Duration: 10 months (Dec 2023 – Sep 2024)

Background to the project

Conservation of Scotland’s marine and coastal areas is being tackled through initiatives at the national and local scales. Bottom-up approaches, led by the people who live and work in coastal communities, have potential to create long-lasting marine change. However, the trend of youth depopulation across the Highlands and Islands presents a serious threat to coastal communities, and thus the future of marine conservation.

The Community of Arran Seabed Trust, or COAST, are one of the leading community-led marine conservation organisations in Scotland. They pioneered Scotland’s first ‘No-Take Zone’ in 2008, and combine research and advocacy work with educational outreach on Arran. Their discovery centre, in Lamlash Bay, is a hub for marine activities such as snorkelling and boat trips, hosting thousands of visitors a year.

Thanks to COAST’s work in marine protection and education, Arran’s marine and coastal biodiversity has the potential to recover. To ensure that this work is continued by future generations, it is essential to engage with young populations, many of whom have limited opportunities to engage in marine conservation.

HIEF awarded COAST a £14,000 grant in October 2022 to support the development of a ‘Youth Action Plan’, aiming to outline a strategy to increase the involvement of young people in the protection of Arran’s coastal and marine areas. Following additional funding success with National Lottery Heritage Fund, the action plan now sits within a much larger  ‘Now You SEA it’ project aiming to upgrade the Discovery Centre and evaluate other areas of COAST’s work.

Images, courtesy of COAST, showing their varied areas of work within marine conservation. 

What did the project involve?

COAST worked with consultants to draft a detailed Youth Action Plan setting out a future strategy for engaging with young people. It aimed to engage with young people (18-25) both on and off the island of Arran, extending into North Ayrshire towns with higher levels of deprivation. Gathering youth perspectives, it was hoped, would allow COAST to tailor future opportunities towards young citizens.

To make this happen, COAST engaged directly with 100 young people at Arran High School’s careers fair, as well as a variety of youth groups in both Arran and mainland Ayrshire. This consultation was a valuable process in itself, raising awareness of COAST’s work within the young cohort, and generating interest in conservation careers.

Outcomes and impact

The final result is an evidence-based, needs-led report split into two sections.

The 37-page ‘Outline Activity Plan’ covers:

• The rationale behind young people prioritisation
• An assessment of current activities and audiences
• outline plans to grow youth engagement capacity, through schemes such as Young Ambassador / Young Sea Ranger recruitment and training programmes.
• Scope for creative and impactful education and participatory outreach.

And an additional 37-page ‘Market Appraisal Report’ that provides wider context for the Activity Plan:

“They set our audience development/increasing youth participation plans in the wider context of COAST’s ambitions for progression with core biodiversity work over coming years – and against an independent analysis of organisational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Helpfully, the market appraisal makes connection between our plans, the strategic architecture within which we operate and the policy landscape by which we are surrounded” (COAST).

Legacy

This plan has outlined the next 5 years of COAST’s activity – offering a series of recommendations for specific activities, timelines, responsible parties, and potential funding sources. This framework will guide the creation of development and delivery plans for the next five years: 2025 – 2030.

Through strategic planning, the next phase of COAST activities will engage and empower young people as effectively as possible, giving our oceans and future generations the best chance of a healthy environment in the years to come.