Climate Cymru's Ethnic Minorities Group (CCEM)

The CCEM is a platform for anyone interested in climate advocacy of ethnic minority origins living in Wales.

About

The Climate Cymru Ethnic Minorities group is an independent self determined group that was founded in July 2021 by individuals who are also Climate Cymru Ambassadors.

The group is a platform for individuals and environment professionals of ethnic minority origins living in Wales, who are interested in building their network in environment and climate advocacy around the climate crisis, climate justice and allied matters.

The group seeks to galvanise the interests of individuals and professionals of ethnic minorities and give a voice to ethnic minorities to participate in local, regional & national advocacy campaigns while also exploring professional advancement in the environment sector in the UK.

CCEM Partners

Created in 2015, the Centre for African Entrepreneurship initially aimed to fill a gap in provision for people from African background. Since then, CAE has expanded its mission and vision to also meet the needs of all ethnically diverse communities in Wales. We are a community centre that aims to inspire, support and promote disadvantaged ethnically diverse communities. Our work tackles poverty, inequality, and the issues and challenges faced by ethnically diverse people in Swansea and Wales. We have experience delivering a range of successful projects locally, providing practical and easily accessible training for disadvantaged people from ethnically diverse background, addressing the specific day-to-day challenges that this group faces.

North Wales Africa Society (NWAS) is a friendship and community organisation based in Gwynedd, North Wales, UK.

NWAS is a collective of members of the African diaspora community, and people who have interest in Africa. The purpose of the North Wales Africa Society (NWAS) is to develop a program that addresses and promotes poverty reduction and social inclusion for the public benefit. This is aimed at people from the African diaspora community in North Wales, supporting them to prevent social exclusion and assisting them to integrate into Welsh society, as well as linking to projects in Wales and Africa that promote poverty reduction and International Development.

Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel was formed in 2009 when a number of African diaspora groups in Wales met to consider how they might collectively advance their common interest in local and International Development.

The Need

There is an observed paucity of members of the ethnic minorities in the Environment & Climate sector in the UK, there’s no documented data at this time for the same in Wales. Given the lived experiences of some of the current constituent members – where we are usually the only ones present as the ‘diversity’ in the room, we can only imagine that the value is much smaller.

The CCEM group is born out of a need to showcase the availability of environmental & climate and related professionals of ethnic minority origins living in Wales by providing an avenue for these individuals to come together, deliberate, build our networks, share resources. We aim to be a vibrant resource group.

Objectives

To build a network for environment and climate professionals and advocates of ethnic minorities origin in Wales
To create visibility for environment and climate professionals and advocates of ethnic minorities origin in Wales.

Implementation

The CCEM group is currently hosted by Climate Cymru.

CCEM maintains virtual platforms, including a Google Group mailing list to support communication among members, collective planning, and updates on involvement and collaboration. There is also a WhatsApp group for quick and urgent communications.

If you would like to be part of the CCEM platform, please complete the sign-up form above to be added to the mailing list and WhatsApp group.

Contact

The group’s activities are currently coordinated by a community coordinator. Please contact: ccem@climate.cymru