Working with people is essential to achieve connected landscapes that benefit people and nature. This Conference brings together leading thinkers to share knowledge and knowhow about partnerships, participation and communication

Bringing fishermen together in three different fisheries to explore the benefits and challenges of a potential new approach to managing  access and rights to fish in relation to their particular fishery

Valley of Vision is an innovative partnership between landscape and biodiversity organisations and the police to address fly tipping, off road biking and other countryside crimes.  This conference and workshop is to bring people together to share knowledge and develop some guidance notes

This 5-day event is to bring together people involved in water management in the UK, Canada and New Zealand.  The purpose of the event is to explore how NGOs perceive, adapt (re)act and engage with water management challenges

This project is one of several testing new and innovative approaches to helping communitites and stakeholders adapt to changes to their coastline.

The process is bringing people together to understand the processes of change and work out the contents for an Adaptation Strategy.  The coast considered in this project is part of the New Forest National Park

Stakeholder workshop to review and make amendments to the Bank's policy

Natural Connections 2011 -  Achieving more with less across rural and urban landscapes

This highly successful conference was about the successful delivery of mutli-benefit green and blue networks and infrastructure across our landscape.  In the context of funding cutbacks times of change are also times of opportunity and new understanding. 

The conference included:

• The latest news on the Natural Environment White Paper
• Key concepts and evidence
• Approaches and methods that work
• Inspiring success stories

This 3-day workshop brought together leading experts in knowledge exchange and learning.  The aim was for them to develop new concepts and models for how knowledge exchange takes place.  These will then be researched to see what can be learnt to help natural environment research have higher impact and influence

Helping regional, national and international stakeholders develop recommendations on the location and conservation objectives for a network of Marine Conservation Zones in the English inshore waters and UK offshore waters of the Irish Sea.

Facilitating 24 people (already trained by ourselves) to work out how they can best form an effective facilitation network to design and run workshops that help local communities adapt to coastal change.

Bringing together Jersey dairy and Jersey potato farmers with Government officers to develop ideas for action to address diffuse pollution and in particular reduce nitrate levels (which are currently at levels that are unhealthy for people and the environment).

Training up a network of facilitators and running a workshop for them to work out how best to support each other’s learning, process design and facilitation. The network is being set up to help communities adapt to coastal change

Helping leading Environmental Omics researchers share knowledge about Omics research in the UK, develop cutting edge ideas for research and work out how the UK Omics research community can keep on the cutting edge globally.

Running a workshop for 15 members of the West of England Green Infrastructure Group, followed by a workshop for 40 key authorities, agencies, business and organisations from across the sectors to discuss and agree action for developing a multifunctional multi-benefit green infrastructure around Bristol, Bath and neighbouring authorities.

Helping heads of science from across the University Departments develop and prioritise ideas for research into sustainability in developing countries

his was pro bono work.  Providing advice and a participatory workshop design to help up to 200 African Surveyors, and international partners, develop their thinking and identify effective tools to work with traditional leaders and plan access rights to sanitation and water infrastructure for impoverished communities in emerging informal settlements (slums) in peri-urban areas of African cities.

Supergen Bioenergy is a consortium of research institutes and energy companies engaged in multimillion pound research into bioenergy.  The research comprises 8 themes and 45 research strands.  The workshop was to help the theme leaders, together with their private sector partners and other key individuals, agree the contents of a new communication and engagement strategy.

Design and facilitation of a conflict resolution process that helped horse owners, other equestrian interests, and the New Forest National Park Authority to resolve issues around horse keeping and horses in the New Forest.

The Jersey government were considering whether to designate part of Jersey as a National Park. We designed and facilitated some workshops for local and national stakeholders to consider what the benefits and challenges of this are and where the boundaries might be.

Advice on good practice in stakeholder participation, and decision processes, for new regional projects in England, set up to take forward the collaborative identification of a network of Marine Protected Areas.  The research involved a global survey of good practice, review of practitioner literature, review of the Finding Sanctuary Project, comparison of approaches to participation, design of good process for the projects and recommendations.

Designing and running a workshop for 120 key stakeholders from a wide range of marine sectors and with a diverse range of views in exploring the concept, issues and benefits of the first Isle of Man Marine Nature Reserve.

Developing capacity amongst staff in the Croatian Nature Conservation Agency as they prepare for implementation of Natura 2000 in Croatia where they are hoping to designate approximately 40% of their land and sea area under the Habitats and Birds Directive.

Bringing together 50 fishers and scientists from across Europe to develop research ideas and guidance on good practice in participatory research between fishers and scientists.

Discovering Lost Ways – Finding the Way Forward!  A project helping Natural England agree with other stakeholders how they can best contribute to the task of identifying and mapping England’s missing byways, bridleways, and footpaths.

The Ecosystem Approach - what does it mean in Practice.

Wild Ideas - Challenging Nature (done on a Pro Bono basis).

