Burning Man's founder has considered the reason behind his festival's lack of diversity and come up with a simple if highly controversial answer - black people just don't like camping as much as white people because it reminds them of slavery.

Larry Harvey set up the iconic experimental event with a group of friends in 1986 and it is still held every year in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. 'Radical inclusion' is one of the festival's key principles, but a recent report found that just 1.3 per cent of around 70,000 'burners' identify as black.

When the Guardian put these figures to Harvey during a recent interview, his response was come up with possible reasons behind them and insist that he will never "set racial quotas".

"I got a lot of criticism for once saying I don't think black folks like to camp as much as white folks," he said. "I think it's a little much to expect the organisation to solve the problem of racial parity. We do see a fast-increasing influx of Asians, black folks."

Burning Man Festival 2014 Show all 14 1 /14 Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man People gather around the art installation Embrace during the Burning Man 2014 'Caravansary' arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Burning Man participants walk on the play a at the annual Burning Man event in the Black Rock Desert of Gerlach AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Artist Christina Minor paints on one of the panels around centre camp at Burning Man AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man An aerial view during the Burning Man 2014 'Caravansary' arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada Reuters/JIM URQUHART Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Art cars are lined up to be registered at the Black Rock DMV AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Burning Man participants bike on the playa during the annual Burning Man event AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man A Burning Man participant's bike is surrounded by art cars that are lined up at the Black Rock DMV AP Photo/Reno Gazette-Journal, Andy Barron Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man A pirate ship cruises the Playa during the Burning Man 2014 'Caravansary' arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Karen Carner and her husband Mark Lee decorate a bike Tuesday at a Wal-Mart in Reno, Nev. The couple are providing concierge service for two women from Pittsburgh who are first-timers at the festival AP/Cathleen Allison Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man People interact with art installations during the Burning Man 2014 arts and music festival REUTERS/Jim Urquhart Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Eddie Southerden, of London, loads supplies at a Wal-Mart in Reno, Nev. Southerden is one of many Burners delayed after a rare rain storm temporarily closed the entrance to Burning Man AP/Cathleen Allison Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Burners, from left, Corbin Stinson, Beth Rademacher and Kaleb Acklin, all of Hawaii, restock their supplies AP/Cathleen Allison Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man An art car is driven to the Black Rock DMV to be registered at the annual Burning Man event on the Black Rock Desert of Gerlach, Nev RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL/Andy Barron/AP Burning Man Festival 2014 Burning Man Burner Suzie Wyld, of Australia, stocks up at a Wal-Mart in Reno, Nev. after a rare rain storm temporarily closed the entrance to Burning Man. The Playa reopened early Monday morning for the weeklong counter-culture festival that draws 70,000 people to the Black Rock Desert AP Photo/Cathleen Allison

Harvey believes that "historic reasons" are to blame for the diversity issue. "Remember a group that was enslaved and made to work? Slavishly, you know, in the fields," he said, adding that his ex-wife and children are African-American.

"This goes all the way back to the Caribbean scene, when the average life of a slave in the fields was very short. And so, there's that background, that agrarian poverty associated with things. Maybe your first move isn't to go camping. Seriously."