HOMERTON FELLOW Craig Bennett is to host a special dinner for The Wildlife Trusts in the College tonight.
Bennett, Chief Executive of the 920,000-member organisation, which looks after 2,300 nature reserves, has invited top names from the sector including ‘birdgirl’ Dr. Mya-Rose Craig.
Ornithologist Dr Craig, 21, of British-Bangladeshi heritage, started birdwatching at just one year old, and saw half the birds in the world by the age of 17.
The dinner comes after The Wildlife Trusts released their diversity report, yesterday (15 January) pledging to “become wild about inclusion.”
Writing in the introduction of the report, Bennett wrote: “There will doubtless be some commentators who argue that this is “yet another example of charities pandering to the ‘woke’ agenda” and that we should be “sticking to our knitting”. They could not be more wrong.
“We need everyone to feel that they can be themselves, that diversity is welcome and celebrated, and that all of us feel empowered to play our part in shaping a better future where nature matters.”
The Wildlife Trusts report found that since 2019, trustees under the age of 30 have increased by six percent; a quarter of their staff have at least one disability, and that LGBTQ+ staff have increased to 15 percent, well above the national average.
Over half (60 percent of their staff are female), however non-white staff and trustees are still less than the overall population.
Other guests due to attend the dinner include Homerton Principal Lord Simon Woolley, Sarah Mukherjee MBE, Chief Executive of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, and CEOs of various local and regional Wildlife Trusts.