Facilitating a workshop to consider the science and policy needed for integrated river basin management in Africa using the Mara River Basin in Tanzania and Kenya as a case example.
Stakeholder workshop to Review of the Banks environment and social policy.

Facilitating a workshop to consider the science and policy needed for integrated river basin management in Africa using the Mara River Basin in Tanzania and Kenya as a case example.

ATPS is a network of scientists and policy makers from 23 African Countries. This work had two elements:

• Helping 65 senior scientists and policy makers from the 23 member countries, identify priority areas for science and technology research that will help Africa adapt to climate change (particularly in the areas of food security, biodiversity, water, and health).
• Helping the Country coordinators discuss issues and ideas for inclusion in ATPS’ strategic plan.

Peer reviewer for Defra on reports and projects taking the Ecosystems Approach.

Yorkshire and Humber Biodiversity Strategy - Regional Workshop.

Getting the Steering Group started – this event was to bring the 15 people selected by stakeholders to represent their interests together to discuss and agree how they work together.

European Commission Environment Directorate – Assessing the achievements of biodiversity conservation since the Treaty of Rome - this workshop for approximately 150 was part of European Green Week.

A stakeholder hearing for the review of the Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Directive for DG Environment.

Running a workshop for the secretariat to help them to plan their work and organisational change over the next few years.

East of England RDA: developing guidelines for Leader + funding

Running a workshop for the East of England Biodiversity Forum bringing together 90 senior people from a wide range of sectors to discuss how biodiversity can be integrated with other agendas and habitat creation increased.

National workshop for Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) for key organisations to discuss how to achieve the Government Target (Target 32) which is about bringing protected habitats into a ‘favourable condition’.

Facilitating senior staff from key agencies, authorities and NGO’s to consider whether or not they want to take an integrated approach to the  management of the Menai Strait and North Wales Coast.  The workshop was sponsored by CCW.

Using stakeholder dialogue to take the Ecosystems Approach to the Review of the NE Kent European marine sites management scheme.

Considering the best approach to management of the Borth Bog.

Giving Fresh Momentum to Biodiversity Action Planning in Westminster City Council.

Bringing senior staff together to discuss their Regional Programme and delivery over the next 5 years.

Outdoor learning on NNRs. Bringing teachers and community group leaders together to identify opportunities, barriers and solutions to increased outdoor learning on 3 NNR in Kent.

Facilitating a 3-day Retreat in the Middle East bringing together senior representatives of the Ministries of Environment from 7 Middle Eastern Countries, technical experts and representatives of the UN and the World Bank.  The purpose was to discuss the next phase of work for PERSGA.  The work also included training Jordanian facilitators to work with us during the process.

Designing and facilitating a workshop called Improving Public Understanding of the Marine Environment which brought 80 people together from across the UK in an interactive workshop to share ideas and agree the next steps.

Facilitating a Science Away Day for the Chief Scientists and their teams from The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency.  The purpose was to explore how they can work more effectively together in delivering science.  The work included training people from the Chief Scientists science advisory team.

Running a pilot project in the East of England ‘Integrated by Landscapes – Our Common Heritage’ to help people from the Countryside Agency, English Nature and the Rural Development Service meet together to identify the landscapes and biodiversity that is valued now, what has been done to protect and manage it, what more could be achieved by working together, and to plan action.  We used the outputs of the workshops to write a reference document which provides a ‘prospectus’ of all Character /Natural Areas in the East of England and the main mechanisms the three organisations use to manage them.

Designing and facilitating a stakeholder workshop to review implementation of the North East Kent European marine site management scheme.  Stakeholders were asked to help identify and influence next steps.

Running an interactive bilingual workshop (using translators) for Kent Lifescapes (An English Nature and Kent County Council initiative).  The workshop was to enable technical experts and ecologists from Kent and Nord-Pas de Calais to discuss and agree the actions needed to develop an Ecological Network map spanning the two areas.

Designing and running a workshop for the Wildlife Trusts SE Marine Programme to Review options for the effective implementation of marine BAP in the SE.

Working together for a better future - a consensus building event for English Nature, and Elected Members and officers of a unitary authority, to agree how they could work more effectively together.

Designing and facilitating the dialogue for the Isles of Scilly AONB Statutory Management Plan for the Countryside Agency.  Called ‘Making the most of the Islands’ the process involved over 70 participants in a 10-month process.  The process enabled participants to explore issues, capture local and expert knowledge, and has resulted in a plan that sets out an agreed vision for the future and how it will be achieved.  The plan integrates agendas and will act as a parent plan over all other plans.

Designing an international workshop for ‘Living with the Seas’ to discuss dynamic coast management and N2000 sites.  The contract included writing succinct plain English briefings for 6 complex legal and technical issues relating to the Habitats Directive and coastal processes.

Designing and facilitating a knowledge sharing workshop for Living with the Seas (an EU ‘Life’ funded project by EN, EA, DEFRA and NERC) that brought together experts in coastal engineering, conservation and planning to agree good practice in dynamic coast management.