Volunteering

Environmental volunteering provides opportunities for people to

• learn about nature at first hand
• develop new skills
• improve their environment and quality of life
• change to more sustainable lifestyles.

Research on Volunteering in the Natural Heritage, published by SNH in 2006, shows that over 23,000 people in Scotland are already involved in environmental volunteering. In 2009 6% of adults in Scotland reported that they had volunteered on a biodiversity related project in the last 12 months. We are working to increase the number of people involved in volunteering and the number of volunteering opportunities that are available For example, we:

• provide grant to the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers Scotland  , which in 2008/09 involved over 8,000 volunteers, including almost 4,000 new volunteers. Many projects involve young people and excluded or disadvantaged groups, and almost 1000 people gained nationally recognised awards for achievement through volunteering with BTCV
• support the Community Service Volunteers Action Earth  campaign to enable more communities in Scotland to carry out environmental projects
• provide grant to bodies like RSPB Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland to help them provide more volunteering opportunities
• work with the Forum for Environmental Volunteering Activity  to co-ordinate action and share good practice across the sector, including developing the Volunteer Managers Development Project
• offer volunteering opportunities at National Nature Reserves.

We published a policy statement on environmental volunteering in 2008, and will continue to work with a range of partners to develop a vibrant culture of environmental volunteering in Scotland.