Profile - Mary Rice

Profile of Mary Rice, head of the Environmental Investigation Agency published in the Sunday Times September 14th.
Profile Mary Rice
A week in the life
John Kelleher September 11 2008

When it comes to confronting the Goliaths of government, globalised crime and multinational corporations, the Environmental Investigation Agency, based in a tiny suite of offices above an Islington cafe is something of a giant killer.

The NGO, with just 22 UK staff runs as many operations as it can manage globally – exposing environmental crime, tracking, often covertly, trade in endangered species, gathering evidence and generally working to highlight and combat crimes against nature.

Mary Rice, its new chief executive, says present key campaigns include protecting forests and combating illegal logging, tracking the trade in Asian big cats, protecting whales and dolphins, fighting unlawful ivory exports and controls on ozone depleting chemicals.

Its notable past successes include stopping a massive ivory smuggling operation to Asia by a Zambia based crime syndicate.

Rice says: “We don’t have the resources to be a World Wildlife Fund or Friends Of The Earth, but we do regularly punch way above our weight. We have a documented history of campaign successes, but they’re not always recognised as ours. We find a problem and publicise it, but can’t always carry it forward so a bigger and better resourced group will come in and takeover.”

Rice, 50, trained as a journalist and spent 15 years teaching before she joined the EIA as a volunteer in 1995, 11 years after its creation as what she calls “a small sitting room outfit.”

It has evolved since then and Rice, who earns £43,000 annually, has spent much of the past week looking at how to continue its growth through restructuring to bring in more funding and to identify patrons or ambassadors. “We are looking strategically at where we are going and how we brand ourselves.”

She also had briefings with campaign teams and a full staff meeting “We’re rarely all in the office at the same time.”

The EIA is forced to target its work as it has just a trickle of regular funding from dedicated supporters. All major grants from bodies such as the EU and the Department For International Development are pegged to specific initiatives. One such three-year project is about to begin in Zambia, training local people to monitor illegal logging.

But compactness can be beneficial. Partnerships with larger bodies are frequent and the EIA can be somewhat maverick – taking direct action where larger organisations with offices and locally employed staff might be compromised. “ We can go in and come out and we won’t lose our offices and our people wont be bullied.”

She is not deterred by the EIA’s modest scale. “I think every single individual can make a difference. There is no failure in trying, only in not bothering. Working for a charity means sacrificing a lot. There are long hours, the remuneration is pretty dismal and you are faced with depressing things, but you meet the most inspirational people and each small success makes you realise that is how you build. It’s not an overnight thing.”