Hello, you are right about the job specifications might be putting people off and that enthuisaism does count for more as skills can be learnt! I am already building up my experience but I still feel like I am competing with David Attenorough clones or people as skilled a Marine Biologists with scuba diving and research equipment skills that few people have!! I believe we need to make conservation an activity before expecting it to be a jobs-only thing. That way, jobs are born! For example, I volunteer for a local nature conservation and ama helping someone with creating a new reserve. This keeps our council environmentalists in the job, made a Forest School and keeps contractors and charities like Groundwork in, which creates more opportunities on the whole. Lizzie.

Hello (and to Adam here too LOL) I am white, female, hard of hearing, has mild cerebral palsy and suffer from anxiety, and am a horse rider and keeper but love the countryside, studied conservation to the MSc level and understand the importance of nature and biodiversity and sustainability. I'm pretty diverse myself! I did get told not to join a walking trip in the Peaks District at my college I was studying conservation at so that was a massive no-no but is 10 years ago. Lets not let anyone have this horrible experience again! People eve didn't get that I can ride horses at one point there! Lizzie

Hello CPRE are promoting accessibilty fpr black people and the countryside - see: https://www.cpre.org.uk/opinions/black-lives-matter-in-the-countryside/. There is one black guy who ran walks to get black people into the countryside (now called Walk4Health and includes females): https://www.cpre.org.uk/stories/maxwell-ayamba-my-england/, and the Wildlife Trust is also trying to promote diversity too - I remember reading about them running tours for black and other ethnic minorities in London and indiviuals of different race givingtheir experiences of being a Wildlife Trust member/volunteer. Lizzie.

Hello CPRE are promoting accessibilty fpr black people and the countryside - see: https://www.cpre.org.uk/opinions/black-lives-matter-in-the-countryside/. There is one black guy who ran walks to get black people into the countryside (now called Walk4Health and includes females): https://www.cpre.org.uk/stories/maxwell-ayamba-my-england/, and the Wildlife Trust is also trying to promote diversity too - I remember reading about them running tours for black and other ethnic minorities in London and indiviuals of different race givingtheir experiences of being a Wildlife Trust member/volunteer. Lizzie.

Hello my thoughts on this is that you do not need to be in conservation via The Job although one can aim for such a thing, as I am these days! I have got a conventional job and have had several different non-conservation jobs since I left my MSc in Conservation Management : ) The different ways of working, skills and values are valuable as I understand about the NHS, a virus research company and a food testing business, for example. I now help out alot in conservation alongside my job, made easier due to CoVid because they changed my hours so I have three days off in the week. I met up with Friends of the Earth, am a Publicity person and a Committee member for a local nature reserve and am helping to establish a new one, write to politicans and promote on social media on conservation, environmental and farming issues. I helped to create a local food website page for CPRE the Countryside Charity and hope to do more for them. I read magazines on countryside things, a member of the Wildlife Trust... and so on. This is all helpful for conservation as it also keeps things in business and adds value to the sector. So instead of being Joe Blogs' educator, why not be Joe Blogs seeking it all? This is my suggestion, then things will fall into place across the board, not just for you.

How did this go? Lizzie