Funding to help thousands 'connect with nature'
Durham Wildlife TrustA funding boost will help thousands of people with limited access to green spaces in a city connect with nature, a wildlife trust has said.
The City of Nature Sunderland programme will get £326,543 over three years from the National Lottery Community Fund.
As part of the scheme, residents will have a chance to help design activities which will include nature-based sessions around sustainability and wellbeing.
Durham Wildlife Trust (DWT) and the International Community Organisation of Sunderland (ICOS) will deliver the project together.
DWT head of development Emily Routledge said the programme would look at Sunderland city centre, as well as Millfield and Pallion.
"But we haven't limited the project into specific areas," she said.
"We really want to go where the need is greatest."
'Breaking barriers'
The programme will begin in April, with hopes it will become permanent if more funding is secured in the future.
Sessions will be tailored to cultural and accessibility needs and will take place in community venues, the trust said.
The project will help people have a voice in decisions that affect their local environment, it added.
"A lot of the time people don't really know how or where to access nature, or what they can do to help wildlife," Routledge said.
"If we can break down some of those barriers, make people feel safe accessing nature and also let people know how they can help wildlife either in their own gardens or in their local area, we just think there'll be better things happening for nature and for people as well."
Michal Chantkowski, development and services manager at ICOS, said the funding would help the charity connect diverse communities across Sunderland with nature and "inspire them to take positive action".
"By combining our expertise in inclusion with Durham Wildlife Trust's environmental knowledge, we can make a real and lasting difference for both people and nature in Sunderland," he said.
