UK CONNECT brings young people from Northern Ireland and Great Britain together through learning exchanges across National Landscapes and National Parks, giving them first-hand experience of conservation, opportunities to share ideas and the skills and relationships to help shape the future of protected landscapes. 

By strengthening collaboration across geographical and organisational boundaries - and enabling participants to co-create a Youth Manifesto for Landscapes - the programme ensures that young people are not simply encouraged to care about these special places, but empowered to influence what happens next.

From the saltmarshes and sand dunes of the Solway Coast National Landscape to the shores of Loch Lomond National Park, this new programme brings together Landscapes Youth NI and young people involved in Youth Ranger and Youth Ambassador programmes across National Landscapes and National Parks to experience other protected landscapes and learn from the people working to protect and restore them.

Working in partnership with EUROPARC Atlantic Isles, the programme has been designed to deepen collaboration between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, creating opportunities for young people to learn from one another, tackle shared challenges and develop leadership skills. 

It comes at an exciting time for those relationships. In 2027, the National Landscapes Association will take its Annual Conference to Belfast, bringing the National Landscapes family together with colleagues from Northern Ireland and creating further opportunities to share knowledge, experience and ideas across borders. Together, the conference and initiatives such as UK CONNECT are helping strengthen those connections and build a more joined-up network of landscapes, people and organisations working towards shared ambitions for nature, climate and communities.

Learning across landscapes

The first of the learning exchanges saw members of Landscapes Youth NI travel across the Irish Sea for five days of exploration, conversation and hands-on learning.

Days one to three were spent at Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park, before the group travelled south to spend the final two days with the team at Solway Coast National Landscape.

Here, the young people experienced first-hand the breadth of work taking place within a National Landscape and the connections between people, nature, heritage and the working landscape.

Their visit took them from the cultural heritage of Holme Cultram Abbey and the farmed landscape at Blue Dial Farm to nature recovery projects at RSPB Campfield Marsh and Mawbray Banks. At Allonby Bay, the group also explored the Solway's diverse coastal habitats and rockpools.

Local communities, farmers and conservation organisations were central to the experience, with Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the RSPB and communities and landowners from Abbeytown and Blue Dial sharing their knowledge, experience and perspectives with the group.

It was an opportunity not simply to see conservation in action, but to hear from the people delivering it and explore some of the challenges and opportunities facing protected landscapes.

“Their enthusiasm, curiosity and passion for nature have been inspiring. We hope their visit has helped strengthen the connections between young people, landscapes and communities across the UK and Ireland, and we look forward to continuing those connections with our return visit to Northern Ireland later this year.” 

The Solway visit forms one part of a much wider exchange of ideas and experience.

A youth manifesto

Importantly, the young people involved won't simply be participants in the programme.

Drawing on what they have seen, heard and discussed across the exchanges, the groups will work together to co-create a Youth Manifesto for Landscapes, setting out their ideas and ambitions for the future of these special places.

The manifesto will be shared more widely through webinars, with the young people also seeking opportunities to present their ideas to national environment ministers and bring their voices directly into conversations about the future of protected landscapes.

If we want young people to care for these landscapes in the future, they need meaningful opportunities to experience them, question how they are managed and have a voice in what comes next.

More to come

Three learning exchanges are planned through UK CONNECT. Following the Loch Lomond and Solway Coast visit, Youth Rangers and Youth Ambassadors from EUROPARC Atlantic Isles will travel to Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast and Glens, while Landscapes Youth NI will also visit Eryri National Park and Shropshire Hills National Landscape.

Together, these visits create opportunities to compare approaches, share experiences and explore the challenges landscapes have in common, as well as those that are unique to individual places. They also help build the personal and professional relationships that make future collaboration between landscapes possible.

In October, young representatives from Solway Coast National Landscape will make the return journey to Northern Ireland, exploring the Causeway Coast and Glens and attending the Landscapes Northern Ireland 2026 Conference in Ballycastle and continuing the conversations, friendships and shared learning already begun across the Irish Sea.

With further exchanges still to come and Belfast preparing to welcome the National Landscapes Annual Conference in 2027, those connections are set to grow even stronger.