Bethnal Green Nature Reserve (BGNR) is a green community hub in Tower Hamlets focused on ecological and community health. It supports this by promoting biodiversity, fostering learning, strengthening community wellbeing and integration, encouraging participation and enabling research. The site, which is a reclaimed WW2 bombsite, has been cared for since 1977 by local residents, volunteers and staff, who have transformed it into an urban haven.
Across the Reserve and its neighbouring site, the Food Growing and Ecology Garden, BGNR supports 3,000 people a year with nature connection and education. The charity aims to encourage the community to develop a sense of pride in their area, build confidence through nurturing complex ecosystems, and to encourage discourse on the social and ecological complexities of the urban environment. It does this through a range of engagement and volunteering opportunities to suit a variety of needs and interests. BGNR strives to increase local knowledge and skills, and to engage and connect Londoners with the diversity of the urban landscape. It especially seeks to work with those living in the vicinity of the nature reserve who otherwise have very little access to green spaces. BGNR works with:
Keyholders: BGNR is cared for by over 400 members of the local community. Many of these are site ‘caretakers’ – keyholders to the site who have access outside of organised sessions, and support with small day-to-day maintenance tasks like composting, litter-picking and wildlife monitoring.
Volunteers: weekly structured volunteering sessions run every year from May to November. These are small groups who learn about and support areas of the reserve such as habitat management, mushroom harvesting, climate adaptation and development, permaculture and use of herbs for health and wellbeing.
Partner organisations: BGNR works with local organisations to facilitate access to the reserve. This includes a local GP running weekly green social prescribing sessions, a minority ethnic mental health support group, and a local SEND primary school. This allows BGNR to open up the reserve to diverse groups and meet a range of social and educational needs.
Apprentices: Paid progression opportunities are offered to volunteers, particularly young people not in education or employment. Apprenticeships at the Reserve offer young people who are underrepresented in the environment sector valuable experiences within ecosystem and habitat management. Opportunities include enrichment activities such as connections to professional ecologists and educators, and visits to other similar sites, to help build participants’ networks and career paths.
BGNR has developed a new ‘Experimental School of Urban Ecology’, an annual learning programme offering accessible ecological education rooted in the site’s values: care for the land, community participation, practical skills and environmental understanding. The programme will also gradually contribute to the financial resilience of the Reserve, with course fees providing a new unrestricted income stream. The courses are designed for anyone wanting to further their personal or professional development, such as forest school leaders, park rangers, land workers or aspiring outdoor educators. The School’s first year of courses include Foraging and Land Stewardship, Climate and Adaptation, and Nature Connection & Wellbeing for Children. This work aims to establish BGNR as a Research Centre for Urban Ecology in London and nationally, plus it will attract partnerships and collaborations with external institutions (i.e. universities, businesses, community groups), specifically those looking to build their learning capacities through urban ecology education and training. It will also provide deeper learning opportunities for BGNR’s existing volunteers and collaborators, and free spaces for individuals underrepresented in the ecology sector.
The Foundation will support BGNR with business and financial planning for the new School of Urban Ecology alongside a grant towards the salary of its Community Gardener. The Community Gardener leads all community engagement and nurtures volunteers, apprentices and relationships with partner organisations, ensuring that they use and navigate the site confidently and independently. As the School of Urban Ecology grows and develops, the Foundation will work with BGNR to increase its income and financial sustainability, to cover the cost of core salaries in the future.
