Blog: walk on the wild side of black history – the impact of diversity in conservation

Marcus Merriman, Learning Officer at Whipsnade Zoo, on his role, background, and the importance of diversity in the conservation sector...

Black history month offers a time for reflection, understanding and discovery. Last year I was inspired to trace my ancestry. My dad was born and raised in London and met my mum whilst he himself was on a “discover my roots” trip to Guyana. She moved here after months of writing letters back and forth, along with my older siblings. My ancestral lineage mixes between 52% West African, 22% Northwestern European and 26% Indigenous American. Tracing these roots resonated mixed feelings, of course this splash of Scottish, Indigenous American and Ghanaian mix is rooted in the transatlantic slave trade, but my creolised Guyanese culture is one I am extremely proud of.

Like many kids growing up on the late 90’s early 2000’s I watched icons like Steve Irwin and Backshall on TV before school. I even appeared on CBBC’s ROAR as a ranger! I found the power, speed, and behaviours of animals fascinating, and I just wasn’t interested wrestling or football like the other boys (admittedly Arsenal now dictates 92% of my mood now.)

Often during black history month, we speak about the challenges we face externally as black people, but in conservation there are barriers from within that limit interest in wildlife. Socioeconomic Status and access to Natural Environments are of course huge factors that many BIAZA collections are trying to combat, but historical factors and cultural attitudes are not so easy change.

I don’t speak for all BAME people, but in many cultures, historically animals and pets are not held to the same regard they are here in the UK. This can be linked to attitudes rooted in oppression we historically faced and continued in the lack access to scientific based knowledge on these animals. My own mum grew up along an estuary of the Amazon River, can describe every plant, animal, mushroom she had ever seen, but until emulating MY interest in animals, saw conservation as a white thing to be doing, and only viewed these animals through a lens of fear. Luckily my family saw I had a passion and a gift. My dad was ALL about championing educational visits and toys and supported that with annual visits to places like Whipsnade or Woburn. Some others may not be so lucky, a young person of colours’ desire to be a zookeeper or similar may well be met with a lack of understanding to why you would ever want to do that job.

These factors contribute to conservation being the second least diverse sector in the UK. Historically, marginalized communities, often people of colour, have borne the brunt of environmental degradation and have had limited access to resources for conservation. Guyana is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, with little access to these resources. For those that do study sciences and achieve high educational status, they may be attracted by the prospect of emigration to the Global north, where sciences or conservation pay more. My mum as a registered nurse can earn just shy of 10x the wage back home. This brain drain can cause a post-colonial country like Guyana progress slower.

For me, as a youngster seeing a role model who maybe looked or sounded like me to relate to would have greatly increased my likelihood of seeing past my cultural biases to do what I cared about and chase a wildlife career, and not the socio-political one I opted to study for.

I feel great pride in my role at Whipsnade, in which I engage with young people, many of them less represented communities such as schools with high proportions of free school meals, ethnic minorities, or other secluded groups. Our education access scheme means I get opportunity more than most to engage with these groups, and I genuinely feel that them seeing a black man, with Jordan trainers on, speaking to them in their lexis and dialect can inspire them to maybe follow a love for animals they might have, because if I can do an amazing wildlife job, so can they. That relatability would have been priceless to 11-year-old Marcus, and I want to provide that to them. Without diverse perspectives, diverse lived experiences, and diverse cultural knowledge we really can’t expect the heritage we preserve to be neutral, equitable, inclusive, or fair.

- Marcus Merriman, he/him, Learning Officer at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

All blogs reflect the views of their author and are not a reflection of BIAZA's positions.