Lancashire Wildlife Trust was invited to speak at the annual BASIS - The British Association for Sustainable Sport conference. Our Director of Development gave the following practical advice for sporting organisations of any size to take action to support nature. This advice is based on an increasing awareness of sports reliance on the natural environment - increasingly we're seeing sporting events cancelled due to soft ground, waterlogging, flooding, hard ground and excess heat. Here are some sensible and quantifiable actions that organisations can take to play an active part in tackling climate risk and supporting nature at local level.

1. Understand your influence.

What land do you own, manage or influence? Can you implement a management plan which actively considers biodiversity/nature? You don't have to own hectares to have impact. If you're in an urban environment, get creative - green roof, planters - how can you green your space? What land adjoins yours, and can you influence similar management practices? Think nature connectivity - how could wildlife move from your green island to the next one?

2. Involve your communities

If you have a management plan for nature, can you involve your supporters, staff and wider community? Can you extend your reach into other spaces? This is practical action at local level, and is fantastic for engaging people with your organisation and sustainability issues. From litter picks to building (and looking after!) planters, there will be a wide range of nature friendly activity you can build into engagement programmes.

3. Involve your players

Use the profile of your sports people to raise awareness and build a community interested and active in nature. It's a lovely message, it's great for the planet and local places - fantastic for local reputation development.

4. Find a nature based partner

Find a local nature charity partner and work proactively with them. They can advise on management plans, help engage communities and provide reassurance you're doing the right thing. Take the time to sit and explain your scope and support requirements - you'll find it mutually beneficial.

5. Think at scale - and with the right partners

The challenges created by loss of nature and climate change are big. They require landscape scale thinking, which, for larger organisations should inform your thinking. Work with nature-based partners to understand water catchment issues, and start to get involved with big picture solutions that will ultimately benefit you personally. Fact: Upland tree planting does reduce water run off, which will reduce flooding. But it's strategic thinking that you can't (and shouldn't) be doing on your own.

6. Be in it for the long haul

Corporate organisations are increasingly looking to measure environmental impacts through biodiversity metrics - which is brilliant. However, nature takes time. If you're going to invest in a nature-based solution to flood management, you need to understand you might not see measurable impact for a number of years. Think about multi-year partnerships to create change and assign a decent amount of resource consistently to this.

Claire Louise Chapman FICRS is a Fellow of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, a Social Impact Practitioner and Director of Development at LWT. To connect with her, and for more advice on nature based solutions, contact natureworks@lancswt.org.uk

For sports sector focused support, contact BASIS | The British Association for Sustainable Sport