Building a picture of the profession by Sally Hayns

This blog was written by Sally Hayns CEcol FCIEEM.

It is a truth universally acknowledged (thank you Jane Austen for that great opening line) that ecology and environmental management is one of the least diverse professions in the UK.  

Indeed, there are numerous reports that highlight this distressing fact and, to be fair, organisations across the industry are recognising this inequality and are actively committed to bringing about change. 

CIEEM is not alone. Across the UK the Wildlife and Countryside LINKs and Diverse Sustainability Initiative are working hard to raise E, D and I issues up the agenda with employers across the sector and there are some great initiatives underway working directly with young people. Here at CIEEM our Green Jobs for Nature campaign proactively reaches out to young people and potential career changers from under-represented sectors to promote nature-focused careers opportunities. We also work with employers to raise awareness of unintended barriers to inclusive working environments. Helping them identify the steps they need to take to remove them (and the advantages of doing so) is an essential step in creating a more diverse profession. 

I don’t want to be part of a profession that continues to inadvertently or unthinkingly exclude anyone who wants a career in nature and environmental change.

Similarly, campaigns such as the Race Report encourage organisations such as CIEEM to hold a mirror up to their own recruitment and employment practices, to create inclusive working environments and to recruit more diverse staff teams. 

The Race Report has collected and continues to collect E, D and I data of staff and board members from over 100 organisations to monitor progress in diversity metrics. CIEEM is part of this campaign, and we are currently collecting data from our stakeholders, for example our Secretariat and Board, and now our membership. 

Data, as we know, is key to measuring change. That is why we are asking all CIEEM members to log in to the MyCIEEM members’ portal and share protected characteristics data on their membership record. This data will enable us to establish the current baseline of diversity across the profession rather than making presumptions. It also gives us a useful data set from which to measure change, for example, areas where we are seeing progress and areas where we need more focus. 

I don’t want to be part of a profession that continues to inadvertently or unthinkingly exclude anyone who wants a career in nature and environmental change. I am sure that you don’t either. There is lots of great work going on to transform the profession so, if you are a CIEEM member, please help by sharing your data via the portal and support us in creating that all-important baseline to measure change.