THE BIOREGIONAL LEARNING CENTRE - DEVON
ABOUT THE BIOREGIONAL LEARNING CENTRE CONECT
Words from Isabel Carlisle, BLC Director.
The Bioregional Learning Centre was founded in February 2017 to work on systems change for climate resilience in South Devon (England). We were motivated by the urgency of the small window of (now) 8 years in which we, as a region, can take action on both climate change, biodiversity loss and a regenerative economy. We saw the ways in which business and government are limited in their capacity to lead; the imperative to include civil society; and how this collective task can best be initiated by a neutral and trusted third party.
We are Hosting a Doughnut Resilience Summit in the autumn of 2021 to establish a shared strategy for climate resilience in Devon and a distributed organisation that links the many players. Alongside that we are intervening in different sectors to nudge change in a variety of ways: round tables, Three Horizons, co-design, art provocations.
The Doughnut Collective, convened by BLC, won the Economic Category for excellence awarded by The Place Marketing Forum. See the video about the Collective.
THE JOURNEY SO FAR...
1. Creating a story of place...
...in order to give their work a direction and identify place-sourced potential for a regenerative outcome. See their Story of Place for NW Plymouth
2. Mapping the green shoots of vitality and innovation...
...in South Devon by leading a learning journey around the region. See the
film above and download the
report.
3. Intervening in the systems...
... (such as the drinking water system) to bring in the voice of civil society as well as experts in order to nudge them towards resilience. See the Charter for the River Dart at Dartington, and the report Collaborating for Food Change in Devon.
4. Convening a multi-sector design process
This begins with a big region-wide conversation, as they are doing with the Doughnut for Devon. The progress can be seen here.
The Bioregional Learning Centre as a CoNECT
Shifting the story
"To be with friends who can support and resource us on this journey"
Developing pathways
"To reflect and plan together with peers"
Creating a global community
"To be in a cutting-edge community of practice that is professionalising the work of leaders of systems change"
The Goal
"Our goal with the Bounce Beyond team is to establish a South Devon learning region and a learning centre to support our systems change work, interpret and share it. For some time we have seen the need for interpreting and re-presenting data, measuring, and working with experts taking place in a ‘backroom’ for the bioregion. We do not have these capacities but Bounce Beyond is helping us to plug that gap… acting as our much-needed ‘backroom’."
