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Exploring & sharing nature positive practice
A resource of real practical examples for individuals striving to support biodiversity & nature
With inputs from numerous ‘doers’, facilitated by Steve & Irene Evison
Practical advice for businesses, managers, students & innovators seeking practical ideas to build your skills and knowledge.
Interviews, visits and reflections with those involved in working for nature in many different ways.
1:1 bespoke support to those running nature positive business & within projects or organisations
Online taining and resources for those wanting to develop their depth of knowledge (practical approaches & methods).
We deliver these in the following subject areas
- Establishing & running nature positive business
- Engagement, co-production & working with people
- Delivering strategic, integrated, cross-sectoral benefits for nature through people
- Understanding & supporting nature positive rural economies
Current special projects
At any one time we have a lot of stuff going on. However, there are always headline ones. Currently these are:
Project 60
Steve reached 60 years old in 2022 (yikes!) and is now working on interviewing at least 60 friends and colleagues to discuss real practical examples of nature positive work and what has been acheived. This is to investigate what defines nature positive, show how many positive acheivements there have been and provide a positive resource for future efforts to draw on. The project includes exploring the practicalities of participation and co-production in working for a more nature positive future. Find out more here at Project 60
Action learning with Nature Positive Business
The meaning of nature positive business (nature based business), developed through practical work with other businesses, including continuing to develop our own simple Nature Diamond concept for nature positive business (and other activity).
Resources
Interviews, vlogs, short films & written resources
We have been lucky enough to work all around the world supporting communities, organisations and businesses deliver results for nature.
Now with the help of the networks we have developed and the experience we have gained we are developing a range of resources for you to use to help inform what you do.
Contact us if you would like more direct support.
Meanwhile, why not sign up for our occasional information updates & take a look at our various online resources (many are free).
What we do
We use our knowledge and expertise to guide those we work with. Some of this my be directly based on our own knowledge and practical experience, but perhaps even more important is how we use that knowledge and experience to help point people to others in our networks and beyond. Perhaps a good way to think of us is as knowledgeable guides, facilitators and even occasionally supportive disrupters 😉.
- Mentoring and coaching – to individuals running prjects or their own nature positive businesses
- Critical friend – to senior staff and teams as they develop new working approaches or as part of organisational re-structures
- Direct training – to a wide range of practitioners at all levels of delivery
- Reflective practitioner / positive disrupter – to projects, partnerships and organsiations seeking to ‘do different’
- Resource production
- Facilitator & signposter – to businesses and managers wanting to darw on expertise form elsewhere, especially outside their own sector.
Why we do it
Nearly Wild is not just about Steve and Irene Evison passing on our knowledge. Its about creating a networked resource of positive practical action for nature based on the collective knowledge of a diverse range of people, all working to achieve for positive impacts for nature.
We believe in:
- Success for natures benefit is continually happening, but, because every action leads to another impact, there will always be a need for environmental action.
- We need to celebrate the positive, not just disappear down rabbit holes of negativity.
- Constantly questioning and challenging thinking towards driving continual improvement
- Not finding the elusive answer, but instead accepting there is no single answer, but instead a state of continual improvement (please save us from the arrogance of people with ‘the answer’!)
- That good ideas can come from anywhere, they are not the exclusive preserve of a chosen few eco-activists or learned scholars
- Far more is achieved by co-productive approaches to participating in assessing, , action, and evaluation and learning to effect better future action.
- Individuals do matter as catalysts of change but the most effective ones are part fo something much bigger than themselves
Finally, we love to work with and support the change makers, the catalysts and those willing to really ‘do different’. We see our role as supporting and working with them, helping them source knowledge and support. They can then be the next change that is needed.
Who we are
Nearly Wild is a passionate, experienced and informal network of practical ‘doers’, facilitated by Steve and Irene Evison, each with over 35 years’ experience working in natural resource management, organisational development and community development around the world.
Steve
A natural resource manager, engagement specialist & ecopreneur with a passion for nature and adventure, exploring nature with outdoor pursuits as his means of travel.
Irene
Geography practitioner, engagement specialist, researcher, utrarunner and tapestry weaving artist with a passion for travel and exploration of our place in the world.
Examples of our work
We have been involved in a huge range of work all around the world from Alaska to Tanzania, Nepal to UK. Much of it has been working for a more biodiverse, nature positive future.
A few examples include:
- Mentoring individuals in their business or project delivery
- Advising on stakeholder engagement for strategic nature recovery projects
- Working as a nature reserve warden or managing woodlands
- Establishing and advising international sustainable development projects with local communities
- Teaching engagement techniques to community development and natural resource practitioners across the UK and in a number of other countries
In addition, have also set up a number of other successful ventures, including founding Nearly Wild Camping, Nearly Wild Weaving and Resources for Change.
Importantly, it has all only been possible by working with and through others. It is this huge diversity of experience and networks on which we draw to inform the resources and support we provide for those we work with or who use our resources.
Nature Friendly Business Directory
As part of our work with Nature Positive Business we have developed an online directory. This is free to list and free to use. We started this in Mid-Wales but gradually we are finding businesses from other areas are choosing to list here too.
Follow the link below to find some great examples of nature friendly products and services.
Promoting nature-friendly supply chains towards supporting a nature rich countryside.