Tell us a bit about yourself 

My career to date has been split between my passions for both the environment and community engagement. Starting out as a sustainability consultant, I found myself more drawn to working with grassroots communities and organisations who wanted to take tangible, practical actions on the ground to improve their communities. I have spent the last several years working with underrepresented groups in London, with the Mayor of London and in social housing. Last year I took a career break to study a MSc in Global Biodiversity Conservation, and here I am! 

And your role at Sussex Wildlife Trust 

As the Wild About Inclusion Lead, I couldn’t have found a more exciting role to bring together my love of nature and my love of talking to people about it! As a born and bred Brightonian, I have such pride in our diverse communities and in the huge range of landscapes we have in Sussex, from rare chalk downland to rock pools, to the High Weald and the South Downs. The Sussex Wildlife Trust has a genuine dedication to making nature as accessible and welcoming as possible and I am excited to join in that mission.  

Why inclusion? What’s the importance in conservation? 

Everyone deserves equitable access to nature. The environmental and conservation industry is the second least ethnically diverse sector in the UK (after farming) and we want this to change. Restoring our natural environment needs more people, more perspectives, different skills and experiences. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from nature and have a voice in decisions about their local environment; our green spaces belong to all of us, and we want everyone to feel welcome in them. We’d love to hear from people who don’t always see themselves represented in nature and conservation. What would make it easier, more welcoming, for you to get involved?  

Anna Image 3Anna Shamoon

Where does your passion for inclusion come from? 

I don’t remember a particular moment, it has always been there! Though my understanding of it has gradually developed through my interest in working with communities and listening to experiences of barriers that prevent people from getting involved, whether that’s practical things like cost and accessibility, or less visible things like confidence and representation. If you’re passionate about helping people connect with nature, that has to mean making sure that everyone has the opportunity to do that.  

What is your favourite nature spot in Sussex? 

My garden. It is not a big space, but I grow tomatoes, herbs and flowers. It’s a small thing, but seeing a bee visit a flower I have grown from seed brings me such joy! It is what spurred me to study conservation.  

Tell us something about yourself that most people won’t know 

I have a bit of an obsession with learning heritage crafts. Sewing, knitting, natural dyeing, basket making, spinning and weaving, you name it, I probably do it! (though not always particularly well). I recently spent a month on a medieval farm in Transylvania learning traditional farming techniques and thatched roof restoration.