more training in the council – this will be for all staff to undertake  2 – 3 hours, for the course – but lots of bits people could jump in and out of  New ideas needed – how to engage with faith groups  2 problems, not enough green spaces, and have people using the green spaces there are  Just resources, people often do not have access to tech, is a deprived council  Biodiversity, is very linked to health – climate crisis Notes Participant WW1, WW2, WW3 - Wildlife trust  Difficult to engage groups – landowners and businesses, as well as  People do not like talking to the local authority – often for engagement they talk to parish councils, or employ voluntary groups to encourage participation. Use 3rd parties – who have a better relationship for community engagement.  Photovoice, and photography – concerns around information and data image permissions.  They have awareness of the methods, think they are good – but a big problem still lies in recruiting people. Not the method but the ‘how’.  Podcasts and newsletters are useful.  Use focus groups, but often target people are who are already engaged.  The groups who are discriminated against are also underrepresented.  Deprivation and underrepresentation go hand in hand – people do not have the time to dedicate.  There are lots of questions about how people want to be communicated to.  Nature Recovery Strategy – high level of participation and feedback, but was from people in the know.  Biodiversity and climate change language – can be off putting.  Where change has happened has been around co-benefits, i.e. this will save you money.  Community ambassadors, and being present is what is really helpful. This creates cascade training.  Work around structured conversations – where there has been door knocking work – first 5 – 10 mins people tell you what they want to hear – takes about 20 mins to get somewhere – so if there is a method that could fast track to a meaningful conversation that would be useful.  To encourage people to use it – make sure it does not look like training.  People have 10 – 15 min attention span. Bite sized training.  Directory of methods.  University of 3rd age (Open access online learning).