Andy Atkins
November 2009
Andy Atkins talks about climate change, poverty and painting landscapes
What attracted you to geography?
I grew up abroad – my parents lived in North Australia from when I was under two through to eleven years old so I saw quite a diversity of places in my childhood. By the time I reached my mid teens I was absolutely fascinated by how different places developed and evolved – having lived in varying locations myself ranging from a tropical Pacific island through to the East End of London by the time I was 15.
How did this lead to overseas development work?
The itinerant upbringing impressed upon me that much of the poverty I saw was not accidental and could be prevented. That’s why I wanted to study geography and find out what could be going on and then try and do something about it with development work.
And how did this lead to your role at Tearfund?
I worked as a volunteer in Argentina for nine months shortly after the Falklands war; dealing with the fall-out of the human rights abuses under the military regime – they were digging up the bodies of the disappeared. So I then returned to work for a small human rights organisation. It was there I cut my teeth on campaigning. I then went to CAFOD, and on to Tearfund, via CIIR. They were looking to set up advocacy work and as I had been lobbying for years around development issues, setting this up from scratch at a big development NGO was irresistible. I was keen to see the church come much more on board with understanding that you had to change politics too.
What were the outcomes of that role you were most proud of?
My objective was to set up a serious policy and campaigns department, which we achieved. It was also important getting the organisational leadership to agree for me to set up a poverty and environment programme which led to campaigning first on water and then on climate change. I was then on the steering committee of the Make Poverty History coalition which set out to mobilise people across the UK to campaign for change. This attracted huge publicity and successfully led to a change in government policy.
What attracted you to Friends of the Earth?
I had reached a point where I had done what I had set out to do at Tearfund and wanted to focus far more on climate change and biodiversity. It was also important to be somewhere where I could make a real difference with my leadership and campaigning experience on climate change. So when the role here at Friends of the Earth came up it was a perfect match.
How do you feel about what you have achieved so far?
Friends of the Earth’s biggest achievement has been the passing of the Climate Change Act. The organisation led the campaign for new legislation and this involved intense lobbying right up to the last minute, before becoming law a year ago. And since then, when everyone was totally shattered, we worked up three new climate change campaigns and launched them all. So there has been no rest!
The three campaigns are Get Serious about CO2 – to persuade councils to take action on emissions, a campaign to secure effective international climate action at the UN talks in Copenhagen later this year and the Food Chain Campaign, which aims to bring about planet-friendly farming.
What do you think are the main issues facing the charity sector today?
There is a risk we get too obsessed with the recession and miss the bigger picture. The big challenge is to retain your innovation, flexibility and agility whilst continuing to become more professional and adapt to an increasingly complicated environment.
Ironically the recession has generated opportunities too, such as an increasing realisation of the urgent need to cut energy waste and boost green energy – we need to ensure that a greener way of doing things is a central part of the economic recovery.
How do you switch off
It depends what time I have available. I listen to diverse music – Paul Simon, U2 and bits of classical music – Beethoven and Brahms. I enjoy painting, increasingly urban landscapes, and I’m a member of the Surbiton Arts Group (SAG) – I had the dubious honour of being the youngest member by some decades when I joined…
Tell us about the family
My other half is a solicitor in a local firm. She does three days a week there and two other days dedicated to community outreach work. We’ve got three kids: a 21-year old studying politics and development, an 18-year old on a gap year in Peckham (unusual, but I am proud of him) and a 13-year old still at school.
Best of times?
The mobilising effect of the Make Poverty History Campaign in 2005.
Worst of times
Not being able to persuade those at the top of organisations to seize the opportunity to do something really brilliant. Now I am in this role I only have myself to blame if this happens!
Andy Atkins was talking to Clarissa Dann
Author: Andy Atkins
Andy Atkins became executive director of Friends of the Earth in March 2008 having previously worked as policy and campaigns director at Tearfund. He was a key member of the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, and under his policy and campaign leadership Tearfund became the first major UK NGO to campaign on climate change. Andy studied geography and Latin American development at University College, London and NGO management at the Open University. He is married to Sarah, a solicitor and has three children
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