Young people from across Wales have been campaigning for a reduction in the use of bee-killing pesticides in gardens and homes. Read about what they’ve been doing to enact change for wildlife.

Back in April of 2023, participants of the Stand for Nature Wales youth project met to discuss ideas for a campaign. We hoped to achieve some of the goals listed in our youth manifesto that would inspire change on a local and a national level.

Our first meeting took place in the Elan Valley in Powys where we decided that targeting domestic pesticide use would help us achieve lots of our aims. These included reversing biodiversity loss by minimising insect decline where we could, encouraging positive impacts on nature at home by changing public attitudes, and reducing the indiscriminate use of pesticides by 2030 through direct action. This led to the creation of the ‘Pledge to go Pesticide Free’ campaign!

In the following months we planned what our campaign would look like through a series of online meetings where we able to form a cohesive plan with all our different youth groups across Wales, all the way from Anglesey to Cardiff! We aimed to create a collection of useful digital resources to provide the information that people needed to commit to a reduction of pesticides, to outreach to communities through public events, and to use social media to help our message reach a wider audience.

We asked people in our communities to take the following pledge to reduce their pesticide use:

• Use non-toxic alternatives to pesticides in your garden, balcony, or window box.
• Change the way you treat your pets with flea treatments to avoid the chemicals getting into the environment.
• Share the pledge with others in your community and celebrate being pesticide free in your home!

Our campaign received attention from Dŵr Cymru who supported our message that pesticides are a growing problem in our waterways and that a few small changes can make a big difference.

In North Wales, our Môn Gwyrdd youth forum joined forces to discuss their concerns about the effects of pesticides on wildlife. We made a collection of posters which were used for pop-up events where we were able to discuss our campaign with members of the public and even politcians.

All these efforts culminated in a trip to the Senedd where we presented our manifesto to politicians and discussed our concerns for nature ahead of COP16.

Find out more about going pesticide free here