When: Wednesday 3 December, 5pm
Where: Main Seminar Room, 1st floor, David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ
CCI and UNEP-WCMC are delighted to host interdisciplinary social scientist Jaya Gajparia for a talk discussing the findings of her work with ACCESS in decolonising the conservation and environment sectors in the UK.
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This public lecture brings together research, lived experience, and critical reflection to explore what decolonisation means for the environmental and conservation sectors in the UK. At its heart, this is a conversation about power and explores if it is possible to transform systems to create equity and justice. The lecture draws on a UK-based research project investigating the lived experiences of global majority experts working in the environmental and conservation sectors, which are historically shaped by colonial legacies that continue to marginalise diverse voices. A growing body of research shows that people from the global majority working in these sectors frequently encounter racism, limited career progression, and exclusion from leadership and policy-making spaces. Yet their knowledge, connections to environmental stewardship, and expertise is at risk of being undervalued or ignored. Decolonisation requires us to move beyond tokenistic diversity initiatives and challenge the dominance of Western knowledge systems towards active change. This means applying social justice frameworks that connect environmental work to broader equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. As the climate crisis intensifies, questions of mitigation and adaptation are no longer theoretical as the crisis is here, and it is disproportionately affecting those already marginalised, particularly women and girls in climate-vulnerable regions of the Global South, small island states and coastal communities. Addressing this reality demands that we bring social science thinking into environmental practice, focusing on questions of justice, representation, and power alongside technical solutions. It requires prioritising care work, recognising that sustainable change means caring for communities, each other, and ecosystems as interconnected and not treating environmental action as separate from human wellbeing. Through examining lived experiences and practical strategies, we'll consider how environmental policies and practices can be transformed through decolonial approaches that shift who gets to speak, who is heard, and how decision-making structures operate. The lecture will conclude with a conversation between Jaya and Dr. Najma Mohammed from UNEP-WCMC for a discussion on the challenges and opportunities they have encountered at the intersection of race, gender, power, and belonging. Jaya and Najma will share what they have learned about navigating these spaces, the importance of "fitting in" versus transforming systems, and pathways toward meaningful change. This lecture is for anyone interested in social justice, environmental action, and how we build movements that are truly inclusive and transformative. Whether you work in the environmental sector, are passionate about climate justice, or are curious about decolonisation in practice, this conversation offers the opportunity to reimagine how we create change. The lecture draws on the rich narratives from the research with a collective of global majority experts who came together to connect, centre care, and build a trusted community working towards decolonised sectors. Registration is available via the form below. This talk is part of CCI’s In Conversation series which aims to underline CCI’s potential as a place for debate and convening, where pioneering ideas are introduced, taken forward and shared within and beyond the CCI and conservation community.
Registration/ticket information:
You can register to attend either in-person or online. When registering please note you will be prompted to enter further information after submitting your name and email address. Please ensure you complete these extra questions when signing up.
