Clost up of an Owl

Working to understand and support what it takes to deliver effective, inclusive and scalable nature recovery

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery acts as a hub for innovative thinking, discussion and analysis of nature recovery nationally and worldwide, it unites leading researchers from a wide range of disciplines across the University, its interdisciplinary approach bringing together expertise from the departments of geography, ecology, social science, finance, economics, psychiatry, anthropology, artificial intelligence, statistics and earth observation, to collaborate on a range of projects, in conjunction with national and international partners.

Successful nature recovery requires the full engagement and support of local communities, appropriate local governance and clear articulation of financial costs and benefits. It necessitates not only an understanding of ecology and land use, but also understanding and allowing for local land rights as well as cultural, social, food provision, health and wellbeing, and the economic values of landscapes. The Centre incorporates these multiple dimensions into a single framework for developing scenarios and strategies for nature recovery.

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery will have six main themes:

Ecology

Testing the effectiveness of different ecological approaches for nature recovery to support biodiversity and the delivery of ecosystem services such as climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Scale and Technology

Tracking and evaluating nature recovery at both fine resolution and large spatial scales utilising state-of-the-art remote sensing, big data, and deep machine learning techniques.

Society

Encompassing the governance and socio-cultural dimensions of nature recovery.

Finance

Scaling finance and investment for rapid nature recovery at a global scale.

Human health and wellbeing

Exploring, understanding, and determining those aspects of nature which directly contribute to improvements in physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Systems

Developing a novel Analysis and Decision Platform to integrate nature recovery into land-use and infrastructure planning, and exploring scenarios that can deliver local, national and international commitments to nature, climate change and sustainable development.