Annual Review 2023-24

Education is at the heart of what we do at Eden. We offer learning opportunities from preschool to degree level and beyond to connect people of all ages with the natural world and help them to understand their place within it. We also provide leadership programmes for businesses and community training for people who want to roll up their sleeves and make a difference.

1) Coronation Wildflowers

Over 200,000 packets of native wildflower seeds were sent to all state-funded primary schools in England, part of a collaboration between the Department for Education and the National Wildflower Centre to mark the Coronation. Each packet contained enough seeds to create approximately two square metres of cornflower, corn poppy, corn chamomile, corncockle, corn marigold and night-flowering catchfly. 

2) Global live-streaming

Eden’s schools’ team broadcast to more than 90,000 young people in the UK and worldwide this year, with students participating from Canada, the USA, Japan, Portugal and the Netherlands. On Protecting Our Planet Day in 2023, the team delivered a 45-minute session from the Rainforest Biome for primary schools; they hosted a session on plants for Darwin200, and at the end of March 2024, live streamed a session on chocolate featuring artist John Dyer.

3) A new centre at Eden

In January 2024, the Centre for Excellence in Land-Based Research and Knowledge Transfer opened at Growing Point. Funded by the Shared Prosperity Fund, the Centre comprises research and teaching labs that support regenerative farming and focus on key areas such as soil health, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation. The teaching labs will house Eden’s Horticulture and Ecology degrees in partnership with Cornwall College.

4) Climate Culture 

Our new Climate Culture School workshop for years 5 and 6 was launched this year. It’s designed to help pupils understand that there are solutions to climate change without contributing to climate anxiety.

Eden’s nature recovery programmes deliver benefits to people and nature. Our therapeutic horticulture programmes provide pathways for people to find comfort and pleasure in nature, often working in conjunction with the National Wildflower Centre’s biodiversity initiatives. 

1) Eden Project Wildflower Bank

Backed by the expertise of the National Wildflower Centre, the Eden Project Wildflower Bank was created in October 2023 to help reverse the biodiversity crisis by creating and restoring wildflower-rich grasslands across the UK through Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units. Part of the Eden Trust, it will work with developers and other landowners to enhance biodiversity using wildflower habitats. 

2) Nature Connections

In 2023/24, the Nature Connections Team launched Creating Connections in collaboration with local charities and young people’s social prescribers. The programme was designed to support under-25s’ mental health, and activities included a 6-week nature Photography Course. 

3) Wonder Workshops

A new series of activities were introduced for older people. Called Wonder Workshops these 90-minute sessions offer a friendly social experience in which to learn about nature through creative activities.

4) Supporting Nature Recovery in Mexico

This year, Eden began a project with the British Embassy, the Earlham Institute and local NGOs that uses DNA sequencing to verify nature recovery in Mexico. One of 17 megadiverse countries in the world, Mexico is home to 12% of the world’s species. The project is funded by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and aims to stimulate investment in nature recovery. 

We believe we’re better equipped to tackle the challenges we all face when we face them together. Our vision is of a thriving planet where people care for nature, each other, and their communities. We work nationally and internationally to connect people through campaigns like The Big Lunch, which brings millions together for a few hours of friendship, food and fun on the first weekend of June each year. The initiative helps create safer, friendlier neighbourhoods where people start to share more – from conversations and ideas to skills and resources – and it often ignites a passion for doing more good things for their communities.

1) Over 67,000 events in 2023

More than 67,000 Coronation Big Lunch events took place as part of the celebrations for His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen’s Coronation, bringing over 14 million people together.

2) Special guests

Events of all shapes and sizes took place across the UK, with special guest and Coronation Big Lunch ambassador Mel Giedroyc popping up at a traditional street party in West London.

3) A long lunch

In Morecambe, 900 tables were arranged along the seafront, bringing thousands together to celebrate.

4) Coronation Weekend

A whole weekend of activities took place at Eden, home of The Big Lunch, including talks, activities and the sharing of a giant Coronation Quiche.

The Eden Project offers emerging and established artists transformative opportunities to provoke action and inspire hope.

1) Acts of Gathering

Our curated exhibition, Acts of Gathering, explored the ceremonies and practices of different cultures around food production, harvesting, and sharing. Using performances, songs, storytelling and symbolic objects, the show encouraged visitors to consider their own connections and relationships to the food they consume.

2) Fly

The loan of Ai Wei Wei’s Fly (2019) to Eden was extended following its appearance as part of the Super Natural exhibition. The work was moved to the Rainforest Biome, where it was on display from May 2023 until September 2024. 

3) Foragers

Part of Acts of Gathering, Jumana Manna’s feature-length film Foragers was shown at CAST (Cornubian Arts & Science Trust) in Helston, Cornwall. Shot in the Golan Heights, the Galilee and Jerusalem, the film depicts the dramas around the practice of foraging for wild edible plants in Palestine/Israel.

4) Reclaim

Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey visited Eden in January for our Reclaim weekend to discuss why art should be approachable and the meaningful dialogues it can trigger about politics, culture and the environment. His striking Noko Y3 Dzen (Something in the World) (2019–20) was part of the Acts of Gathering exhibition.

*tCO₂e means tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent gases. It’s a way of standardising the measurement of different greenhouse gas emissions. Excess CO₂ in the atmosphere is driving climate change, but there are other GHGs (like methane) that have the same effect.