Opportunities and challenges of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

A discussion with David Cooper – Convention on Biological Diversity. Deputy Executive Secretary.

David played a leadership role in finalising the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP-15 in Montreal, and will once again be Secretary of the COP.

After a short talk about the prospects and priorities for COP16, which takes place in Cali, from 21 Oct to 1 Nov 2024, David will hold an informal discussion on the how the Oxford research agenda can contribute.

The ecology and conservation of atolls

Over one third of Indo-Pacific islands are atolls. Nevertheless, atolls remain largely unrecognised as a distinct ecosystem type, beyond being recognised for their smallness and perceived depauperate floras and faunas. However, atolls are systems with a remarkable and unique biogeography and ecology that transcend classic boundary thinking of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial realms. Recognising atolls as dynamic and integrated systems of geologic, marine, and terrestrial processes may hold the key for unlocking conservation opportunities and place-based solutions to build resilience to climate change and preserve their unique cultural and ecological values beyond the Anthropocene.

Biography: Sebastian is an early-career postdoctoral researcher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has been researching atoll systems since his graduate studies, working and living on atolls across the Indo-Pacific. His research takes a system’s thinking approach to atolls, aimed at identifying the unique properties and processes of their biogeography and ecology that can contribute to establishing a rethinking of atolls in conservation and ecological restoration.

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.

The Return of the Mermaid: Revitilizing the Lerma Wetlands in the highlands of Central Mexico with the guidance of the Mother of the Waters

Abstract

The Lerma Wetlands in the highlands of Central Mexico have been home to Otomian peoples for at least ten thousand years. In their belief system, the rich biodiversity in the sweet water wetlands and the valley was the fruit of the generosity of Creation Mother, the Tlanchana, who would show in her favorite springs, at the feet of the Sierra Mountains that separate the Toluca Valley from the valley of Mexico to the east. When in the 1940s hundreds of springs were destroyed with dynamite as per instructions of an international water consultant, the Tlanchana abandoned her people and the waters were swallowed into the aquifer, with fish and all: the 20,000 ha wetland shrank to a few scattered ponds.

What Mindahi and his wife Geraldine bring is his biographic accounting of what has happened in the time of his grandfather, his father, himself, and their children, at a time when Tlanchana seems to be announcing her return. Will they be ready to receive her?

Bios
Mindahi Bastida Muñoz was born in San Pedro Tultepec, an island in the Lerma Wetland in Mexico State. He has a PhD in Rural Development and is member of the Otomi National Council of Mexico. He served for eight years as head of the Sustainable Development Division of the Intercultural University of Mexico State, and has promoted the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determine the future of their ecoregions for decades. He is a traditional ceremonialist and member of the Grand Council of the Eagle and Condor, also known as Earth Elders. He is the main author of the renowned book Ancestors, and is the co-producer of an online educational curriculum on the subject. He is also a proud contributor of Rooted in Ethics. Honoring life through a biocultural rights-based approach to care for trees and communities. He continues to support his community to protect the Wetlands and carries out yearly ceremonies in reverence to the Mother of the Waters.

Geraldine Patrick Encina is fourth generation Scottish, and she acknowledges both her Celtic and Mapuche ancestors. She is an Ethnoecologist and a Mesoamerican Cultural Astronomer, who has specialized on ancestral conceptions of time-space. She has recovered the original Otomi, Maya and Mexica-Aztec calendar systems and is currently working on a book to shift the paradigm of Mesoamerican conceptions of time-space. (Her scientific breakthrough implies changing every single Olmec, Maya, Toltec, Otomi and Aztec historical record that has been published in the last century). Her work sheds new light not only about the way that ancient civilizations conceived their place in the world, but also of why their inheritors today are so resilient and stubbornly connected to Mother Nature and lifecycles. She is author of Wetland Ecology and Culture in Almoloya del Río, and was a professor of Ethnoecology at the Intercultural University of Mexico State while raising her two children. She is currently an Indigenous Relations Advisor for One Earth, and is supporting the community members of the Lerma Wetlands to defend their rights as a socioecological unit.

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.

The planetary boundaries framework: helpful for shaping human futures?

The framework of planetary boundaries is widely applied to encapsulate the idea that human transformation of the planet is in danger of breaching multiple thresholds in planetary function, leading to dangerous consequences for human futures and for wider life on Earth. It has inspired further concepts, including the “doughnut” model of a safe operating space for humanity. However, specific boundaries are difficult to identify and practically action, and some have argued that a such a boundaries framework hinders developing positive narratives for human and planetary flourishing.

Join us as we discuss this planetary topic, with ecological economist Kate Raworth, Erle Ellis, Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems and Yadvinder Malhi, Director of Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery.

