Regenerative Agriculture in the UK. An ecological perspective

This report, produced by the British Ecological Society brings together 40 academics, including LCNR’s Jed Soleiman, practitioners and farmers across the UK to explore the evidence for Regenerative Agriculture as a solution to delivering for both food and nature.

Summary report here

Net zero v No Net Loss: Why carbon markets aren’t a good model for investing in nature recovery

Finance Theme Lead Alex Teytelboym, recently took part in a webinar analyzing approaches to scaling investment in nature recovery. At a time of urgent need for private finance to pick up the heavy lifting in nature recovery, Alex discussed why existing market designs such as carbon and Biodiversity Net Gain are not sufficient to scale investment in nature, and use an innovative case study to demonstrate how a different, auction based approach, could scale and enable investment.

(Re)wilding London: Fabric, politics, and aesthetics

Rewilding has become established as a new mode of nature conservation. Until recently, cities and the urban were neglected by rewilding discourse; the idea of urban rewilding seen as oxymoronic. Of late, however, there has been a shift, with growing enthusiasm amongst metropolitan authorities, civil society, and citizens in major cities. Noting a dearth of research on urban rewilding, this paper proffers an agenda for future geographical research into this emerging mode of urban nature conservation.

Tropical forests post-logging are a persistent net carbon source to the atmosphere

Carbon sources and sinks in recovering logged forests

Are recovering logged forests a carbon sink due to increased tree growth rates or a carbon source due to carbon losses from soil organic matter and deadwood? Our research shows that sources outweigh sinks for at least the first decade after logging.

Logged tropical forests have amplified and diverse ecosystem energetics

Metabolic approach to forest ecosystem health

Do metabolic ecology approaches offer a useful new approach to assessing ecosystem health and nature recovery? Our research uses areas of old growth and selectively logged forest to assess this approach.

Positive effects of tree diversity on tropical forest restoration in a field-scale experiment

Active restoration of selectively logged forest

The dipterocarp trees that dominate the lowland forests of Southeast Asia have traits that mean they may be slow to naturally recover from selective-logging and other disturbances. Can active restoration techniques accelerate forest recovery? Our research uses the experimental treatments of Sabah Biodiversity Experiment to assess the effectiveness of replanting with different species and of ‘climber cutting’ – the removal of climbing liana species.

Summary of thesis: Recognitional equity in access to and planning of urban green spaces: How socio-economic deprivation shapes community values and participation in place-based governance.

Equity of access to, and planning of, Urban Green Spaces (UGS) is an area of growing interest in a period in which urban greening is intertwined with equity issues in socially diverse urban centres. While efforts to widen communities’ spatial access to UGS and procedural representation in their planning through more inclusive place-based governance arrangements have been made, little attention has been paid to the recognitional dimension of equity, here understood as recognition of communities’ lived experience of deprivation and historic relations with institutions. This thesis takes an intra- and inter-community comparative approach between three areas of Oxford with low, mid-high and high deprivation levels, and varying types of neighbourhood or regeneration plans.

Art and Nature in The Leys

A free, drop-in family-friendly event led by researchers Martha Crockatt and Mattia Troiano, developed in collaboration with Natasha Summer, a local community champion, and in partnership with the Oxfordshire African Caribbean Multicultural Society. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council’s Festival of Social Science.

Leading from the front. The Role of the Public Sector in Delivering Nature Recovery

This report sets out an expert opinion on how Government should approach the issues of funding and financing nature recovery in England.

The research takes as its starting point the essential importance of nature recovery and the headwinds so far experienced in achieving it. Taking account of the growing expectation that new nature markets will play a leading role in financing nature recovery, it then looks in detail at the risks and opportunities market mechanisms present and the steps the UK Government will need to take to oversee and regulate their use. Subsequent sections consider the essential and ongoing role of the public sector in supporting nature recovery and its under utilised potential to drive change.

Commissioned by the Woodland Trust, the research is intended to draw out key issues for policy makers and to stimulate thinking and debate.

Read the report here