How can you ensure everyone gets the most out of environmental volunteering?

University of Exeter
Dr Michael Leyshon and Dr Robert Fish

With this research project, we set out to examine the extent and impact of young people’s participation in environmental conservation in rural areas.

Key points

• Encouraging youth participation is not a problem, but the way activities are structured could be improved
• More emphasis needs to be put on community contribution and environmental care
• More opportunities for personal and social development need to be provided
• There should be more opportunities to gain formal accreditation for work
• Better training is needed for staff in environmental and youth support organisations

By volunteering to take part in rural conservation projects, young people give their time, energy, labour and enthusiasm to sustainable rural development projects. There is clearly the potential to encourage an ethic of community contribution and environmental care. And there are opportunities for young people to develop skills and knowledge which can promote the development of sustainable rural communities.

But who benefits? What are the gains – for the young people themselves, the environmental organisations, and the projects they are working on?

Our aim was to establish the extent of young people’s participation in environmental conservation projects. We wanted to know where the young people who took part in such projects came from. 

We looked at the work of the environmental organisations and groups which deliver these conservation programmes. To what extent do they design their activities specifically for young people? We also talked to those who worked for these conservation organisations. To what extent did they feel properly equipped to deal with groups of young volunteers?

And we wanted to know what the young people themselves got out of it; what skills they gained and to what extent they were satisfied by the experience. 

Conclusions

Our findings led us to a number of conclusions about how to improve the impact of environmental conservation volunteering by young people. First, it’s important to point out that participation is not a problem; there is no shortage of young people taking part.

However, there is room for improvement in the way activities are structured. Activities and programmes need to place greater emphasis on community contribution and environmental care. Our findings suggest that trying to involve and motivate young people by references to ‘self-improvement’ and ‘self-discipline’ are less likely to work. A shift is needed, away from instruction and coercion, towards providing opportunities for personal and social development. Doing so could build capacity in the environmental volunteering sector and help produce aspiring life-long environmental participants.

Young people taking part in environmental conservation projects should also have more opportunities to gain formal accreditation for their work. Those working for environmental and youth support organisations need better training. Currently the individuals at the heart of sustainable community networks are not adequately equipped to facilitate environmental learning among young people. Similarly, those working for conservation organisations are not trained sufficiently in working with young people.

For more information view the programmme website at http://gs.strath.ac.uk/suscoms