THERE is excitement that the saved Wilderness Centre in the Forest of Dean can become the focal point for environmental learning in a new Unesco biosphere reserve.
The Forest Council is in the process of applying for the area between the Severn and Wye to join the 759 special areas worldwide.
Places such as Australia’s Sunshine Coast, the Gobi Desert and several of the Canary Islands are biosphere reserves.
The new owners of the outdoor learning hub at Plump Hill near Mitcheldean are poised to enter a partnership with the council.
And they say the site could be a place which showcases the best of the Forest including its heritage and how it translates into modern green industries, rewilding and environmental efforts.
Simon Dawson, a director of communiy benefit society Wylderne Ltd, said they want the centre to grow as an outdoor centre and play a role in environmental educattion.
“I got in touch with Cllr Trevor Roach, that contact led to us meeting the Green Party cabinet and they were talking about working with us,” he said.
“Their vision for the Wilderness is for it to be a vehicle for environmental learning in the Forest and for the green economy.”
Fellow director Paul Pivcevic has been working with the South Devon Bioregional Learning Centre, and through them they contacted the NoVo Foundation in the USA which aims to support initiatives that promote a holistic, interconnected and healing vision for humanity.
The foundation is run by Peter Buffett, son of American investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett.
“They liked what we are doing and what we are doing with the council,” Mr Dawson said. “They came over here last summer met Trevor and really loved the story of the Forest.
“What he loved was the combination of the unique environment of the Forest and its culture and history.
“That fits very much with the vision for bioregioning.”
He said they gave them a revenue grant of £70,000 and £250,000 to help buy the place through the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.
“Environmental learning, developing people’s eco-literacy is laying the groundwork for a conversion to a green economy,” he said.
“That links with the council’s ambition for the Forest of Dean to be a biosphere.”
Councillor Roach (G, Micheldrean, Ruardean and Drybrook) said: “When we look at how a biosphere works. It’s all very well sticking a UNESCO label behind it but it’s about how we use that to create a green economy and green living and the enhanced benefits for health and wellbeing of being in the Forest.”
Councillor Chris McFarling (G, St Briavels), the council’s climate emergency cabinet member, added: “It’s a really exciting partnership... Part of the biosphere designation involves education. Each generation leaves behind unfinished challenges for the next.
“And education is the best thing we can give them to meet those challenges successfully.
“The Wilderness is the educational arm which will underpin the cultural shift needed to make the Forest sustainable in the truest sense of the word: culturally, environmentally, economically and socially.”
Unesco describes its biosphere reserves as “places where sustainable development practices… can be tested and implemented”.
Councillors say it could bring extra investment to the district while creating jobs and promoting sustainable tourism.
People who wish to support The Wilderness Centre can become shareholders, and in return, they say investors will become members of the community benefit society and can have a say in its future.
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