Kingston University Biodiversity Action Group : 27-09-2018: Welcome week, Freshers and the first ever Peoples Walk for Wildlife

Last week was jam packed at the Uni with the return of our students.

(lots of photos at the bottom of the blog after a short essay part way through … read on for clarification).

We welcomed new students to the campus, with talks on how they can get involved in projects run by the sustainability and Estates teams followed by tours to students to show them how they could get involved in improving biodiversity at Kingston Uni.

Students having their sustainability hub talk before their biodiversity walk

This was followed by Freshers Fair where the Estates team provided an opportunity for students to get involved in building the New Town House!...in Lego :)

Master builders - getting everyone at freshers involved

The image is one which shows (when complete) the new building in its surrounding environment, showing the street trees and green spaces within which the building will be set.

The lego mosaic after two days (just getting to the tree canopy)- to be finished at a Town House event in October

Green-spaces and wildlife was the key focus of the first ever People's Walk for Wildlife organised by Chris Packham and a host of others (website link).

The even had a great turn out from across the country (despite the rain) with familiar faces from the Kingston Biodiversity Network, including yours truly representing the Kingston University Biodiversity Action Group.

The usual suspects and new faces

Some really important points about issues that impact wildlife, from pesticides to engaging people, have been addressed in the first draft of "A Peoples Manifesto for Wildlife" which is a brilliant jargon free document highlighting issues AND proposed solutions, from a wide ranging pool of contributors from farmers to conservationists and everything inbetween.

Click on the image to go to the manifesto

There is a great blog by Pippa Marland which talks about the event as a whole: link to Landlines Project blog: with links to footage of some of the talks.

The rest of this blog focuses on one of the issues raised in the talks which I have a personal stake in – the lack of diversity in the conservation sector, and how this must be addressed.

It does go on for longer than my usual postings, but I hope you bear with me, and comment at the end on your thoughts and ideas, as these are just my thoughts on the subject. Its only through getting the views of lots of different people regardless of our backgrounds, do we have a chance of coming up with solutions.

So on the point of diversity in nature conservation and my mini essay!:

I was told that I’m part of the 3% of “visible minority ethnic” (VME) people in the Environmental sector and represent the 1 in 200 VME who work as a conservation professional.

Personally I was quiet surprised to read and then hear about the lack of engagement. Having worked in the university for over 4 years, the cross section of the students who volunteer with me include (what I feel) is a representative cross section of VME of the student body.

I had one journalist approach me to ask me my views following the inspirational speech by Mya-Rose Craig (from the Ministry of Diversity in Nature and Conservation – if you are confused, read the Manifesto here, as it will explain everything :) ).

Mya-Rose Craig presenting an impassioned speech on increasing diversity in conservation

She had approached me as I was one of the few VME that she could visually identify in the crowd.

But I had to admit that I wasn’t able to provide a reason for the lack of engagement or possible solutions as I didn't feel that I was able to speak on behalf of the whole VME demographic!, but also because I do see a lot of people of all backgrounds volunteering with me as evidenced in images from past events on the older Kingston University Biodiversity Blog.

But is this because I’m in a university bubble?

I ended up discussing this with other people on the march, are people from ethnic backgrounds less engaged in the nature sector because of different cultural values regarding wildlife and nature?

In countries where the VME of the UK are not the minority, you still have nature conservation programs run by loads of local volunteers. The programmes are not all run by people of European descent, so I don’t instinctively believe that the VME of the UK are disengaged with wildlife, let alone because of their ethnicity.

The manifesto gives examples of research that shows that ethnicity is a bigger barrier to engaging with nature and conservation then poverty which is one of the other factors that is stated as being a barrier to engagement in the sector.

