The Isle of Wight Biosphere Festival will be a fun weekend of events all over the Island, a chance for local businesses, organisations and communities to celebrate together our Biosphere status and everything it stands for: the Island’s unique combination of people, nature and place.
Since the Isle of Wight won UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status in 2019, there have been Biosphere projects in schools and communities, but there hasn’t yet been an opportunity for the Island to get together as a whole and celebrate it.
New Biosphere Festival
This 29th and 30th June we (the Biosphere Steering Committee) are aiming to provide that chance, with a new Biosphere Festival that we hope will become an annual event.
The Biosphere Festival will be Island-wide, and will be as big and bold as we can all collectively make it. It will include a weekend of talks and workshops at the Quay Arts Centre which will be a mix of practical learning, family fun and exciting and novel explorations of what the Biosphere is all about.
Create your Biosphere Festival event
We are also asking local communities, organisations and businesses to join us in putting on their own events, however large or small, under the Biosphere Festival banner.
These could be something that was already planned that you could give a Biosphere theme, or something entirely new. It could be something you’ve done before that you could repurpose for this weekend. It could be as small as a shop promotion or display, or as big as you like! It could be obviously in or related to nature, or something which takes that as a leaping off point for wild and creative flights of fancy.
Meet on of the nine Biosphere principles
So long as it fits one or more of the nine Biosphere principles in some way, which can be found on the Isle of Wight Biosphere website.
The Biosphere Festival team will provide support in developing ideas and promoting events, with online briefing events in advance and a resource pack.
Ways to get involved, full details and links on the website:
- Save the date! 29th and 30th June 2024
- Start thinking about how your organisation, community or business could be involved.
- Sign up for the mailing list.
- We need volunteers to organise and assist on the day, let us know if you can help.
- Sign up for one of our online briefing events on the 6th and 14th March to find out more and ask questions.
What is the Isle of Wight UNESCO Biosphere Reserve?
The Isle of Wight was awarded UNESCO Biosphere Reserve status in 2019 in recognition of the remarkable local combination of nature, community and landscape, where people and the environment work together in an increasingly sustainable way.
There are just a few of these in the United Kingdom.
Lots of people hear “Biosphere” and think it means a big dome like the Eden Project! It isn’t a real dome, but you could imagine it as one that covers the whole Island, stretching from the north shores of the Solent to the south out into the Channel. Everything and everyone within the dome is interconnected and has an impact on the rest of the Biosphere, whether it is in the countryside, towns and villages, or in the seas.
Protecting everything that is special about the Island
There have been Islanders living and working in connection with nature here for many hundreds of years and today there are many individuals, communities, businesses and organisations who are still doing so, who are actively working to protect everything that is special about the Island, even improving it for future generations.
The Biosphere Festival is a celebration of all of that, together in collaboration as well as in our own locally distinctive ways.
News shared by Martha on behalf of Isle of Wight Biosphere Festival. Ed
