RENEW Biodiversity Parliament 2025: Is Nature for All? Exploring Environmental Justice

Image credit: Ria Poole, All rights reserved.

Is environmental justice something you often consider, are working towards, or would like to find out more about?

03-04 November 2025 | Online (GMT)

The RENEW Biodiversity Parliament is our annual gathering to connect, reflect, and drive change towards a fairer and greener future. This year, we’re creating an interactive online space to collectively explore what environmental justice means in theory and in practice, to inspire our thinking and steps towards positive action.

Environmental injustice is a serious barrier to nature renewal. There is growing awareness of this in the UK related to, for example, inequalities in access to quality green and blue spaces, differences in opportunities to engage in outdoor or nature-based occupations or recreational activity, or the uneven impacts of climate change. And there is increasing acceptance that environmental injustice is one face of power inequalities rooted in history and dominant political and economic systems.

In this Parliament we will explore the meanings and impacts of environmental injustice and what we can do to tackle it. We will take a bottom-up, inclusive, and intersectional approach in discussions to ensure active listening and respect for all perspectives and experiences.

Expect an exciting and interactive agenda of provocations, panel talks, facilitated discussions, case studies and creative, exploratory workshops. We will be fostering a safe and inclusive online space to welcome your input, views and collective aspirations.

Please note: We wish to encourage inclusive and open dialogue within this online event, and as such request that all attendees adhere to the Chatham House Rule – i.e. attendees are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of any other attendee may be revealed. RENEW will be using notetakers at the event, who will capture panel and group discussions for the purpose of internal record keeping and post-event communications, with all notes being fully anonymised.

Registration

The Biodiversity Parliament is open to all RENEW partners, collaborators, and stakeholders in the RENEW community. You should already have received your invite via email, including Eventbrite registration details.

For more information about the event, please contact: renew@exeter.ac.uk

Programme

Day 1: Monday 3rd November

10:00 – 10:30: Welcome & Introduction – Catriona McKinnon (University of Exeter)

• • With a poetic provocation by Ashanti Kunene (Learn 2 Unlearn)

10:30 – 11:15: Domains of Environmental Justice: A View from RENEW

Chair: Alice Moseley (University of Exeter)

• • Catriona McKinnon (University of Exeter), ‘Theories of Environmental Justice’
  • Charles Masquelier (University of Exeter), ‘Environmental Land Management as an Environmental Justice Issue’
  • Ben Groom (University of Exeter), ‘Distribution Over Time and Distribution in Space: A Welfarist View of Decision-making in Nature and Climate’

11:15 – 11:25: Comfort Break

11:25 – 12:30: Provocations & Q&A

Chair: Charles Masquelier (University of Exeter)

• • Nadia Shaikh (Right to Roam & Raven Network), ‘Recommoning and Class’
  • Rupert Read (Climate Majority Project), ‘The Limits of Justice: Why Non-Human Life, the Future, and Our Task of Climate Adaptation All Point Away from Overly Centring ‘Justice’’
  • Sherilyn MacGregor (University of Manchester), ‘Against Rewilding: A (Careful) Critique’

12:30 – 13:15: Lunch

13:15 – 13:45: Breakout Discussions (parallel sessions)

• • An opportunity to reflect on the conversation so far and discuss the morning’s provocations – led by Mona Ebdrup & Rachel Karasik (Iris & Birch)

13:45 – 13:50: Comfort Break

13:50 – 14:20: Guided Reflection Activity

• • Take a pause and connect with nature – led by Vanessa Miles (Well Image CIC)

14:20 – 15:05: In Conversation: Politics and Power

Chair: Ria Poole (University of Exeter)

• • With Gillian Burke (Television Presenter & Environmentalist) & Dr Bothwell Kabayira (Doctor & Heath Innovator)

15:05 – 15:15: Close

Day 2: Tuesday 4th November

10:00 – 10:10: Welcome back & Introduction – Catriona McKinnon (University of Exeter)

10:10 – 10:55: In Conversation: Activism and Changemaking

Chair: Ria Poole (University of Exeter)

• • With Manu Maunganidze (SOS-UK) & Naftal Zinyemba (The Wildlife Trusts)

10:55 – 11:00: Comfort Break

11:00 – 12:30: Practitioner Case Studies (parallel sessions)

Panel One

Chair: Charles Masquelier (University of Exeter) 

• • Victoria Bradford-Keegan (National Trust) & Emily Martey (Natural England), ‘Advancing environmental justice through Nature Towns and Cities’
  • Ly Chu & Sofia Cairns (BookTrust), ‘Exploring How BookTrust’s Theory of Change Shapes the Bookstart Programme, and How Strong Local Connections Help Tailor Delivery to Increase Family Access and Engagement’
  • Karen Devine (British Ecological Society), ‘Towards Research Equity – Doing Our Bit’
  • Clive Mitchell (NatureScot), ‘The politics and Politics of Transformative Change’

Followed by breakout discussions, led by Rachel Karasik (Iris & Birch) 

 Panel Two

Chair: Catriona McKinnon (University of Exeter)

• • Natasha Ryan, Cia Mangat & Anisha Jaya Minocha (The Poetry Society & Young Poets Network), ‘Do Not Be Afraid of Reading This Poem – Using Creative Programming to Face the Climate Crisis’
  • Rory Crawford (National Trust), ‘Environmental Justice Starts in the Community – Learnings From the Nature Neighbourhoods Project’
  • Jo Smith & Flavia Ojok (Derbyshire Wildlife Trusts), ‘In the Age of Polarisation, How Can We Remain Firm in Delivering Anti-Racist Environmental Action?’

Followed by breakout discussions, led by Mona Ebdrup (Iris & Birch)  

12:30 – 13:15: Lunch

13:15 – 14:15: Visioning Workshops (parallel sessions)

Using creativity to envision paths to an environmentally just future

• • Workshop 1: Collective Poem-Making as Manifesto – led by Caleb Parkin (Poet & Practice-based RENEW PhD student)
  • Workshop 2: Envisioning Environmental Justice: Guided Reflection & Visualisation – led by Anna Herber (Alignment Guide, Facilitator, Speaker, Poet)
  • Workshop 3: Narratives of Regeneration: Storytelling Futures for Environmental Justice – led by Alicia Richins (The Climateverse)

14:15 – 14:25: Comfort Break

14:25 – 15:00: Event Close – Catriona McKinnon (University of Exeter) & poetry compere Natasha Ryan (The Poetry Society)

• • We’ll close the event with a moment of creative reflection. RENEW’s Caleb Parkin will perform the abecedarian produced in the preceding workshop, and Maggie Wang and Sylvie Jane Lewis (Young Poet’s Network) will perform their work, exploring biodiversity through a poetic lens and offering young adult perspectives on environmental justice. Join us for what promises to be a powerful and thought provoking end to proceedings!