The second workshop in the programme took place on Friday 30th January and during this workshop, we recapped what the global pressures on biodiversity are as well as the shifting baseline syndrome and then considered what are a university’s pressures on biodiversity, and how we could measure these impacts. We then focused on the first step of the pledge: Conducting a “Biodiversity Baseline” and explored some different approaches that you could get involved with on your campus. We also heard from a number of student speakers from a range of countries including Kenya, the United Arab Emirates and the UK, who shared their experience of organising and participating in biodiversity monitoring.

Please see below the workshop recording, presentation slides, workshop quiz, Toolkit and links to the Biodiversity Baselines short film and primer document.

Following attending or watching back this workshop, we ask that you complete a short quiz to share your learnings from workshop 2 with us and also any feedback or suggestions you might have.

This quiz is also now available in French: https://forms.gle/mHMDtAg9fwWghX9V8

The third workshop in the programme took place on Friday 27th February and in this workshop, we looked at Biodiversity actions on campus, framed by the Conservation Hierarchy. This is a framework that can help you plan actions that could be taken at your university, and we explored examples and advice from the Nature Positive Universities network. We also heard from several Student Ambassadors, who shared their experiences of organising or joining biodiversity actions. These students are:

– Jingyi Pang from Imperial College London, UK spoke about participating in a Campus Bird Collision Prevention Project in China.

– Ahmed Mahmoud Elsayed Ali from Aswan University, Egypt presented about leading environmental awareness and climate adaptation activities through the “Shade Initiative”.

Note: Augustine Allieu from College of Digital Excellence, Sierra Leone was due to present at this workshop about participating in invasive species removals and native tree planting as well as plans to convert underutilized lawn spaces into native pollinator gardens, however Augustine wasn’t able to attend the workshop. We will look to share Augustine’s experience as part of a case study in the Toolkit.

Please see below the workshop recording, presentation slides, workshop quiz and the Toolkit.

Following attending or watching back this workshop, we ask that you complete a short quiz to share your learnings from workshop 3 with us and also any feedback or suggestions you might have.

The fourth workshop in the programme took place on Friday 27th March and during this workshop, we explored a variety of approaches to Sustainable Food, including revisiting the Conservation Hierarchy, which is a framework that we introduced in Workshop 3, that can help you plan actions that could be taken at your university, and then explored examples of actions for your campus around food from across the NPU network. We also heard from two student speakers, who shared their experience of projects focused on the topic of Sustainable food. The students are:

– Israel Tade from l’Université Peleforo GON COULIBALY, Côte d’Ivoire who shared ideas and plans for a project entitled ‘Le programme Mon arbre mon fruit’ (‘My tree, my fruit’) about food growing on campus.

– Haleema Raza Khan from the University of Oxford, UK who presented about participating and winning the Vice Chancellor’s Colloquium on Climate Change with a proposal to tackle food insecurity in Oxford by redistributing surplus food from colleges.

Please see below the workshop recording, presentation slides, workshop quiz, and Toolkit.

Following attending or watching back this workshop, we ask that you complete a short quiz to share your learnings from workshop 4 with us and also any feedback or suggestions you might have.

The fifth workshop in the programme took place on Friday 24th April. In this workshop, we explored impacts and actions around Waste and Resource Use and the circular economy, framed by the Conservation Hierarchy. This is a framework that we’ve introduced previously, that can help you plan actions that could be taken at your university and in your communities. We then explored examples of actions for your campus from the Nature Positive Universities network and had breakout rooms where we discussed ideas and examples for tackling waste and resource use. 

Additionally, we heard from a number of student speakers, who shared their experiences organising or taking part in projects focused on waste and resource use. These students are:

– Amensinor Favour Okpohs from Ulster University, UK presented about delivering swap shops and repair cafes on campus to encourage reuse and reduce waste.

– Monika Dadhich and Varushi from Indraprastha College For Women, University of Delhi, India presented about leading Anti-Littering campaigns, supporting the vision of a Plastic-Free Campus and also contributing to a Book Exchange Drive.

– Laura Sofía Ávila, Santiago Figueroa Soto and Federico Teran Pascuas from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, Colombia presented about two projects that have been developed at the university during this semester, ‘Towards a Zero Waste Campus’ and ‘Plogging session’.

Please see below the workshop recording, presentation slides, workshop quiz and a new Student Action document. The Toolkit for this workshop is coming soon!

Following attending or watching back this workshop, we ask that you complete a short quiz to share your learnings from workshop 5 with us and also any feedback or suggestions you might have.

The sixth and final workshop in the programme took place on Friday 29th May and during this workshop, we explored actions around advocacy and community engagement from the Nature Positive Universities network. We also heard from two student speakers, who shared their experiences, which we hope provided ideas for how to take your learnings from the programme forward. The student speakers were:

• Anna Asim from Fatima Jinnah Women University Rawalpindi, Pakistan who presented about the use of communications and PR as advocacy tools, drawing on work on the Plastic Free July campaign, participation as a climate panellist and launching an independent food security initiative.

• Amina Othman from University of Abuja, Nigeria spoke about her use of spoken word poetry and storytelling to raise awareness on nature conservation and inspire youth-led action. Please see below some recordings that Amina shared with us of her poetry and spoken word.

Additionally, we had breakout rooms, which were a chance to explore the concepts of green skills and green jobs, and an opportunity to share experiences, challenges and ideas of your next steps following completion of the 2025/26 Nature Positive Student Ambassador Programme. During this session, we also launched a poll to gather feedback about the programme. There will also be an opportunity to share feedback with us in the end of year form.

Note: Anwar Ghusub Salum from Sokoine University Of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania was due to present in this workshop about his work with the Watoto na Mazingira Initiative, organising clean-ups, leading tree planting and mobilising school children in biodiversity awareness, however Anwar wasn’t able to attend the workshop. We hope to be able to share Anwar’s experience with everyone at a later date.

Please see below the workshop recording, presentation slides, workshop quiz, Toolkit and end of year feedback form:

Following attending or watching back this workshop, we ask that you complete a short quiz to share your learnings from workshop 6 with us and also any feedback or suggestions you might have.

We’re pleased to share links to some examples of Amina’s poetry and spoken word:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rALLwyMai4UkLyrR3y6Z_6FVY2-qmJm-/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11qvzTARtGexeUCGTGqH97L4Vyr_-6ui6/view?usp=sharing