Publications

Leveraging human behavioural science for conservation. Brock Bergseth

In this video, we dive deep into how human behavioral science can be a game-changer in conservation efforts. Many of the most pressing environmental and conservation issues stem from human actions, but addressing these problems requires more than just awareness campaigns. Traditional methods like educating the public often fail to create lasting change. To make real progress in nature recovery, biodiversity, and environmental conservation, we need to understand and influence human behavior at a deeper level. In this insightful talk, we debunk common myths around changing environmental behaviors and explore how human social wiring can be harnessed to drive meaningful, scalable changes. We also cover the most effective communication strategies derived from behavioral science that can be used to inspire real-world impact. Whether you’re an academic, work in an NGO, or are part of government organizations dedicated to environmental recovery, this video will give you powerful tools and insights to help transform how we approach conservation challenges.

What is a Unit of Nature? Measurement Challenges in the Emerging Biodiversity Credit Market

There is growing interest in developing generalisable, standardised measurements of biodiversity, in particular to help the business and financial sectors to quantify biodiversity impacts. In their recent paper, Dr Hannah Wauchope and colleagues created a framework to explain how such units are defined in the rapidly growing voluntary biodiversity credits market. In this seminar, Hannah Wauchope will present this framework and use it to discuss the many measurement challenges that are faced in trying to reduce something as complex as biodiversity to a single unit, and what this might mean for biodiversity credit markets.

About the speaker Hannah Wauchope is a Lecturer in Ecology and Conservation at the University of Edinburgh. Her research examines how we measure biodiversity and our impacts upon it for policy and practice. Hannah studied zoology and ecology at the University of Queensland (Australia). She worked with the Australian Antarctic Division, before embarking on a PhD at the University of Cambridge to study the effects of protected areas on waterbird populations and related methodologies. Before joining the University of Edinburgh, she was an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, studying the impact of warming on species in the past (through the Holocene and late Quaternary) as a way of improving understanding of range shifts and help draw generalisations about how other species will move in the future.

This seminar was a part of the NatureFinance@Oxford seminar series, a collaboration between Resilience Planet Finance Lab, Oxford Nature Positive hub, Department of Biology. The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery was a co-host for this seminar. More information on this seminar series: https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/page/naturefinanceoxford-seminar-series

Biodiversity science for 2030 – knowledge needs to support action to reach the targets of the GBF

In this video, Andrew Gonzalez explores the critical role of biodiversity science in achieving the targets set by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) for 2030. With growing global efforts to reverse biodiversity loss, urgent and integrated action across all sectors is essential to bend the biodiversity curve. However, the implementation of the GBF is currently hindered by a lack of comprehensive and accurate data on biodiversity change. Our ability to track and understand biodiversity loss remains geographically patchy and uncertain. In this video, we introduce a detection and attribution framework for biodiversity change, which is crucial for guiding effective conservation and recovery actions. We also highlight the importance of science in supporting key targets, such as ecological connectivity and the establishment of protected areas. Furthermore, we propose the creation of a Global Biodiversity Observing System (GBiOS) to address significant knowledge gaps and enhance global biodiversity monitoring. This system will strengthen our ability to detect and assess biodiversity changes over time and bridge the gap between science and policy. Join us as we delve into innovative approaches that will support biodiversity conservation efforts and help policymakers take decisive action to meet the global biodiversity goals for 2030.

Grace, M., Smith, A., Mell, I., Houghton, J., & Neal, P. (2025). A menu of standards for green infrastructure in England: effective and equitable or a race to the bottom?. Frontiers in Environmental Science.

Green infrastructure (GI) such as street trees, parks, green roofs and raingardens can play a vital role in keeping our towns and cities clean, cool, safe and healthy. However, GI needs to be carefully planned to make sure we have enough green space for people and nature to thrive. To help local authorities deliver high quality, multifunctional GI that meets local needs as well as national priorities, Natural England has been developing a framework of GI Principles and Standards in partnership with a broad range of researchers and practitioners.

Megan C Evans, Susan Barnes, Hang Thanh Bui, Dharana Nepal, Adrian Robert Bazbauers, and Sophus zu Ermgassen (2025). Trends in biodiversity finance terminology, actors and networks over two decades. SocArXiv Papers.

