Shaping the Future Outdoors: Reflections from the Outdoor Alliance Wales Manifesto Reception
This week I attended the Outdoor Alliance Wales Manifesto Reception at the Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay.
Outdoor Alliance Wales is the single coalition of over 50 organisations representing the shared values for the whole of Wales's outdoor recreation, learning and adventure activity sector. It includes the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, The BMC, Paddle Cymru, Cycling UK and many others.
The Manifesto 2026 calls for politicians and policymakers to acknowledge outdoor recreation and lifelong learning as essential components of political party policy, enabling a pathway to achieving Wales’ Seven Well-being & Future Generation Goals.
Wales is undeniably a world-class outdoor recreation and learning destination, but despite our proximity to ‘blue & green’ spaces we heard that Wales is one of the most nature-disconnected countries in the world. Less than 10% of children play in wild spaces (down from 50% a generation ago).
The issues that were raised focussed on equitable access to the outdoors, the preventative power of being physically active outside in natural environments, the need for every young person to participate in a funded residential to an outdoor education centre in their school career and the protection and management of the environment for future generations.
I see the positive impact of outdoor challenges and recreation on a weekly basis, and actively promote this in my talks, but the benefits of these activities could reach a much bigger and diverse audience and simultaneously benefit our communities and our economy. In addition, it’s by educating those who venture into these wild spaces that we have the best chance of protecting them and restoring biodiversity.
Whether you work in outdoor recreation, learning or adventure or not, I urge you to take a read of the Manifesto today.
Read the Manifesto here.
It was also great to be reminded of two valuable resources:
Adventure Smart (adventuresmart.uk) - a website and campaign to help groups and individuals stay safe in the outdoors. Adventure Smart aims to reduce the number of avoidable incidents which the search & rescue and the emergency services deal with each year.
Tirlun (Tirlun.wales) - a portal of outdoor learning experiences with activities that could take the learner from their school to the local area and into the Designated Landscapes of Wales and beyond. There’s even a section on ‘Explorers and Expeditions’ and I was honoured to be ask to share my story and talk about the fitness training required to climb Everest (View Task 1).