This talk will consider our broken relationship with nature and introduce the science of nature connectedness, why it matters and how to improve it in order to unite both human and nature’s wellbeing.
Biography
Miles Richardson is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Ergonomist and Professor of Human Factors and Nature Connectedness at the University of Derby. He founded the award winning Nature Connectedness Research Group which aims to understand and improve connection with nature to unite both human and nature’s wellbeing. The group works closely with Natural England and its work has been adopted by many organisations, including the National Trust, RSPB and 2021 Mental Health Awareness week. Miles is also the creator of the award winning ‘biodiversity stripes’ and a lead author on the ‘Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) global transformative change assessment. His book Reconnection: Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature was published April 2023.
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Biodiversity Network are interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, the Biodiversity Network, or their researchers.
More information coming soon
More information coming soon
More information coming soon
Over the past half decade, the UK has set a net zero goal and nature restoration targets, both of which require very substantial land use change. However, the UK uses 70% of its land surface, and an equivalent area overseas, to produce the food we eat. On the face of it, the UK is headed for land use conflict, and it is not alone: most countries face the same climate-nature-food challenge.
This talk, which draws on analysis done for in the National Food Strategy and subsequent work done at Green Alliance, a leading UK environmental think tank, will show how land use in the UK and other European countries can change to give us everything we want from land, and what trade-offs policymakers will have to make to enable land to change rapidly enough to meet our goals.
Background
I was the chief analytical advisor for Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy, and, with my team, have subsequently built a set of land use models that allow us to construct scenarios that meet net zero, restore nature to different levels, meet dietary and import/export preferences, model bioenergy demand, and quantify the costs of doing it all.
The lecture will be followed by an drinks reception and everyone is welcome
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Biodiversity Network are interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery/Biodiversity Network, or its researchers.
Abstract:
Ecologists study living organisms and their interactions with the physical environment, but as ecologists we seldom attempt to understand ecosystems in their entirety. This seminar will present a system-level overview of the ecological processes operating in a Malaysian rainforest, and explain how we are converting this knowledge into a digital twin ecosystem – the virtual rainforest.
Biography:
Rob Ewers is Professor of Ecology at Imperial College London who specialises in biodiversity and whole-system ecology. His vision is to integrate diverse data sources, modelling approaches and interdisciplinary collaborations to develop a holistic understanding of ecological systems. He applies his research to address pressing environmental challenges and to promote sustainable land use practices.
The lecture will be followed by an drinks reception and everyone is welcome
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.
Conservation Optimism and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery present a screening of inspiring and empowering stories from across the natural world.
In the face of environmental erosion and human negligence, it is all too easy to regard our planet with despair. But nestled amongst the prevailing stories of loss and destruction, there are inspiring stories of regeneration — of communities who nurture the planet, and who benefit from it in turn.
Join us for the Good Natured Conservation Optimism Short Film Festival, where you can watch inspiring and empowering stories from across the natural world.
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.
Global historical reconstructions of human transformation and use of landscapes confirms that most of terrestrial nature as we know it, including Earth’s most biodiverse landscapes, are cultural legacies of centuries to millennia of sustained human use.
Efforts to build a better future for people and the nature begin by recognizing that cultural natures, including those sustained by indigenous peoples for millennia, not natures without people, are the greatest planetary opportunities for recovering and sustaining Earth’s biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Even the most intensively used working landscapes on Earth, including cities and farms, are central to a nature positive future.
Biography
Erle Ellis is Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). A global Highly Cited Researcher, his work investigates the ecology of human landscapes to inform sustainable stewardship of the biosphere. He teaches environmental science and landscape ecology at UMBC and has taught landscape ecology at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. He is a Lead Author of the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment, a founding member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the ICS, Fellow of the Global Land Programme and Senior Fellow of the Breakthrough Institute. His book, Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction, was published in 2018.
The lecture will be followed by an drinks reception and everyone is welcome
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners. The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.
Abstract:
Signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Global Biodiversity Framework promised to work towards halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity by 2030 – a bold mission, and one which has a plethora of sub-targets and indicators associated with it. How these indicators will scale from local to global and how they can be aggregated to track progress, let alone guide action, is an open question. Further, there is an increasing push towards Nature Positive at the organisational level – which also requires metrics to track and report biodiversity impacts, positive and negative, and for the nascent associated biodiversity credits market. Amid this complexity, where is our lodestar target and metric equivalent to 1.5 degrees and tCO2? Is it even feasible to think that such a metric could ever exist for something as spatially and temporally heterogeneous and complex as biodiversity? In this talk I explore these issues and share some ideas about ways forward.
Bio:
Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland is Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at the University of Oxford. She is Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science in the Department of Biology. EJ works on understanding, predicting and mitigating biodiversity impacts, and monitoring and evaluating conservation interventions for their social and biodiversity outcomes. This includes large programmes on food systems, Nature Positive transitions, the wildlife trade, and social justice and equity. She aims to ensure that all the research in her group is addressing issues identified by practitioners and policy-makers, is carried out collaboratively with end-users, and builds the capacity of early-career conservationists, particularly in low-income countries. She has launched a number of initiatives which aim to change the real-world conversation around conservation, including the Nature-Positive Universities intiative and the Conservation Optimism movement. She is the Chair of the UK Government’s Darwin Expert Committee and a Trustee of WWF-UK.
The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners. The views, opinions and positions expressed within this lecture are those of the author alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.
