BTO - British Trust for Ornithology - Hot topics

BTO’s role in the People’s Plan for Nature

WEBSITEEDITOR — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 14:07:44 +0000

BTO’s CEO Juliet Vickery explains how our new strategy will contribute to this ambitious call to action. Yes

Juliet Vickery

Chief Executive Officer

Juliet is responsible for leading the work of the Trust, under the governance and strategy of the Board.

Birds and people

Hot topics

Staff voices

The difference we make

Alongside this series, the same organisations – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – joined with the National Trust to launch a ‘People’s Plan for Nature’. This is a unique collaboration with the UK public, delivered through an assembly of 100 people from all over the UK. It challenges everyone, from governments and businesses to individuals, to do ‘no more harm to nature’.

It included a call for everyone to add their voice, asking for their ideas about how to come together to protect and renew nature in the UK. Over 30,000 responses were submitted, all of which were reviewed by a citizens’ assembly.

The People’s Plan for Nature considered the state of nature alongside these responses, creating a roadmap for the actions we need to take to save it. It contains six visionary statements, and a call to action for the Government, businesses, charities, communities and individuals to commit to realising these statements.

With our unique combination of people and science, BTO is able to respond to many of the ‘asks of charities’ outlined in the People’s Plan for Nature.

Nature is valued and respected by all
We understand that we need nature to thrive, to benefit all of our lives
There is a balance between human and non-human needs, and we are taking individual and collective responsibility to enhance, sustain and enable nature to flourish
Evidence-based nature renewal is central to lifelong education and involves real-life experiences
We are able to spend time in nature every day, whether to play, work or spend time where we live
Nature is prioritised, looked after, valued and cared for

Our strategy and the People’s Plan for Nature

With our unique combination of people and science, BTO is able to respond to many of the ‘asks of charities’ outlined in the People’s Plan for Nature. Here are a few current and future examples of where we can make the biggest difference.

Beccy Speight (RSPB), Juliet Vickery (BTO) and Gemma Harper (JNCC) sign the new partnership agreement in September 2022. Tom Stewart / BTO

Vision and leadership

The plan has a number of asks around ‘Vision and leadership’, recognising the need for nature to have a voice at the centre of decision-making. This call is specifically about charities agreeing on a collective pathway to protecting nature.

Our new strategy recognises the need for partnerships. We already have strong relationships with many other organisations, from conservation charities, funding bodies and research institutes.

Most recently, we’ve become a member of Wildlife and Countryside Link, the largest environment and wildlife coalition in England. We can now use our data and research to help this powerful coalition have confidence in its messages and campaigns.

We can now use our data and research to help coalitions like Wildlife and Countryside Link have confidence in their messages and campaigns.

BTO has conducted decades of research into declines of farmland birds. Mike Toms / BTO

Nature-friendly farming

We will continue to invest in this area under our new strategy (in our action area ‘seeking solutions’), helping to meet the ask to ‘undertake research into best practice and make information available to farmers’.

Historically, our extensive datasets have helped us understand the dramatic declines in key farmland species such as Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting. Identifying the drivers of these declines allowed us to support the development of suitable agri-environment schemes to halt these declines.

Now, with funding from the Esmeé Fairbairn Foundation, we are developing tools to help farmers evaluate what environmental approaches are working on their farms. And our long-term and bespoke monitoring schemes will continue to provide invaluable information on the success of agri-environment measures practices for birds and other wildlife.

The People’s Plan for Nature emphasises the need for marine protected areas. Katherine Booth Jones / BTO

Marine protection for our coastal waters

Our long-term monitoring schemes will also be vital in supporting calls for action under a third area in the plan, ‘Marine protections for our coastal waters’. This focuses on the damage caused by overfishing, and emphasises the need for greater protection of marine areas to increase biodiversity, protect fish stocks and recover our seabeds.

We have already conducted assessments about the impact of climate change on seabirds, and the degree to which protected areas will help mitigate some of these impacts.

