'Map of Dreams' shows East Anglia's wild ambitions for nature

WildEast, which was founded last year with the 50-year goal of returning 20pc of East Anglia to nature, has launched the map to incentivise and track projects that encourage ecological regeneration.

It is a live representation of the pledges already made, ranging from farms and landowners to a vicar, a special needs school, and a village community.

And it is hoped that the Map of Dreams will inspire others from all sectors of society to contribute 20pc of their landscape to nature, bringing WildEast closer to its target of 1,000 pledges by the end of 2021.

The trustees of WildEast said: "The WildEast Map of Dreams is an expression of our collective will to take responsibility - our shared responsibility to restore nature into our lives and to share and celebrate doing so.

"Everyone is complicit in the destruction of the natural world. We must all become climate warriors now to avert climate catastrophe.

"The Map of Dreams is a place to record what Sir David Attenborough called ‘your witness statement to a life on earth’ and in so doing inspire others to play their part.

"This is our final chance to reset our relationship with planet Earth. It’s now or never to come together to save nature."

Every pledge made is featured on the map, along with snapshot information about the project. Pledges so far include:

• A nature recovery expert who has returned 80pc of his garden back to nature

• A woman who unexpectedly inherited 100 acres of the family farm and is selling the farmhouse to pay for the land to be returned to wild land

• A Suffolk vicar who has returned her churchyard to nature

• A special needs school in Lowestoft that has created a wild nature garden and orchard for children and staff

• A 24-acre farm where 1,500 indigenous trees were planted and a wildlife pond created

WildEast pledgee Lisa Cook working in her back garden in Bacton Road, Norwich (Image: AJ Flanagan)

The map forms the shape of a lynx head which has become the symbol of WildEast's long-term species reintroduction goals.

It was developed by Global MapAid, a social enterprise working to support sustainability projects around the world.

As it evolves, WildEast hopes the map can demonstrate a landscape-scale nature recovery effort which could attract carbon-offsetting investment, and could fit with a key part of the government's emerging green policies to fund farmers and landowners.

Andy Millar is Natural England's senior adviser for nature recovery in Norfolk and Suffolk.

He said: "It is a very bold ambition, but the message on the government's emerging nature recovery agenda is we are all being encouraged to think big and start having conversations where we can get these partnerships together to deliver nature recovery on the ground.

"One of the big differences about WildEast to me, is it is not just a call to arms to the usual suspects. It is a shout out to all of society, beyond conservation bodies, beyond landowners large and small, it is about all sectors of society, communities and even the commercial sector.

WildEast pledgee Nicky Rowbottom enjoying the WildPatch at Henham (Image: Sal Jenkinson)

"One of the critical things will be attracting private investment into nature recovery in a way that allows investors to see the value of it.

"The concept of a map, where anyone who manages a piece of land, whether it is a back garden or a large Norfolk or Suffolk estate, can see how their contribution is fitting into a big picture - I think that's a strong message for nature recovery, and for restoring nature in this country to be effectively owned by all of society.

"WildEast is not alone in this, but if they can rise to that challenge they have set themselves it could be something that everyone can get together around, whether it is large landowners or a village or an urban local authority that wants to deliver biodiversity net gains."

Peter Howlett clearing excess reeds for the Bury Water Meadows Group (BWMG), one of WildEast's pledgees (Image: BWMG)