SCBNA Allyship Program

Seeks to promote an understanding of the diversity of challenges faced by traditionally underrepresented communities within conservation, and to motivate dominant demographic groups to support minoritized groups based on this new understanding

The Allyship Program Video Series is now available!

The SCBNA Allyship program is excited to share the SCBNA Allyship Program Video Series. Growing out of a productive session on allyship in conservation at NACCB 2020, these videos feature interviews with six prominent members of the conservation community from various backgrounds discussing the challenges faced by diverse communities within conservation and the means by which dominant demographic groups can support minoritized groups.

With this video series, we hope to start a productive conversation among those in positions of privilege regarding how we can best use our power and advantages to expand the scope of inclusion and equity in conservation. Stay tuned for more events around this series and related conversations.

We extend our sincere thanks to these conservationists for openly sharing their experiences, knowledge and advice so we can all learn to be more effective allies in the conservation community and beyond.

View the full series on the SCBNA YouTube Channel

(Check out the series trailer below)

Think about your career and your experiences in conservation. Maybe just take a look at the people around you today. Do these people mostly look like you? Do they mostly think like you? Do they mostly come from the same background as you? If you are in the majority, what are the institutional structures and hierarchies that have created this majority? How have you benefited from being in the majority? How can those in the majority help amplify the voices of those in the minority, and how can those in the majority use the power and privilege of their positions to change the structure of an unfair system?

Launched by the SCBNA Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Committee at an NACCB 2020 Interactive Session, the SCBNA Allyship Program seeks to promote an understanding of the challenges faced by diverse communities within conservation, and to motivate dominant demographic groups to support minoritized groups based on this new understanding.

Stay tuned to this space for additional activities currently in development. If you would like to receive communications related to SCBNA Allyship Group activities and news, please email Brendan Reid to be added to the mailing list.

As Individuals & In Their Communities

Read fiction + non-fiction written by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). Follow BIPOC on social media.
Invest your time in trainings (eg, Academics for Black Survival and Wellness, bystander intervention training).
Form accountability groups for white people to educate themselves – don’t increase the burden on BIPOC.
Use privilege (time and safety) to advocate for BIPOC in the workplace and to take on administrative tasks disproportionately shouldered by underrepresented groups.
Constantly query goals and plans, and engage in frequent discussions among other allies and with BIPOC. Make sure what you are doing is actually helping – addressing real problems and not creating new problems! Don’t be afraid to take on risk.

In Institutions and Work

Make sure we are actively recruiting BIPOC for jobs (entry-level to head of the organization). Consider how we establish job qualifications and who we are excluding when we do so. Consider how job boards and other means of publicizing openings reach different groups. Ensure that we are prioritizing equity and inclusion, not just diversity.
Work on compensation/reward issues. Pay students and interns! Compensate everyone who does DEI work. Move beyond citations as a metric for performance.
Center environmental justice and human well-being in our research questions.
Increase emphasis on outreach and engagement work.
Work from both the bottom up and top down – attain a critical mass of people dedicated to social justice.
Use white privilege to buffer BIPOC against unstable/unsafe work environments – especially in government jobs.
Create spaces that are safe and welcoming for BIPOC. Academic spaces are hierarchical (with people at the top mostly white) and use language that can be a barrier to BIPOC. Some outdoor spaces are actively unsafe for BIPOC.
Create curricula and classes that emphasize environmental justice and the history of racism underlying conservation biology.
Consider the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on BIPOC in the workplace. Enact policies that protect “essential workers” (disproportionately BIPOC)
Make land acknowledgments, acknowledge the racist history of universities and “public” lands.
Find seminar speakers from non-traditional backgrounds – use networks/”snowball sampling” strategies to do so.
May need more surveys and data-gathering to define define our problems. Work to create survey methods that include BIPOC in the design and execution. Need buy-in from everyone to get accurate data.

As SCBNA Allyship Group

Provide resources for potential allies to educate themselves and plan actions to influence their home institutions. Provide training or connect allies with reputable groups that providing trainings.
Form accountability groups for allies to work together on training and education and to hold each other to training goals. Accountability groups can also provide a forum for discussing personal goals and successful/unsuccessful efforts to work on institutional change.
Produce video series featuring voices of BIPOC / minoritized conservation biologists relating their experiences in the field.
Act as a resource for diversity efforts within SCBNA – provide time and effort needed to write grant proposals, work on theory of change, find speakers and plan conference.
Put pressure on SCBNA to shift in the right direction. Echo concerns of underrepresented groups and make these concerns mainstream!

Recommendations for SCBNA

Center BIPOC voices – create safe forums for voicing and listening to concerns of BIPOC at conferences and beyond
Examine ways to reduce the burdens of or provide compensation for doing SCBNA-related work.
Consider funding more community conservation work.
Consider giving awards for DEI work and community-led projects.
Leverage the benefits of virtual meetings in reducing barriers to entry, while also finding ways to facilitate networking in this new format.
Create and provide support for long-term mentoring relationships. Consider establishing a mentoring program that leverages SCB’s connections to educational institutions, governmental organizations, and NGOs.

SCBNA Allyship Program

Interested in participating in the SCBNA Allyship Group?

Actions Allies and Organizations Can Take*

As Individuals & In Their Communities

In Institutions and Work

As SCBNA Allyship Group

Recommendations for SCBNA