Good to Grow Week launch: Protecting nature and building a Right to Grow

At the roots of every community garden lies a tale of resilience, sustainability, and a commitment to nourishing both the land and the people who tend to it. Across the country, these green spaces have become sanctuaries, not just for wildlife and plant life, but for entire communities. They are classrooms for acquiring new skills, arenas for forging friendships, and, crucially, sources of nourishing, sustainable, and delicious food.

Yet community growers are grappling with the UK's stark lack of land and growing access. Recent research has revealed a staggering 174,183 people currently on allotment waiting lists in England, Scotland, and Wales and cash-strapped local authorities feel that they must make a choice between green spaces and affordable housing. People of colour experience structural, experiential and cultural barriers to green spaces. Climate change is having a substantial impact on our natural environment - biodiversity is declining at a rapid rate and one in six species are at risk of being lost from the UK.

Catch up on the Good to Grow Week Launch webinar as we highlight the indispensable role of community growers in the UK in 2024. 

Presentations

Lily O'Mara-Adembesa & Rachel Dring, Sustain

Vicki Hird, The Wildlife Trusts

Emma Trueman, Global Generation

Niellah Arboine, Sadeh Farm

Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible

Speakers

• Niellah Arboine is a writer, editor and broadcaster from south London. Her work centres on the intersections of nature, politics, culture and identity. Currently, Niellah Arboine is the artist in resident at Sadeh Farm. They run workshops for Sadeh participants on Land Justice and Nature writing as well as growing Carribean vegetables in the market garden.
• Pam Warhurst is a community leader, activist and environment worker who founded Incredible Edible, the organisation spearheading the Right to Grow campaign - a movement building momentum across the UK that is pushing for community access to growing spaces on suitable public sector land to be enshrined in local and national policies.
• Vicki Hird is an experienced and award-winning environmental campaigner, researcher, strategist and author of Rebugging the Planet - the Remarkable Things that Insects Do. She is the Strategic Lead on Agriculture at the Wildlife Trusts, previously with Sustain, and Friends of the Earth. She is also founder/chair of the Eating Better Alliance, and is a Trustee of Natural Neighbours, has been a trustee of Pesticides Action Network, The Food Commission and Sustain.
• Emma Trueman is Paper Garden Manager at Global Generation where she grows regenerative spaces for food and habitats with young people in King's Cross. Alongside growing gardens, Emma's practice includes storytelling, painting, intersectional environmentalism, and action research. She is director of CIC Raybel Charters, working to sail carbon neutral produce for greener seas, air, and cities.
• Chair: Richard Choksey, of Social Farms and Gardens, is a seasoned horticulturist and nature-engagement practitioner. He has worked with community food growing and gardening organisations across London including Meanwhile Gardens, Black Rootz and Walworth Garden. He currently facilitates networking and peer-to-peer training between community gardens and city farms, focussed on organisational resilience and economic sustainability.