Voices of the future

What are the biggest challenges facing children and young people today? Most people would say that climate change is really scary for children and young people. They are facing with a rapidly changing climate and often a sense that no one is doing anything about it. The ‘Voices of the Future’ project aims to involve children and young people as co-researchers to explore the potential of future treescapes in mitigating climate change. Importantly, it develops a unique methodology which brings together environmental science with childhood and youth studies, education, English and geography, to focus on re-imagining treescapes of the future.

Our project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and is part of a programme called the UK Treescapes programme, coming out of COP26. It involves nine universities, 23 people, partners Mersey Forest, Manchester City of Trees, the Chartered College of Teachers and Early Childhood Outdoors, to explore how children and young people can re-make their environment and fill the world with trees. To date, children and young people in our project have planted over 1000 trees in Greater Manchester, including a tree-planting project in Longford Park, led by our Tree of Hope youth research group of migrant background young people, and a child-led woodland in Old Trafford.

We are proud to develop new methodologies which involve young people taking the lead and exploring what the forest can do for us.

What have we done so far?

•  We have developed this resource for organisations that wish to support young people do something about the environment
• We have worked with Mersey Forest to explore how co-production can develop new ways of working with young people to hear their voice.
• We have created a Children’s Manifesto for Trees with Seymour Park primary school, Old Trafford
• We are creating educational resources with teachers from Seymour Park primary school
• Migrant-background young people have planted their own Treescape in Longford Park, supported by Manchester Cit of Trees.
• We have shared resources for families of young children in a park in Rotherham and explored woodland methodologies in St Helens, Merseyside.
• We have made an immersive Treescape film with young people in Stretford Grammar School, Stretford.
• We planted 900 trees in Blackrod School, Bolton.
• We have worked with English teachers in Shropshire to re-imagine the English curriculum of the future, with a focus on place, trees and climate change.

To find out more, contact Professor Kate Pahl, Department of English, Manchester Metropolitan University on k. pahl@mmu.ac.uk