Centre wants to encourage more involvement in the environment
A project devised to make environmental action accessible to all has been launched by the Scottish Seabird Centre.
It comes after the centre received funding the SafeDeposits Scotland Community Fund and DWF Foundation.
The charity will create a community action station within its award-winning visitor centre in North Berwick, offering free-to-borrow equipment, guidance, and take-home activities to support beach cleans, citizen science surveys and other environmental actions.
It aims to remove barriers to participation, empowering more people to get involved in improving their local environment.
By providing equipment such as litter pickers, gloves and survey tools, alongside practical advice, the Scottish Seabird Centre hopes to inspire more people to take part in marine conservation efforts.
The station will build on the success of existing initiatives: in 2023 alone, over 530 people borrowed equipment or joined group beach cleans through the centre, and more than 450 volunteers signed up to support conservation projects.
The community action station will also support wellbeing, helping people to connect with nature and their local community, while generating valuable data through citizen science.
Emma Marriott, conservation officer at the Scottish Seabird Centre, said: “This project aims to engage visitors to the Scottish Seabird Centre with various ‘actions for nature’ by providing them with support in the form of equipment and information.
“Hearing about all the pressures that our marine ecosystems are facing can be overwhelming, which is why we’re so pleased to be able to offer everyone who visits us the tools to tackle that feeling and to make a real difference.”
Alan Partridge, marketing manager at SafeDeposits Scotland, said “We are delighted to support this new initiative from the Scottish Seabird Centre, which seeks to make a positive environmental impact through marine conservation and furthermore provides a valuable opportunity for social inclusion.”
