Between November 2018 and November 2020, Defra (the UK government Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs) has funded an innovative programme of citizen engagement across England to improve understanding of what people value in the environment and their priorities for it. It also informs the implementation of the 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP) and Natural England’s conservation strategy ‘Conservation 21’.

Incredible Oceans is involved with training environment specialists to carry public outreach and dialogues to new audiences. These skills enable them to deliver activities and evaluation that capture public attitudes, values and priorities that can be taken into account in environmental policy and decision-making.

The project is led by NatCen, the largest independent research organisation in the UK, together with partners Involve, National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE), the Natural History Consortium, Marine Biological Association the Behavioural Insights Team.