Kate Raworth is an ecological economist and creator of the Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries. Her internationally best-selling book, Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think like a 21st Century Economist, has been translated into more than 20 languages. In 2019 she co-founded Doughnut Economics Action Lab to collaborate with changemakers worldwide – from mayors and entrepreneurs to teachers and community activists – who are turning the book’s ideas into practice. She teaches at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and is Professor of Practice at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Erle Ellis is Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) where he directs the Anthroecology Laboratory. His research investigates the ecology of human landscapes at local to global scales to inform sustainable stewardship of the biosphere in the Anthropocene. His recent work examines long-term changes in Earth’s ecology produced by human societies through the concept of anthropogenic biomes, or anthromes, a term he introduced in 2008. He is author of Anthropocene: A Very Short Introduction.

Yadvinder Malhi is an ecosystem ecologist, Professor of Ecosystem Science at Oxford and Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. His work focuses on understanding the functioning of the biosphere and its interactions with global change, and on how nature recovery can be developed and enabled to support a thriving future for life on Earth.

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.

In praise of the phenotype: Stock-taking and perspectives in plant functional trait ecology

The plant functional trait diversity research programme has expanded dramatically in the past two decades, as a result of the combination of a long-standing interest in fundamental syndromes of adaptive specialization behind the vast variety of form and function observed in nature on the one hand, and the pressing need to inform biodiversity policy in the face of rapid environmental change, on the other. Its first stages, focused on interspecific variability of traits assumed essential for plant growth, survival and reproduction, led to an unprecedented degree of collaboration in tools and communal data, and resulted in important stylized facts. From there, different paths branched out towards intraspecific variability, genomics, demography, biogeography, cascading into other trophic levels, and social perception and values.

The paths have achieved different degrees of progress, with some opening up whole new fields of inquiry and some others at risk of becoming blind alleys. A common denominator, however, is the need to recover the idea of integrated phenotype, as a keystone concept in the interface between functional ecology, evolutionary biology and ecosystem science.

Biography
Sandra Díaz is a Senior Principal Investigator of the Argentine National Research Council, a Professor of Ecology at Córdoba National University (Argentina), and a Visiting Professor at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University (United Kingdom). She is interested in plant functional traits and syndromes, their effects on ecosystem properties, their contributions to human quality of life, and their interactions with global change drivers.

She constructed the first global quantitative picture of essential functional diversity of vascular plants –the global spectrum of plant form and function. She has advanced theory and practical implementation of the concept of functional diversity and its effects on ecosystem properties and benefits to people. She combines her ecology studies with interdisciplinary work on how different societies value and reconfigure nature, having spearheaded transformative conceptual frameworks favouring pluralistic collaborations in environmental knowledge and action, including the influential notion of nature’s contributions to people. She co-founded the Global Communal Plant Trait Initiative TRY.

She co-chaired the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and played a major role in the expert scientific advice to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. She is a Foreign Fellow of the British Royal Society, a member of the American Philosophical Society and a member of the Academies of Sciences of Argentina, USA, France, Norway, Latin America and the Developing World, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received several international scientific awards, including the Margalef Prize in Ecology (2017), the BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge in Ecology and Conservation Award (2021), and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Medal (2022).

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.

Boldly reimagining our approaches to nature recovery

In this provocative talk Justin will argue that while the increased awareness and understanding of the decline of biodiversity is to be welcomed. Our current approaches and responses at both the global and local levels are woefully inadequate. We are stuck in a cycle of incremental gains that are failing to address the roots causes of the ‘nature crisis’. Moving forward we will need to be much bolder in reimagining the future we want to help build.

Justin will draw on his diverse experience to highlight the inadequacies of incremental approaches and the urgent need for transformative change. From addressing commodity-driven deforestation, to the ongoing challenges and controversies of the carbon market, to his experience of implementing Biodiversity Net Gain locally, Justin will share insights gained from more than 15 years working on nature recovery.

He will take a step back to explore what we can learn from all these examples and then offer some perspectives on how we might collectively reimagine our approaches to nature recovery.

This interactive discussion will provide a platform for attendees to challenge assumptions and engage in dialogue on the future of nature recovery. Come prepared to explore bold solutions and contribute to the conversation.

Biography:
Justin is a seasoned expert in nature and food systems. He has held senior roles in both the private sector and civil society and was a Senior Advisor to the UK Government to deliver COP26 for which he was awarded an OBE by the late Queen in 2022. Most recently he led the strategy development of Generation Investment Management’s new multi hundred-million-dollar nature and food investment fund.

