Welcome to the Nature Action Hub

About

The Nature Action Hub is a volunteering platform connecting nature experts with community groups looking for advice on their biodiversity projects.

Across the world, people are waking up to the biodiversity crisis and wanting to take action in their local areas to turn the crisis around. Nature is invaluable and the challenge is unprecedented. Our response needs to be rapid and informed, and carried out in the right way at the right time for nature to thrive.

Local communities stepping up to the challenge do not always have access to the expertise they need. This is where the Nature Action Hub comes in. We match expert volunteers with local communities looking for advice on their nature restoration initiatives, to help bring about the right outcomes and give them the best chance of success.

We are particularly keen to help communities who do not have the resources to access the biodiversity advice they need.

Together we can make a big difference.

How it works

The Nature Action Hub is a network of experts committed to making a difference by offering some free time and expertise to support communities’ nature initiatives. Our volunteers are a diverse range of professionals with experience and knowledge that they are willing to offer to community projects.

We match requests for expert help with volunteers on our database, make the arrangements and put them in touch to get rapid help.

We have already helped a diverse range of projects including the creation of woodland management plans, digital mapping of parish biodiversity surveys, tree planting, creation of nature corridors and invertebrate surveys. Read our case studies to learn more.

The Hub is a free service offered to not-for-profit community organisations. Groups that are helped by Nature Action Hub volunteers provide their own resources to cover their project costs.

The Hub is currently operating in Sussex and is looking to expand to cover London and the South-East of England where possible.

How to get expert help

Projects in Sussex and the South-East looking for expert help are invited to contact us giving details of your community group, where you are located, details of the project and the help needed. We will consult our volunteer database for the specific skills needed and wherever possible find an expert volunteer who can help.

What our community groups have said

“We really enjoyed meeting our volunteer who spent some time surveying our meadow, still ponds and chalk stream. If there is a possibility for him to come in again, we would love to host him”
Botany Bay

“The Hub provided us with the expertise we required to take this project forward. Without it we would have just had a pile of paper maps!”
Sustainable Henfield

“We had a great experience with your Nature Action Hub – thank you. We received expert advice on the technicalities of planting – spacings, species mix, wind consideration etc as well as reassurance that we were doing the right thing by the planting site. There is a lot of differing information available on the internet, so to be able to get direct answers from an expert in their field provided a lot of clarity and confidence.”
Eastbourne Treebourne

“I am so pleased you are able to help with the Wild About Warnham pollinator highway project. Thank you so much! What we need is a digital base map showing all the potential sites and strips of land along the route of the highway so we can share this with landowners, funders and other interested parties. At the moment, I have a very crude map which I have drawn on a very large OS base map!”
Wild About Warnham

What our volunteers have said

“It was a real pleasure to be able to help this inspiring group of people. What they have achieved is a real example of community in action and goes to show what a difference people can make when they decide to mobilise for nature.”

“Really good to be involved and great to be able to help”

“I am thrilled that I am able to volunteer my technical expertise to assist important conservation work. I look forward to seeing how this project progresses and hope many others will be inspired to get involved in this really valuable volunteering initiative.”

Management

The Nature Action Hub is the responsibility of the Southwood Foundation. A steering group chaired by TSF trustee John Turzynski has been set up to provide the necessary oversight of the initiative. Members of the steering group are sectoral experts and include a representative of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environment Management. The Hub is managed on a day to day basis the TSF Operations Manager.