The aim of ICAN is to make a practical and realistic contribution to nature conservation.

ICAN evolved from a folk musical beach gathering by a few people at Sidmouth in 1977. There were gatherings and camps up until the end of the International Folk Festival in 2005. Since then we've continued meeting on international Sunday walks and evenings; see BLOG for details.  ICAN involves a small voluntary group of people with a common interest in nature and its conservation.

ANNUAL NATURE CAMPS

Our annual camp temporarily puts into action those things that will eventually be permanent on land we hope to purchase. These include such things as solar panel making and wildlife pond conservation. The Camps involve helping with conservation projects such as examining small-scale renewable energy production, pond making, and tree planting etc. Furniture is made from recycled wood, and ovens made from clay. In some ways it would be a smaller version of the Welsh Centre for Alternative Technology, but more diverse. To date the annual gatherings have united thousands of people from over 20 countries from all walks of life. There was a camp every year until 2005, which ran for around a month during the summer. We hope to resume these when possible.  

FUTURE PLANS

Our main idea, amongst many, includes buying land to set up a permanent conservation and education centre which would include an annual camp where activities such as described on this site would take place. We also plan water pumping, recycling projects and a live Internet link with international environmental organisations and, of course, to continue to educate others to use energy in environmentally friendly ways. We also hope to strengthen our ties with schools and young people through the camps and local education conservation projects. Several schools visited the camps with children aged 7-14.