Green in the woods

Judy Ling Wong promotes Multicultural Heritage and Environmental Participation through the Black Environment Network (BEN). Here she urges us all to protect our neighbourhoods and make the most of our local green spaces and in doing so connect to our collective cultural heritage.

Shared Heritage
The presence of ethnic minorities within European nations is a feature of the 21st Century. Through the centuries, the continual movement and settlement of people have created our shared cultural and environmental heritage. All national cultures are unique combinations of different multicultural elements.

Making multicultural heritage visible
Who we are and what we can achieve depends on how we see ourselves against the enormous pressure of how others see us. How shared multicultural histories are represented within cultural institutions powerfully shapes national identity and influences the life opportunities of citizens. This is true for the historic and the green environment.
There is no definitive history. Each era writes its history according to its values and beliefs. Historians who believed in the rightness of slavery wrote the history of slavery. It is our responsibility to constantly re-interpret and re-present history to reflect the contemporary values of society. A lot was achieved in the year 2007, the Commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of Trans-Atlantic Slavery. It is our privilege to pass our judgement on history and move positively into the future by re-positioning intercultural relationships within our nations.

Promoting equal participation in the Green Environment
Our neighbourhoods and local green spaces can be linked to heritage alongside providing outdoor activities, which directly affect physical health and well-being. Multicultural festivals in local parks can feature mainstream cultural aspects at the same time and purposefully promote intercultural understanding and social cohesion through bringing people together to have fun. All of us love what we enjoy and we protect what we love. Starting with providing enjoyable and educational activities ultimately leads to the care and protection of the environment. Many ethnic minority communities also have traditional environmental skills and knowledge that can be highlighted and shared. Most of all, what makes a space one’s own are the invisible layers of memory, resulting from everyday use of the space, or from the meaningful marking of a space with memory through a special activity. In Nottingham, the Sikh community created woodland in Bestwood Park, planting 300 native British trees to mark the birth of Khalsa, the Sikh scriptures. It is now simply a community woodland for everyone. One sees nothing but trees, but for the Sikh community, the memory of the colour and pageant of the day, and the meaning of the planting are awakened every time they play or rest in the woodland. The echoes will always be there.

Care, share and dare to negotiate heritage in the Green Environment
People are a force for change. We are living in a complex and optimistic era that aspires to equality and social inclusion. Working with disadvantaged and socially excluded groups is not about doing favours to small groups of people. It is about working towards a 21st Century vision of an inclusive society of which we can all be proud. We need to care, share, dare to negotiate heritage and increase participation on all fronts! n

Judy Ling Wong CBE, FRSA, HonFCIWEM, Hon PhD is Director Black Environment Network (UK)

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