Vetwork UK’s unique Carbon Literacy course had been the first to include biodiversity loss. Now our trustees are working with a French-based system of resources to bring the ‘Nature crisis’ to the foreground: the ‘Fresque de la Biodiversité’, or Biodiversity Collage (‘BDC’). In January 2025 Vetwork UK held our first public-facing BDC in the market town of Reepham, Norfolk.
The community centre was a perfect venue for 10 attendees, who ranged from a local landowner to a professional clown to a market gardener.
Susi Arnott was the trainer & coordinator. The ‘ice-breaker’ set the tone; think of an organism and mime it for the others to guess. This opened up the imaginative discussions needed for the main activities, organising photo-cards to describe and inter-relate elements in ecosystems – in smaller groups this time.
Case-studies designed to illustrate some unintended consequences of human activities provoked debate & discussion about organisms and their interconnectedness. Then we moved on to a bigger set of cards, to arrive at the IPBES ‘drivers of biodiversity loss’.
After this more extended exercise, participants wandered around the footpaths of Reepham to blow away the cobwebs and take the opportunity to chat & get to know each other better.
On return to the Bircham Centre we began structured but open-ended thinking on how to reduce the harm humans are doing to biodiversity. Some participants had to leave on time after 3 hours, but refreshments were on hand and many stayed on to finish conversations and begin new ones! A networking opportunity for this diverse group.
The two trustees felt it would be even more worthwhile to host BDC sessions with pre-existing groups in a position to continue working together after such an intense but short input. And that less informed groups, of people not already predisposed to ‘biodiversity action’, might be more of a priority. Get in touch if you’d like to take this opportunity for your group!
NB Photo from a Biodiversity Collage workshop facilitated by Susi Arnott in November 2024
About Vetwork UK
Vetwork UK was founded as no admin organisation, which has allowed us to be flexible.
Our projects, large and small, administer themselves. Some projects employ staff, others are run voluntarily.
We currently have a small reserve of funds, and four Trustees who take forward our current work voluntarily.
We are currently looking for new Trustees, so please contact us if our work interests you and you would like to be involved.
