WitC responds to APPG report

Published on 13/02/24

Wild in the City director, Beth Collier, has responded to a report that finds that the British countryside is inaccessible to people of colour.

Speaking on Channel 5 News on Tuesday, 13 February 2024, Beth said attitudes to people of colour being in the countryside hindered many people of colour from experiencing nature for the first time. This was in line with the evidence outlined in the report.

Wildlife and Countryside Link, a coalition of 80 organisations working for the protection of nature, submitted evidence to an All Party Parliamentary Group call for responses on Race and the Environmental Emergency.  

Their findings highlighted several structural, experiential and cultural barriers that prevent people of colour from accessing green spaces.  

Wild in the City (WitC) has been amongst the first to conduct in-depth ethnographic research into people of colour’s relationship with nature. Our findings have influenced discussion within the environmental sector by introducing Black perspectives on disparities in engagement with nature. 

The organisation was founded 10 years ago by Beth Collier, a Nature Allied Psychotherapist and ethnographer, to support people of colour in finding our place in the UK countryside, train people of colour as leaders in nature, and explore the opposition to Black presence in environmental spaces. 

Read some of the key research that WitC has produced on PoC access to nature in the UK below: 

• Black absence in green spaces by Beth Collier, The Ecologist, October 2019 
• Not My Green Space? White Attitudes Towards Black Presence in UK Green Spaces, Springer Link 
• The race factor in access to green space, The Runnymede Trust, August 2020 

For more information about the Wild in the City or to request an interview with Beth Collier, email info@wildinthecity.org.uk.