Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the manifestation of colonial attitudes towards BIPOC presence in environmental spaces in the UK, and the systemic obstacles and challenges impacting black participation and the operation of a black nature institution.

Paper long abstract:

In conducting ethnography into people of colours' relationship with nature, a significant theme emerging within my research, were the more negative responses of white practitioners and organisations to black people in nature which contribute to a feeling that we are unwelcome or do not belong. A colonial legacy still informs dynamics of race within green spaces, of white people as superior custodians and gatekeepers, which impacts the sustainability of, and prompts an existential threat to black individuals and organisations being in the environmental space.

The paper presents an auto-ethnographic account of experiences in the environmental field as a participant observer; as a black naturalist, leading a black focused organisation, whilst conducting ethnographic research. It provides an account of the layers of challenge in participating in the field, how systemic racism manifests and what exclusion looks like, drawing from case studies which elucidate the expressions of those white people who consciously and unconsciously resist black presence in nature.

This paper documents the resistant attitudes of white people within the environmental space towards black people in nature, discussing how these attitudes affect black participation and the impact on the sustainability of black individuals and black organisations' participation in the environmental space.