We take our starting point from the place itself: its rivers and watersheds, chalk downs, ancient woods, farmland, marshes and coast, and the towns, villages, livelihoods and cultures that have grown among them.
We call this bioregioning: learning to see the connections between the ecological and human systems around us, strengthening our relationship with the places we inhabit, and turning that understanding into practical action. Rather than treating nature, food, farming, water, communities and the local economy as separate issues, we are interested in how they interact — and what becomes possible when people working across them begin to collaborate. This reflects the wider bioregional tradition of understanding bioregioning as a practice of connection, learning and action rather than simply an environmental philosophy.
Bioregion East Kent was founded by six local partners as a practical home for this work. We convene public gatherings, connect people and organisations, explore and map the bioregion, support learning and develop projects and partnerships that can contribute to its long-term regeneration. We hope grow our partnership into a large and diverse community of individuals who share a passion for regenerating the bioregion. Our founders role is to convene, connect and enable — helping build the relationships, knowledge and capacity from which locally rooted action can emerge. This role of the trusted local convenor and connector is central to the bioregional approach we are developing.
Ultimately, this is about reinhabiting the land: rediscovering what it means to know the place where we live, to recognise our dependence upon it, and to take an active part in its future. We want Bioregion East Kent to become a growing community of people who care about this corner of the world and are willing to learn, imagine and act together — for a thriving East Kent, across generations.