Young environmentalists from Liverpool have received a surprise royal visit

Young environmentalists from Liverpool who call themselves the Eco Emeralds received a surprise visit by His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge after sparking a national campaign to empower all kids to be nature guardians.

The Eco Emeralds are a group of 7-11 year olds from All Saints Catholic Primary School in Anfield, Liverpool.

In 2018 they took their passion for conservation to Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation (IFCF) who partnered with community action organisation Semble to build the Backyard Nature campaign.

Inspired by the passion of the Eco Emeralds and focused on the biodiversity crisis in the UK, Backyard Nature empowers children to become Nature Guardians. At the heart of the campaign is a recognition that not all kids and families have the means to take action on environmental issues.

With giveaways and free resources the campaign empowers kids from all backgrounds to increase biodiversity in their neighbourhoods. In the first year of the campaign, nearly 11,000 kids from across the UK signed up to be Nature Guardians.

The Duke of Cambridge recently made a visit to the Eco Emeralds in Liverpool where he surprised the young environmentalists.

They were in the process of building a huge bug hotel which they named Bugingham Palace. Aside from quizzing The Duke on his floss dancing skills, the young Liverpudlians and Prince William discussed the importance of caring for and protecting nature.

On 5 October, 9pm-10.30pm, ITV will air Prince William: A Planet for Us All , putting the Eco Activists and Backyard Nature on prime time TV.

To celebrate the release of the documentary the non-profit organisation Project Maya, who run the company Seedball, are giving away 200,000 wildflower seedballs with support from Semble, IFCF and Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group. This initiative is aimed at community groups and schools to give more children across the country the opportunity to take action on the biodiversity crisis in the UK.

A new year-long pilot scheme is bringing around 50 e-scooters to Liverpool for people to use in the city centre 🛴

They're available to hire now!

👉 https://t.co/c6YYNQTrSc pic.twitter.com/mfkfb5mywq

— The Guide Liverpool 🌇 (@TheGuideLpool) October 6, 2020

Amanda Horton-Mastin, CEO at Semble, said:

“We work with nearly 4,000 community groups across the UK and we are inspired every day by their passion for making change from the ground up. The Eco Emeralds have been instrumental in driving the national Backyard Nature campaign and reaching children in communities that might otherwise not have the opportunity to get involved in environmental action. We are over the moon to see them being recognised by Prince William for the work they have done to protect nature.”

Richard Walker, Trustee of the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation and Managing Director of Iceland Foods said:

“I’m proud to support Backyard Nature and have been inspired by the incredible children who helped shape the campaign and care so passionately about protecting wildlife in their community. I strongly believe that children need to know about nature in order to want to protect it, and this campaign is about supporting them to do just that”.

To find out more about the campaign, click here.