World Earth Day 22nd April 2024

Since 1970 Earth Day has been marked annually on 22 April to encourage people to take time to appreciate the environment around them

As part of their environmental strategy, launched on Earth Day 2021, grant-maker Kent Community Foundation has pledged to support local voluntary groups protecting the county’s countryside and coastline. Given its compelling link to creating more resilient communities and helping to address a multitude of social issues for local people, the environment is one of the Foundation’s five priority areas of funding. In three years, Kent Community Foundation has awarded £228,970 to community projects that deliver better outcomes for people in Kent and Medway through their work to create a more ecologically sustainable county.

One project which has benefitted from funding from Kent Community Foundation is Earthwatch Europe. Earthwatch applied to Kent Community Foundation for funding towards their clean water project and was awarded a grant of £1280.00.

Emily Flatt, Philanthropy Coordinator at Earthwatch Europe said, “Every drop of water is precious. But pollution, climate change, and over exploitation have brought our fresh water systems to crisis point. We want to transform our rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, wetlands and reservoirs into clean, thriving habitats for people and wildlife. Through the FreshWater Watch programme, we use the power of citizen science* to give communities the tools to monitor water quality, identify problems and fight for improvements.”

Only 14% of the UK’s rivers, are considered to be in good ecological health and every single one of them fails to meet the required chemical standards, including the Medway.

Emily Flatt continued, “The award from Kent Community Foundation will allow us to purchase water quality testing kits for eight of our volunteers so that we can monitor the quality of water in the Medway.”

Josephine McCartney, Chief Executive, Kent Community Foundation said, “Our Environmental strategy forms one of our five funding priorities which aim to create strong local communities and empower organisations and charities in Kent and Medway who make a real and positive difference to people’s lives. Understanding the potential future impacts of warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers is crucial for the future prosperity, environmental quality, and health and wellbeing of our local communities. As one of the largest grant-makers in Kent and Medway we have an important part to play in combating these challenges. We believe that local community action can be at the heart of delivering solutions that not only minimise the impact on the environment, but also offer additional benefits that local people will reap.”

Find out more about our environmental strategy here