The inaugural event took place at the Eden Project in Cornwall on 20 and 21 October where leaders explored how access and connection with the natural world can support healthier, happier and more resilient individuals and communities.
The conference featured a programme of keynote speakers, panel discussions and practical examples, including contributions from Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England, and representatives from academia, community organisations and businesses.
Discussions explored the importance of nature connection, from the earliest years of childhood, through adolescence and adulthood, and into the places where people live and work.
The Nature Connected Lives gathering, developed in partnership with the Duchy of Cornwall, comes during Eden Project's 25th anniversary year and follows a period of significant activity for the educational charity, including breaking ground at Eden Project Morecambe, the Wildflower Photographer of the Year competition, and its collaboration with leading built environment company, BAM UK & Ireland, on nature-rich spaces at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
In September, Eden also launched Greentime17, a national campaign encouraging people to spend just 17 minutes a day connecting with nature. The campaign was launched at Canary Wharf in London with a giant living ‘Emergency Exit to Nature’ sign, encouraging people to reconnect with the natural world as part of their everyday routines.
The Greentime17 campaign is part of the wider Nature: Connections and Recovery programme to connect more people with nature to benefit their wellbeing and their environment. Eden is rolling out the campaign across six UK locations – Cornwall, London, Liverpool, Gwent, Morecambe, Dundee and Belfast, funded by The National Lottery and Ashken Family Foundation.
Dan James, Eden Project Development Director said:“Eden Project’s founding ambition was always about reconnecting people with the natural world and with each other. Embedding the reciprocal benefits of living nature connected lives is fundamental to our charitable mission and vital for our health in the face of the compound issues we’re facing now. Nature Connected Lives is a nationally significant gathering to build momentum and raise awareness that will help to unlock the health and societal benefits of nature connection so that we can shape a better future for our planet.”
The Nature Connected Lives conference is co-hosted with the Duchy of Cornwall and featured contributions examining how nature connection can support early childhood development, improve young people's resilience, strengthen community wellbeing and encourage healthier, more nature-positive workplaces.
The event concluded with a cross-generational discussion exploring the practical actions needed to create a more nature-connected future.
Keynote speeches from expert leaders from across sectors provided a clear message emphasising the vital role connecting with nature plays in shaping happier, healthier lives.
David Cope, Executive Director for Purpose at the Duchy of Cornwall, said: “Nature plays a fundamental role in supporting healthy people, thriving communities and a resilient environment. At the Duchy of Cornwall, we recognise that how we care for and manage our land and communities has a direct impact on people's lives, and that reconnecting people with the natural world is important in creating a society that works for people as a part of nature.”
“We were delighted to co-host the Nature Connected Lives conference with the Eden Project, bringing together experts and organisations from across different sectors to explore how nature can support our wellbeing at every stage of life.
“By sharing knowledge, building partnerships and turning ideas into practical action, we have a real opportunity to make nature connection part of everyday life and ensure its benefits are accessible to more people.”
Tony Juniper CBE, Chair of Natural England said: “Encouraging connections with the natural world has enormous benefits for public health, individual wellbeing and social cohesion. Those connections also encourage the pro-environmental behaviours needed in the face of climate change and nature decline. Eden Project’s brilliant conference has enabled us to get a step closer to unlocking the power of nature for people’s health and wellbeing while building support for positive change.”
Dr William Bird MBE, GP and CEO Intelligent Health said: “Understanding that we are nature helps us ensure that we don’t simply see nature as a resource that we can extract health and not give anything back. Nature is our home, gives us life, purpose and happiness and when we help it thrive, we thrive ourselves. Practically this means building nature into neighbourhood health, planning, education, business, social care and most importantly every community takes on the role of bringing nature into their neighbourhood.”
Professor Helen Dodd, Director of the Outdoor Play Research Centre, Exeter University said: “Regular outdoor play in nature gives children a healthy foundation for learning and development right from the start of life. That is why outdoor play, ideally in nature, should be an everyday part of every child’s lives. Research from our group shows that children who play outdoors more frequently in the early years are more likely to have good mental health through to middle childhood. This event at the Eden Project brings together the wide range of people and voices that are needed to catalyse and drive change - to make nature-connected play and learning the norm in the early years.”
Dr Mary Johnstone-Louis, Senior Fellow, Oxford Said Business School said: “Business fundamentally depends on nature to create value, and yet the world of work is too often disconnected from the nature on which it depends. Our research is mapping effective innovations in businesses across the world, from SMEs to large listed companies, to take nature seriously in their strategy and governance. This is an area of enormous growth and dynamism – one which deserves close attention from investors, policymakers, and leaders alike. I congratulate the Eden Project and the Duchy of Cornwall for creating the space for this conversation.”
Large and small bodies represented at Nature Connected Lives national gathering included The National Lottery Community Fund, NHS, Natural England, Oxford University, Exeter University, charities The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, Wildlife Trust, Youth Environmental Services, Resilient Young Minds, and businesses including Canary Wharf Group, Intelligent Health, Faith in Nature, House of Hackney.
Nature Connection is one of Eden Project’s key strategic priorities being supported by a range of funders and delivery partners. It lays the groundwork for the charity to deliver its mission over the next 25 years as it also works to extend its impact further by opening its new site, Eden Project Morecambe in 2028, followed soon after by Eden Project Scotland in Dundee.
Today the iconic Eden Project Biomes, where Nature Connected Lives was hosted, stand as proof that even an exhausted quarry can be transformed. It’s now an oasis hosting over 6,000 breathtakingly beautiful species of plants, where over 25 million visitors and more than 1 million school children have experienced nature connection supporting learning, discovery and inspiration.
As Eden Project looks ahead to its next 25 years the charity will continue to focus on nature connection and recovery to support human health and wellbeing shaping a better future for the planet.