BTO is investing more resources into our research on seabirds and seabird monitoring, and we will continue to provide the data which are urgently needed to identify the optimal location and extent of protected areas.

Using evidence effectively

By ‘empowering everyone’ and ‘delivering data’, we will support efforts to make nature and information about nature accessible to all.

Finally, there is a very welcome call for everyone to ‘Effectively use evidence’. The People’s Plan for Nature asks the charity and NGO sector to lead in ‘providing high-quality factual information to the public’ and ‘to produce a growing evidence/knowledge of why nature matters and make this more accessible and understandable’.

Once again, these are key elements of our new strategy, and are exemplified in our action areas ‘empowering everyone’ and ‘delivering data’.

We have recently launched the new BirdFacts and Birds on Your Doorstep, which together give everyone access to a one-stop shop for high-quality factual information on birds in the UK – be they breeding, wintering, resident migrant, common or rare. This information is based on the data collected over decades of research, volunteer projects and monitoring schemes.

We’re continuing to strive towards Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, so more people are able to appreciate, access and protect nature. And the work of BTO Youth continues to engage the next generation of naturalists and conservationists with birds, wildlife and the natural world.

The People’s Plan for Nature is a clear, inspiring and powerful call for us to all work together to do more for nature – and BTO has plans to do just that under our new Strategy.

redshank_chick_sarah_kelman.jpg

BTO strategy 2023–30

Like the People’s Plan for Nature, our new strategy calls for people to work together to do more for nature.

Discover the strategy’s objectives and actions areas, and how it aligns with our values on our dedicated strategy microsite.

BTO’s CEO Juliet Vickery explains how our new strategy will contribute to this ambitious call to action.

June 2023

Many of you will have been moved and inspired by the BBC series ‘Wild Isles’. This programme was a wonderful initiative, co-produced with and partly funded by two leading conservation organisations. It took viewers through the natural world in the UK, showcasing ‘our’ nature as never before.

Mike Toms / BTO

06 Jun 2023 no

Equality vs equity: a crucial distinction in BTO’s work around diversity and inclusion

WEBSITEEDITOR — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 11:04:36 +0000

BTO's CEO Juliet Vickery discusses a shift in our focus. No

Juliet Vickery

Chief Executive Officer

Juliet is responsible for leading the work of the Trust, under the governance and strategy of the Board.

Birds and people

Hot topics

Staff voices

In March this year, I joined a panel discussion for International Women’s Day, which focused on Equity versus Equality. It was hosted by Dr Gemma Harper (CEO of JNCC), Dr Anjana Khatwa (Award winning Earth Scientist & TV Presenter), Dr Michaela Schratzberger (Cefas, Science Director – Environment) and Dr Jaswinder Kaur (Defra, Principal Scientist). This remarkable lineup of women shared personal journeys, experiences, reflections and advice with honesty and compassion.

It really got me thinking about just what an important shift is captured in what might appear to be a minor change in wording: the move from equality to equity.

The words equity and equality are often used interchangeably as both seek to promote fairness, but the distinction is a useful and important one to recognise as we aim to build a BTO workplace and community that enables everyone to belong and flourish.

Equality vs Equity infographic. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

To start, some definitions:

Equality refers to treating everyone the same regardless of their individual differences, circumstances, or needs. It aims to create a level playing field by ensuring that everyone is subject to the same rules, standards, and opportunities.
Equity acknowledges that different people have different needs and that treating them equally may not lead to fairness or justice. It aims to promote fairness by treating people differently according to their unique needs and circumstances.

Equity means that we give everyone what they need to be successful. It is not giving everyone exactly the same thing and expecting that will make people equal, because that assumes that everyone started in the same place – something that is obviously not the case.

Illustrations used to explain the difference include this phrase: “equality is giving everyone a shoe; equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.” I am a keen cyclist and so the bike graphic pictured here beautifully illustrates the difference between equality and equity – but it does so whether you enjoy cycling or not!

Equity and BTO

Equal opportunities aren’t enough, and equal isn’t always fair...forging an equal and inclusive world requires us to better understand the difference between equity and equality.

