Walking the walk: together in nature

This blog is the work of a team of authors, including (l-r in images): Marcus Badger (@climate_badger), Richard Holliman (@science_engage), Anjana Khatwa (@jurassicg1rl), Kelly Smith, Yoseph Araya (@YNAraya), Clare Warren (@geologyclare), and Janice Ansine (@JaniceAnsine). The authors are members of the NERC-funded ‘Walking the Walk’ Project and are staff or affiliated visitors in the School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences (EEES) at the Open University.

In the UK, the countryside and other green spaces are all-too-often perceived as predominantly ‘white’, hostile, unfamiliar and potentially unwelcoming to people from minoritized backgrounds (by ‘minoritized’ we mean groups of people that have been, and continue to be, excluded and oppressed by dominant sections of society). It is hardly surprising, therefore, to learn that people from minority-ethnic backgrounds are less likely to visit the countryside and/or engage with green spaces.

As a result of these hostile environments, some groups are unnecessarily excluded from environmental citizenship (such as volunteering and advocacy), environmental careers, and higher education in environmental subjects. With many Earth and environmental scientists developing their enthusiasm for these subjects during formative experiences in nature, it is hardly surprising that these disciplines face a diversity crisis.

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the aim of the ‘Walking the walk’ project was to create opportunities for community groups led by minoritized people to collaborate with environmental scientists. We worked to achieve this objective by 1) helping walk leaders to be confident about communicating the science of the environment; and 2) identifying and removing barriers for minoritized people to study, work and/or volunteer in environmental science. in environmental science.

How did we walk the walk together?

Over the course of our six-month-long project, we led eight walks with leaders from three minoritized community walking groups: Dadima’s Connecting Generations Walk and Talk; Black Girls Hike; and Mosaic Outdoors.

Our walks took place in the Peak District, Lake District, South Downs, and the Chiltern Hills. Representatives from the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Ramblers Association also attended one of our walks.

We did not impose a format or approach on the walking groups. We instead worked with walk leaders to develop a shared approach for exchanging knowledge alongside resources that would work best for them. For example, some groups requested training in practical skills, such as map reading and walking route planning, to increase their pool of walk leaders and to create a bigger walking route resource base.

“[…] it was such a fantastic opportunity that was presented to us from Open University and to be able to have funding and provide two days of expertise in training […] what it takes to organize a walk and making sure that you check your route and information ahead of time. And I really enjoyed [the] methods in the way that they made it accessible”

Walk Leader

Other groups requested a more information-based approach, covering processes of landscape formation and evolution and information about the geology, fauna and flora.

Additionally, we worked with some groups to develop new ‘landscape-centred’ walks and developed ideas for knowledge sharing within existing timetabled walks for others. Overall, we engaged with 10 walk leaders and around 50 walkers.

Mapping shared and uneven territory

As well as walking together in nature, we also conducted research to map the shared and uneven territory of minoritized groups that walk in nature in the UK. We produced a map of those who have an interest, and/or a role, in influencing nature-based activities, highlighting and identifying what is a thriving, but in some instances precarious, ecosystem of minoritized community walking groups.

We used this map to identify participants for an interview study. We conducted interviews with 12 walk leaders and nine walk participants. As a result of these interviews, we understand much more about (un)conscious exclusionary practices and what we can do to promote equity and inclusion.

Issues of representation were significant; interviewees wanted to see people who looked like them in nature, translating this diversity to the environmental sciences. This will require a multi-agency strategy involving many of the actors that we have identified through our mapping exercise. Clearly, universities and the public funders of research have ongoing roles to play to embed inclusion.

We found that walking groups had different needs and desires, based primarily on size and the timescale over which they had operated. For example, an established group could see the need and had a desire for more formal learning resources. The needs of the two smaller, more recently established groups were different. They requested direct access to our individual expertise and direct engagement. One group requested practical advice with how to engage with nature and lead groups in the outdoors, rather than direct environmental science learning. In each case, we adapted our approach to offer support to the groups.

We found that walk leaders’ motivations to organise walks varied, but all placed a strong emphasis on improving inter-generational health and well-being, (re)claiming outdoor spaces for all, establishing or maintaining connections to recognise and celebrate cultural identity, and education for conservation and stewardship.

Some of the walk leaders we interviewed expressed suspicions over institutional motives, with some expressing concern (both formally and through the interviews) that their groups and activities could be used in tokenistic ways, with no real desire or intention for institutional change.

We argue that trust is earned through our words and our sustained actions, but can easily falter at the start. As Geeta Ludhra has argued, in adopting an engaged research approach we had “…honest & uncomfortable conversations at the start of @OU_EEE partnership. We discussed language, power operations, ‘partnership’ working & knowledge transfer hierarchy between us as white & brown academics”.

Addressing this ‘political’ dimension of ‘upstream’ engagement is essential in agreeing a shared agenda.

Next steps

‘Walking the walk’ demonstrated that there was a desire for environmental science knowledge amongst the groups we walked with, but also that walkers had stories that they wanted to share with us. Walking the walk catalysed our work on a further NERC public engagement grant: ‘Landscape Stories: Engaging With Environmental Science Through Storytelling’ where we are working with Dadima’s CIC to explore storytelling approaches that connect science, people and cultures.

We have also worked together on plans for a jointly-supervised PhD project (open to applicants until 11 January 2023). Through this project we will support the successful PhD candidate in drawing on knowledge, expertise and lived experiences from a wider range of interested and affected groups to explore inclusive approaches to walking in nature.