Black2Nature & Birdgirl

1. Achieving Race Equality in
Nature
Helena Craig
Chair Black2Nature

2. Our daughters grew
up with nature and
wanted to share it
with others

3. Realising others can connect differently

4. After Camp Avalon 2015
Birdgirl wrote to 5 of the
big nature NGO’s about
how they need to work on
getting VME people into
nature

5. Research by UCL showed
that negative behaviour
from staff (eg security &
cafe) can re-affirm VME
people’s negative
expectations

6. The charities were
really positive
Which led to her idea
of a Conference

7. Natural England Report -
Published 10 Feb 16
Relates to children under 16
in England
74% of non-BAME children
visited frequently
56% of BAME children
visited frequently

8. Summary
• Clear social inequalities in how
children are accessing natural
environments
• Both ethnicity & socio-
economic having a detrimental
impact
• Clear links between positive
health outcomes & access to
natural environments across all
socio-economic groups

9. Research Birdgirl carried out
She sent a questionnaire to 50
VME naturalists she had heard
of.
Almost all were encouraged to
like nature by white spouses or
family members who are
themselves interested in
nature

10. Race Equality in Nature
Conference 3 June 2016
Bill Oddie who spoke about
nature helping mental
health
Starting point - there is an
inequality of access by
VME people to nature, in
addition to the effects of
inner city deprivation

11. Conference Panel
The 90 attendees
and speakers
included experts in
race equalities and
VME Communities,
education, media
and nature sectors

12. Barriers identified
•General society racism, leading to a
feeling of non inclusion
•Poverty, class and inner city
deprivation
•Mono ethnic white British view of how
to engage with nature
•Perception nature/countryside being
white elitist
•Projects working with inner city
teenagers are rare
•VME children negatively stereotyped

13. More Barriers
Fear of teens mixing with ‘the
wrong sort’ or police labelling as
trouble makers
Fear of outside influences
preventing joining in Scouts,
Guides or school camps
Lack of awareness of nature’s
health benefits
Lack of public transport to the
countryside/cost
Fear/dislike of dogs

14. Some Solutions
• Support with general careers
advice, internship and
balance any lack of parental
understanding
• Try to link topics back to
where families originated
• Use photography and film-
making to get an interest
• Use nature by stealth and
make it relevant
• Most teenagers can see
injustice and so can be
inspired

15. Nature organisations need change to:
Reach out/engage in people’s own
space
Listen to what nature means to them
Not try to impose their own values
Make diversity a core value
Adopt excellent equal opportunities
policies
Monitor the outcomes to ensure
change achieved
Training for all staff/volunteers
All media to mirror wider society

16. Thank you and welcome to Mya-
Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl

17. Engaging Ethnic
Minority
Communities
Mya-Rose Craig
AKA Birdgirl
Black2Nature

18. Camp Avalon June 2015

19. Inspiring BAME
teenagers by making
nature relevant
If we can engage children
and young people, then
we can access their
families

20. Moni-e-ei Bird Ringing
and loving mammals

21. Nabil bird ringing

22. Camp Avalon
2016

23. Camp Avalon 2017

24. Mothing

25. What did we
learn from
Camp
Avalon?

26. You can engage
anyone with nature

27. It’s really important
that we engage
BAME young people
if we are to engage
their communities

28. Film-making workshop for teens

29. Camp Chew 2017
For primary age
children

30. Their favourite
part of the
camp was
seeing birds up
close

31. Sundarbans, Bangladesh
Make conservation matter

32. Habitats -
Talks to science & geography teachers at 3 national conferences.
Providing teaching resources, changing the way we engage young
people with nature and the environment
Thank you