For me, International Women’s Day was the wake-up call I needed to recognise that equal opportunities aren’t enough, and that equal isn’t always fair. I fully realised that forging an equal and inclusive world requires us to better understand the difference between equity and equality.

BTO has a long way to go on this journey, but we will start by replacing the phrase ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ with ‘Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’. We will continue to seek to dismantle barriers that many face to feeling that they belong in the natural world, in BTO and more widely. Where possible, we will continue to seek to remove these barriers altogether.

Anna Webberley received the Marsh Award for Young Ornithologist in 2022.

A simple illustration of this is the change we have made to the wording of our ornithology awards. The Marsh Award for Young Ornithologist was, in the past, awarded for “a significant contribution to BTO bird monitoring schemes”. Our brilliant Youth Advisory Panel pointed out that, in general, it is more likely that young men will be taking on survey work than young women, who are likely to contribute to BTO’s work in other ways.

The award is now given for “a significant contribution to BTO, either by contributing to BTO’s bird monitoring schemes, or by spreading awareness of BTO with their peers, or both”. This shift in wording is intended to remove the barrier to recognising the different but valuable contributions that people make.

Its importance was highlighted last year as Anna Webberley received the award in recognition of her work to relaunch Cardiff University’s Ornithology Society, making it a welcoming and diverse community, and encouraging members to collect valuable ornithological data through monitoring schemes such as those run by BTO.

BTO’s ringing pliers, modified to be easier to use for smaller hands.

A second example is our development of more diverse, suitable field equipment.

Large bird species like seabirds and wildfowl require bigger rings, and those which will be exposed regularly to salt water are made of a stiffer metal alloy. This in turn means that fitting the rings requires pliers with a wide grip, to generate enough force. Fine if you have large hands, but very hard to use with smaller hands that are more typical of women and young people.

Historically, this has made certain ringing projects, like seabird ringing, inaccessible or unnecessarily difficult for some people. Our ringing team have developed modified pliers to tackle this issue, and we will be testing a small number of them this year in a pilot.

These are small but important examples. Real change needs to be systemic and relate to a whole suite of processes and practices. Recognising the important difference between equality and equity is a start towards trying to ensure everyone feels they belong and are supported to be their best and reach their full potential.

What we’ve done (June 2022–May 2023)

As I said at the start of this blog, last year I challenged everyone to learn more – and this is something I and my colleagues at BTO are committed to doing.

These are just some of our key actions in the past year:

Throughout 2022 we were fortunate to work with Dr Anjana Khatwa on a series of sessions to develop our understanding of the barriers to EDI and how we can develop more inclusive practices across BTO.

I do not want to lose sight of the projects and activities that are ongoing, and being led so brilliantly by BTO staff who care deeply about making BTO an inclusive place. These include our fantastic youth engagement work, and our pilot community-based nature engagement project Ripple NI, which aims to engage people in Northern Ireland with their local wildlife and to involve more people from more diverse backgrounds in biological recording.

What are we going to do?

We have many exciting plans. Just some of these include:

sharing the same opportunity to work with and learn from Anjana with all BTO staff, our Trustees and groups of volunteers
working on a framework to deliver our EDI work across BTO
committing to participating in the Race Report this year, following our participation in 2022
recruiting to a role to help deliver our EDI work
learning more about the diversity within our existing community and sharing these stories
co-developing a one-year research study to work with people in and around Thetford, Norfolk who are currently under-served by the environmental sector and by BTO

These actions and intentions were up-to-date when this blog was published in June 2023. You can keep up to date with our most recent work around EDI on our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion page.

Read our EDI Statement and updates about our EDI work

June 2023

Last year, on the date we published our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement, I wrote a blog about BTO’s future with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). I challenged everyone to learn more about the topic, and to reach June 2023 with a deeper understanding of the barriers and challenges faced by many people in the environmental sector. A year later, I’d like to announce a shift in our policy: from working towards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, to working towards Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Senior Leadership Team

01 Jun 2023 no