Dr Mya-Rose Craig D.Sc. h.c. who is also known as Birdgirl is a 20-year-old British-Bangladeshi birder, race activist and environmentalist campaigning for equal access to nature, to stop climate change and biodiversity loss and ensure Global Climate Justice, which she believes are closely inter-linked. She has been birding all her life, started training as a bird ringer under the British Trust for Ornithology's birding ringing scheme when she was only 9 years old, getting her licence at age 16, the youngest age possible. Nature and birds are her passion and she does everything she can to save nature and stop habitat loss.
She fights for the prioritisation of the human rights of indigenous peoples, being a Survival International Ambassador. Her first book, We have a Dream, was illustrated by Sabrena Khadija and published by Magic Cat Publishing. It highlights 30 young global environmentalists of colour, amplifying their voices in the Global North and was nominated for The Discover Book of the Year Category in the British Book Awards 2022 (Also known as The Nibbies).
Her memoir, Birdgirl, is published by Penguin Random House/Vintage Books, Jonathan Cape imprint. It is a book about her love of birds and how they helped her cope with her mum's mental illness.
She was 8 years old when she first visited the Amazon and discovered that wildlife and indigenous peoples around the world were being hugely impacted by deforestation and other environmental destruction, which ignited her desire to fight and make change. At age 11, she started her popular Birdgirl blog to share her passion for birds and wildlife which now has 5.5 million views. At 13 she was a Bristol Green Capital 2015 Ambassador and organised her first nature camp for minority ethnic teenagers and the following year founded Black2Nature, which focuses on engaging minority ethnic teenagers with nature and in making the environmental sector ethnically diverse.
At age 17, she became the youngest person to see half the world’s bird species, and to receive an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Bristol in recognition of her pioneering campaign work. In 2020 she shared a stage with Greta Thunberg in front of 40,000 and travelled to the Arctic with Greenpeace, taking part in the most northerly Youth Strike for Climate. In 2021 she spoke at COP26 on a panel including Emma Watson, Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. She was also on a panel at Billie Eilish’s Overheaded Live! in the O2 in June 2022.
The other causes closest to her heart are connecting everyone to nature so that they can care about fighting to avert the climate crisis. Her activism is informed by a life-long love of birds and the fight against racism. She writes articles, speaks as well as appearing on TV and media. She is at home on live TV and Radio, having been on Springwatch, Countryfile, The One Show, Saturday Live, BBC Radio Four Women's Hour and The Today Programme. She has also presented a German-French documentary, Where Have All The Birds Gone, about the decline of grassland and farmland bird species appearing with the top author Jonathan Franzen in California, the best known birder in the USA.
She has written articles including The Times, Guardian, Observer, New Statesman and Resurgence & Ecologist; given 100 talks including a panel with George Monbiot and Caroline Lucas MP age 14 and Hay Festival main stage She was a Minister in Chris Packham's People’s Manifesto for Wildlife and spoke at his People’s Walk for Wildlife and has attended a number of events and meetings at Parliament including with Jacob Rees-Mogg, Michael Gove and Sr John Randall when he was the environmental advisor to Teresa May as PM. She has also attended a roundtable discussion with Sir Kier Starmer and Ed Milliband and given evidence to Sadiq Khan, London Mayor's London Assembly on the environment.
Mya-Rose gives her time freely to causes that are important to her such as her charity, Black2Nature, which organise many nature camps and events for visible minority ethnic children, teenagers and families. As well as this, she holds position for many organisations such as Greenpeace, RSPB, The Wildlife Trust, Survival International, Froglife, Beaver Trust, Creative UK and The Sustainable Goals Centre.
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