IWD 2025 Accelerate Action Interview with Dr Emma Hinchliffe Director, IUCN UK Peatland Programme

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2025, we’re honored to feature Dr. Emma Hinchliffe, Director of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, in this insightful interview. With her leadership in peatland restoration, Dr. Hinchliffe is at the forefront of tackling climate change and preserving critical ecosystems. In this conversation, she shares her journey, the challenges facing peatland conservation, and the vital role that women play in shaping the future of environmental sustainability. Through her work, Dr. Hinchliffe exemplifies the power of action and the importance of gender equality in driving impactful change.

On this IWD, can you tell us which women in your field or in history have inspired you the most, and why?

I am incredibly fortunate- totally by chance, I should add- to lead an all-female team for the IUCN UK Peatland Programme at present! I can therefore count myself lucky that I am surrounded daily by women who all inspire, support and encourage each other. I have worked in peatlands for 15 years and, again, by chance, have always been line- managed by male colleagues. Come to think of it, I am in my 30s (just) and nearly all of my ‘senior’ colleagues are male.  But I have noticed the gender balance in the UK peatland and policy world start to shift and I would say that, personally, I feel we are reaching a pretty good gender balance and representation in our peatland science, policy and practice communities. I can think of a number of really high-profile academics, policy leads and peatland partnership delivery leads who are all female and lead the charge for peatland conservation and restoration. It is so encouraging to be part of such a friendly community, especially when we are all faced with the daunting scale of the climate and biodiversity crisis on a daily basis.

I also count myself as really fortunate to have a mother who instilled a love of nature in me at an early age. Both of my parents worked in nature conservation and I had the opportunity to grow up in a rural setting, surrounded by pets at home and abundant wildlife on the doorstep. Now that I have kids of my own, I see the value in captivating their curiosity in the natural world now. And I hope that in time, whatever their interests, a passion for nature will always be part of my children’s lives. But not all children have the opportunity of nature on their doorstep and the initiatives led by eNGOs in the UK, I think, will be pivotal for addressing remaining gender and diversity imbalance over the generations to come. Everyone deserves equal access to nature and to be able to experience it in ways which are meaningful to them.

The theme of IWD this year is #AccelerateAction, underlining the need to increase the momentum in addressing the systemic barriers to gender equality. What (if anything) do you believe needs to be prioritised within your industry?

The ‘invisible load’ is certainly something that I personally struggle with and I know that many of my colleagues do too. It is a well-documented issue across the board and not just something that is an issue within the conservation sector. It can create additional pressures and limit career progression opportunities and personal satisfaction at work. It sometimes feels impossible to keep heads above water, never mind “accelerate” anything!

Having an employer that has a flexible working policy to allow time out for self-care has been really important to me in helping me overcome these pressures. This has been especially critical post-covid when many of us are working from home and surrounded by the constant reminders of family life while trying to conduct an important interview or submit a critical funding bid by the deadline!

There are parallels between the need to speed up the rate of progress on achieving gender parity, and the need to increase the urgency of our action on climate and biodiversity loss. Do you see any parallels in how these issues can be addressed? Can any lessons learned from one be applied to the other? 

I think there is a parallel to be drawn between the nature crisis and the issues of inequality we see in the world. The global nature and scale of the climate crisis is so vast that we really need everyone on board to be able to fix it. So inclusivity and diverse representation of views will be absolutely critical in helping in accelerate action and allow us to unite in creating solutions.

Although I touched on this earlier, that I felt gender parity was more or less achieved within my peers in the UK peatland community, one thing we have not yet addressed is the diversity of this community. People of colour- male and female- are not well represented, and the conservation industry is cited as being the second-least diverse sector in the UK. Peatlands are a place for everyone. I feel like we have only just started to scratch the surface in terms of our role to encourage diverse representation for people and peatlands. Myself and my team have been really fortunate to have a wonderful employer in the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts who have really progressive EDI policies to ensure that diversity is spoken about and visible. We are also well supported by female specific policies to support women throughout their careers with, for example, pregnancy loss or the menopause.

‘Given their position on the frontlines of the climate crisis, women are uniquely situated to be agents of change’ – un.org
What do you see as the role that women leaders play in the fight against the climate and biodiversity emergencies?

My experience is largely limited to work within the UK conservation sector but I am aware that, globally, there are still countries where peatland progress is limited by gender imbalance. Climate change disproportionately affects women with women in the global south being particularly vulnerable. Working to secure protections for vital habitats, such as peatlands, which play a significant role in climate change mitigation and adaptation helps to provide a more secure future for all, irrespective of gender.

What are your priorities for climate and biodiversity action in your role as Director of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, and do you think your gender plays a role in your outlook?

I think there is a central theme to how I view my role across all of these related issues: visibility and awareness are critical. 15 years ago, peatlands were only just starting to be recognised for their role in the climate crisis and had largely previously only been viewed as places of importance for wildlife. At IUCN UK PP we often use the analogy of Cinderella arriving at the ball: once forsaken and now risen to ‘princess’ status, peatlands have arrived at the ball! I think the parallel with gender balance and diversity is similar but perhaps lags behind the recognition that peatlands are now achieving. I believe that if we keep these issues visible and keep dispelling the myths and barriers that arise from time to time, we’ll be in a much stronger position in years to come.