I do lean more towards the poverty aspect as a root cause of the demographic of nature conservation professionals not representing a true cross section of our society. I believe that the lack of importance that society as a while puts on wildlife and the nature conservation sector, is the issue. I think that this is evidenced by a sector which is:

populated, largely by poorly paid jobs,
where people have to largely rely on volunteering and unpaid internships to get both experience, and a step onto the environmental career ladder,
and even once you are on the job ladder, the uncertainty of funding still means that there is a lack of job security greater then 2-4 years in duration;

and I think that this excludes a lot of people from pursuing a career in the nature conservation sector, and may be a reason why some families don't encourage their children into this sector.

From a personal point of view, it was certainly a reaction from the immediate family of my parents generation (for context, my parents were of a generation living and working during the end of World War 2).

While they supported my decisions, they worried about the lack of job stability in the sector, and the poor pay, which would lead the potential for me not being able to support myself/hypothetical future family or buy a home etc.

While they didn’t discourage me from my path, I can say that they encouraged me to find the most perceived stable job route and to try for jobs in the civil service rather than volunteering and low paid field work jobs which were my routes into conservation work.

The research regarding engagement of children from poorer backgrounds being higher than the engagement of children from a VME (page 45-46 of the summary document and page 126-128 of the fully referenced document) is used as the argument that poverty isn’t as big a barrier then ethnicity.

I would ask how many of the children who are reported as being engaged or interact regularly with nature, will then follow on to get a job in the nature conservation field or continue to actively volunteer when they are older (before retirement)?

Just as I would ask how many of us from the blue peter generation of collecting bottles and aluminium cans for various appeals while reducing pollution and waste went, onto jobs or volunteering in the sustainability and waste management systems? My guess would be far less than those reported to be aware of climate change and waste issues following these sorts of appeals when we were younger.

A parliament of owls descend on Whitehall

This lack of priority is also a reflection of the poor wages in the sector as a whole, and the attitude that if you care enough you will volunteer to put right the issues (regardless of if you do or don’t have the time and the money to be able to volunteer, depending on other priorities). But doctors wouldn’t be expected to volunteer their time for the NHS (though the pressure that they are under means that many often do work more then the time they are contracted to work).

In the nature conservation charity sector, jobs are nearly always grant funded and linked to specific short term (3-4 year) projects. The grants are often limited, and don’t allow for repeat funding for projects that are proven to work. Normally a charity has to show that projects they are seeking funding for unique and seek to solve "new" problems, while providing job opportunities for new members of staff to be employed. Once the project funding is finished, the theory is that any ongoing project should be maintained by the charity getting more donations from the general public.

Basically funding for jobs in the nature conservation sector are treated almost like funding applications for academia (has to be unique/a different angle and publishable), or as a business model that relies on donations to run the business – do either of those options sound very stable to you?

I think that a society level shift is needed in how the natural environment is viewed, and how wildlife is valued. With the result to be evidenced by better paid more stable work in the sector. This would then encourage those from poorer backgrounds or from backgrounds that value stable job prospects, to encourage their children down the nature conservation career path and thus see a more proportional cross section of the UK population working and volunteering in the sector.

But the above is my own personal beliefs based on my experiences in the past 35 years:

regularly accessing nature (bugs and birds) in my small London garden as a child (I don’t have that many photos of me under the age of 3, so I can’t provide evidence of regular engagement with nature for the first few years of my life).
volunteering as a school child, followed by studying ecology and then marine sciences at university while continuing to volunteer when I could,
then volunteering and working in the nature sector.

Some may say that based on my thoughts above, that my response to the questions that the journalist asked me was I do believe that there are barriers to VME. But I think that the issues that I’ve highlighted, as a barrier to anyone coming into the nature conservation sector, regardless of the visible colour of their skin, which is why I don’t think it’s only about ethnicity.

What are your views based on your own experiences? Answers on a postcard (or in the comments box below please).

More photos from Freshers and the walk as promised:

Art work seen around London after the Peoples Walk for Wildlife is one example of wildlife in danger due to human impacts - https://www.tusk.org/events/the-tusk-rhino-trail/