He stepped down from this role in August 2023 to create space for a much deeper exploration of how to unlock transformational change at both the individual and system levels. His latest endeavour, the Ostara Collective, launches in June and aims to create intentional dialogue and space for restoring our relationship with ourselves, our communities, and the Earth. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, is a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School and is Chair of the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment focused on local nature recovery.

 

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.

The role of secondary forests in mitigating fragmentation-related extinctions

Abstract:

Secondary forests are the predominant type of forest cover across the tropics. They provide myriad services and natural products to human populations worldwide and key habitat for countless forest-dwelling species. Although some fragmentation-related extinctions can be averted by forest regeneration, the role of second growth in biodiversity conservation remains controversial. Central to the debate is the capacity of secondary forests to preserve old-growth specialist species and to buffer the impacts of fragmentation on assemblages living in forest remnants. The Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) is one of the world’s largest and longest-running experimental investigations. Spanning an area of ∼1000 km2 in the Central Brazilian Amazon, the BDFFP was initially designed to assess how fragment size influences biodiversity and ecological processes within rainforests. However, it has transcended its initial objectives, offering a wealth of insights into the long-term ecological dynamics of fragmented landscapes and their intricate relationship with forest regeneration. This talk will provide an overview of the research conducted over the last decades at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP), examining with particular detail the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic responses of bats, one of the richest Amazonian mammalian groups, to forest regeneration. I will explore area, edge, and matrix effects and investigate time-related complexities related to both short- and long-term responses to changes in matrix structure and composition. Finally, taking the BDFFP as an illustrative example, we will discuss the conservation implications of these findings for tropical biodiversity and propose avenues for future research in temporal ecology.

Biography:

Ricardo Rocha is a conservation biologist from Portugal, with a specialization in tropical forests and island ecosystems. His research is aimed at providing the evidence required to support conservation decision-making in the face of contemporary global change. Ricardo’s particular focus lies in identifying ways to restore biodiversity in the aftermath of habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as managing human-modified landscapes to retain biodiversity and maximize ecosystem services. During his Ph.D., Ricardo spent over two and a half years studying bat communities at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in the Central Amazon region of Brazil. He then joined the Conservation Science Group of the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, where he worked on the Conservation Evidence project. Simultaneously, he served as a scientific adviser for Lonely Planet, contributing to non-fiction wildlife books for children. For his second postdoctoral research position, Ricardo investigated the role of bats as suppressors of agricultural insect pests and human disease vectors in Macaronesia, West Africa and Madagascar. Rocha received the European Early Career Conservation Award from the SCB Europe Section in 2020 became a National Geographic Explorer in the same year. Ricardo is currently an Associate Professor in Conservation Science at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow at Jesus College.

Does science impact nature conservation policy? Stories of success and failure. Hugh Possingham

Hugh in semi-retirement has 3 jobs: Biodiversity Council’s Co-chief Councillor, Chief Scientist of Accounting for Nature and The University of Queensland. He was the founding Director of The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, the National Environmental Science Program Threatened Species hub and an Australian Research Council Professorial, Laureate and Federation Fellow.

Hugh also has a variety of broader public roles advising policy makers and managers, and sits on c30 boards and advisory committees – from the Friends of Oxley Creek Common to Conservation International.

Alongside Dr Barry Traill, Hugh wrote “The Brigalow Declaration”. This open letter was used by the Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to stop land clearing in the state, thereby stopping c10% of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions per annum and saving an area the size of Portugal from conversion into farmland.

The Possingham lab developed Marxan, the most widely used conservation planning software in the world. Marxan was used to underpin the rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef and is currently employed by more than 7000 users in over 180 countries to build most of the world’s marine and terrestrial protected area systems from the Amazon and British Columbia to the Sunda Sea and South Africa.

Hugh has co-authored over 740 peer-reviewed papers, including 35 in Science and Nature, and has been the privileged mentor of over 200 PhD candidates, honours students and postdoctoral researchers. His google scholar h-index is 164. Hugh has honorary doctorates from the University of British Columbia and Adelaide University.

He has one known psychological disorder – a compulsive desire to watch birds.

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.

Spirit of the Amazon, Indigenous Peoples of the Xingu

Sue is a photojournalist and Patrick is a writer. They have been documenting environmental and social issues in Brazil since 1985, with a focus on indigenous issues.

It all started one day in the 1980s when Sue met Cacique Raoni Metuktire and her life changed; he anchored her soul to the forest. Since then Sue and Patrick have produced many features for magazines and books, based on frequent visits, mostly to the Xingu River basin.

The Kayapo warriors, men and women, and all of the 18 different Indigenous peoples of the Xingu taught them so much about the forest and how to live. For them it was a re-birth. Witnessing the rapacious destruction they felt they had to do something!

