ABSTRACT
This chapter profiles children's views, perspectives and experiences of nature. People use children's voices as expressed in own research projects and present the views of children. The main research project used in the chapter is the Natural Neighbourhoods for City Children study. Children need a platform to be able to input their views directly and, thus, themselves influence the discourse around child-nature relationships. In 2010, the New South Wales (NSW) Government produced an excellent guide to child-friendly community building, Built for Kids, which is useful for involving children in environmental development. The older children clearly relate to nature in an emotionally sensitive way, using words such as peaceful, fun, beautiful, cool, interesting and quiet when asked to describe nature. They also demonstrate a lack of value judgements in ways that are very different to adults. The chapter pays particular attention to Article 12, which recognises the child's right to be heard on matters that affect them.
