British-Bangladeshi naturalist
Mya-Rose Craig is a 20-year-old British-Bangladeshi birder, race activist and environmentalist campaigning for equal access to nature, to stop biodiversity loss and climate change, and to ensure global climate justice, all of which she believes are closely interlinked. Mya-Rose's passion for birds and wildlife are self-evident with her coming across the screen as a knowledgeable and natural presenter.
In June 2022 Mya-Rose’s book Birdgirl was published by Vintage Books and has recently been nominated for the Jhalak Prize. In it she shares the impact on her own mental health of growing up with a mother affected by severe bipolar disorder, how nature helped them cope as a family and how she found joy and her voice through birding. Her first book, We Have a Dream, highlights 30 young global environmentalists of colour and was nominated in the British Book Awards 2022 - Discover 2022 and her children’s book Flight will be on 15th June by Puffin.
When Mya-Rose was 11, she started her popular Birdgirl blog and at age 14 she launched the charity Black2Nature, which focuses on engaging Visible Minority ~Ethnic communities with nature. At age 17, she became the youngest person to see half the world’s bird species, and also to receive an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Bristol in recognition of her pioneering campaigning work. In February 2020 she shared a stage with Greta Thunberg in front of 40,000 protestors and in September of that year she travelled to the Arctic with Greenpeace, for whom she is an Oceans Ambassador, and took part in the most northerly Youth Strike for Climate. In November 2021 she spoke at COP26 on a panel with Emma Watson, Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai.
The other causes closest to her heart are connecting people to nature so that they can care about fighting to avert the climate crisis. She campaigns against palm oil and plastic pollution and she fights for the prioritisation of the human rights of indigenous peoples as a Survival International Ambassador. Her activism is informed by a life-long love of birds and the fight against racism. She writes articles and delivers speeches and talks as well as appearing on TV and in the media. Mya-Rose is also an Oxfam, Greenpeace and The Wildlife Trusts Ambassador.
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