They became more and more involved – and invested – in the Amazon and the people who live there. They gained a greater understanding of the social and environmental importance of the forest and neighbouring cerrado, for Brazil and the rest of the World.

In 2007 they spent six months travelling through the states of Mato Grosso and Pará, navigating the 2,500 kms of the Xingu River. They listened to their indigenous hosts as they told of their struggles and hopes. They shared dreams, they made lifelong friends. Each of the 48 villages they visited asked them to take their message to the world, to tell the kuben (non-indigenous people) about the strong indigenous cultures and the threats they are facing, from farmers, from illegal fires, from mining and from climate change.

That voyage is documented in their award-winning book “Spirit of the Amazon”. This illustrated talk brings that message from the heart of Brasil to Oxford!

“Our incredible friends from Xingu fed us, body and soul,” said Sue. “They showed us that they are one entity with the forest, the river, the rocks and the sky. They want non-Indigenous people to understand that Indigenous people are people, women and men, with aspirations and dreams. They are proud to fight with hope for a better future for their children and grandchildren, in fact for all of us wherever we are.”

Through their charity Tribes Alive they have been supporting Indigenous Peoples who are adapting to change. As their understanding of non-indigenous cultures has grown they have become bridges of knowledge. For Sue and Patrick they are very much part of their daily lives. When Cacique Raoni Metuktire comes to the UK he always insist on staying with Sue and Patrick because he is at home in their house, especially in their suburban garden!

Now more than ever it is important to give prominence to these resilient original peoples of the Amazon, to the indigenous guardians who protect and defend the forest in Brazil, who elevate the spirit of Amazon for the benefit of humanity!

Our book Spirit of the Amazon

French edition

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.

Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods in Ghana: the impacts, adaptations and barriers – Prof. Philip Antwi-Agyei

Climate change poses considerable threats to socioeconomic development and ecological systems across Africa. This is particularly critical for smallholder farming communities in dryland agroecosystems where climate change interact with non-climatic stressors and shocks to exacerbate the vulnerability of rural livelihoods. Ghana is already suffering from significant climate change impacts and is projected to experience increased temperatures and erratic rainfall patterns in the coming years and decades. This threatens the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially those relating to poverty reduction (SDG 1), food security (SDG 2) and climate action (SDG 13).

This talk focuses on providing an understanding of the adverse impacts of climate change and variability on rural livelihoods in northern Ghana and how these perpetuate existing vulnerability among rural households and communities. Drawing on personal research from across rural Ghana, this talk spotlights the various practices employed by rural communities to moderate the adverse impacts of climate risks. The talk also highlights the key barriers confronting rural communities in their attempt to address the impacts of climate change. The talk concludes by proposing a number of recommendations such as increased use of climate services, climate-smart agriculture interventions and changing cropping choices, aimed at making rural livelihoods in northern Ghana more resilient in the face of climate change and variability.

Biography
Prof. Philip Antwi-Agyei is the Director of the Office of Grants and Research at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Philip is a former Commonwealth Scholar, who obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 2013. Philip is an interdisciplinary climate change scientist whose research involves developing innovative multi-scale methodologies for assessing vulnerability and adaptations to climate change across the local, regional and national scales. Specifically, his research uses spatial databases, ecological studies and field-based participatory approaches aimed at broadening understanding of how climate change and variability affect food security and livelihoods.

Prof. Antwi-Agyei was a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 oC, and a Contributing Author on the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC. He has consulted for leading international organisations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, Accra), the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Canada, and Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency, to mention but a few. Philip developed the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Framework for Ghana and the National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan for the Infrastructure Sector (Water, Energy, and Transport Sectors). Prof. Antwi-Agyei was the Consultant for the adaptation component of Ghana’s Updated Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement.

Prof. Antwi-Agyei is a recipient of several prestigious international grants including the International Foundation for Science (2010–2013), Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement Fellowship (2015–2016) funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, Innovation Grant from the London School of Economics and University of Leeds, United Kingdom (2016–2018), and Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (2016–2021) funded by the Global Challenge Research Fund. He has also won grants under the Climate Research for Development (2019–2021), an initiative of the African Climate Policy Centre in partnership with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. Philip was a Fellow under the Future Leaders–Africa Independent Research (FLAIR) (2020–2022) and Collaboration Grants (2021–2022) funded by the Royal Society, London.

He has published extensively in reputable international peer reviewed journals on climate change issues and presented his research outputs in several international conferences and workshops. Philip serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Climate and Development (published by Taylor and Francis). He also serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Environmental Policy and Governance and is a regular reviewer for several leading high impact factor journals on climate change related matters.

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.

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