The Global Biodiversity Framework aims to shift financial flows into biodiversity by at least $700 billion per annum by 2030 and emphasises the role of the private sector in addressing the ‘biodiversity finance gap’. Here we apply a novel systematic review method to non-academic (‘grey’) literature coupled with natural language processing and social network analysis to identify trends in biodiversity finance terminology, actors and networks between 2000 to 2022. Our results illustrate the recent explosion in biodiversity finance grey literature since 2020, and increased prevalence of financial over conservation terminology. Text analysis shows the frequency with which mechanisms for generating private investment in nature are mentioned is greatly disproportionate to estimates of their current and projected role in overall biodiversity financing. Our findings highlight the growth in number and diversity of biodiversity finance actors over time, while also pointing to the centrality of a powerful few in driving financialised discourses.

zu Ermgassen, S.O., Hawkins, I., Lundhede, T. et al. (2025). The current state, opportunities and challenges for upscaling private investment in biodiversity in Europe. Nature Ecology and Evolution.

European countries have committed to ambitious upscaling of privately funded nature conservation. We review the status and drivers of biodiversity finance in Europe. By implementing semistructured interviews with 25 biodiversity finance key informants and three focus groups across Europe, we explore opportunities and challenges for upscaling private investment in nature. Opportunities arise from macroeconomic and regulatory changes, along with various technological and financial innovations and growing professional experience. However, persistent barriers to upscaling include the ongoing lack of highly profitable investment opportunities and the multitude of risks facing investors, including political, ecological and reputational risks influencing supply and demand of investment opportunities. Public policy plays the foundational role in creating and hindering these mechanisms. Public policy can create nature markets and investment opportunities, meanwhile agricultural subsidies and poor coordination between public funding sources undermine the supply of return-seeking investment opportunities. Investors demand derisking investments from uncertainties; in part caused by political uncertainty. These markets require profound state intervention to enable upscaling whilst achieving positive ecological outcomes; private investment will probably not upscale without major public policy change and public investment.

Christopher E. Doughty, Benjamin C. Wiebe, Jenna M. Keany, Camille Gaillard, Andrew J. Abraham, Jeppe A. Kristensen (2025). Ecosystem engineers alter the evolution of seed size by impacting fertility and the understory light environment. Palaeontology.

It has been hypothesized that the extinction of the dinosaurs, and later the Pleistocene megafauna, created a darker forest sub-canopy benefiting large-seeded plants. Larger seeds and their fruit, in turn, opened a dietary niche space for animals thus strongly shaping the ecology of the Cenozoic, including our fruit-eating primate ancestors. In this paper, we develop a mechanistic model where we replicate the conditions of tropical forests of the early Paleocene, with small animal body and small seed size, and the Holocene, with small animal body and large seed size.

Tonya A. Lander, Acheampong Atta-Boateng, Manuel Toledo-Hernández, Andrew Wood, Yadvinder Malhi, Mirco Solé, Teja Tscharntke & Thomas Cherico Wanger (2025). Global chocolate supply is limited by low pollination and high temperatures. Communications Earth & Environment.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) provides livelihoods for 5 million smallholder farmers, but the factors limiting cocoa yield are poorly understood. We present a global analysis of pollination, cocoa tree, plantation, and climate factors affecting cocoa yield, with experimental data from three major cocoa-producing countries: Brazil, Ghana and Indonesia. Hand-pollination increased yield by 20%, showing cocoa yield is limited by pollination, but not nutrients. Leaf litter and large cacao trees, measures of soil resource availability and access, increased yield by 9-19%. Cooler temperatures by 7 °C during the hot season increased yield by up to 31%, indicating substantial risks from climate warming. Agricultural production that enhances cocoa pollinator abundance, protects soils, and mitigates climate risks will be the most effective way to secure global cocoa production and support livelihoods into the future.

Jonathon Turnbull, Tom Fry, Jamie Lorimer (2025). (Re)wilding London: Fabric, politics, and aesthetics. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.

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.

Isobel Hawkins, Talitha Bromwich, Jean-Baptiste Jouffray, Thomas B. White, Joseph W. Bull, Faye Chang, E.J. Milner-Gulland, and Sophus zu Ermgassen (2025). PREPRINT: The Biodiversity Commitments of Earth’s Keystone Corporations: Current Limitations, Untapped Potential and Future Directions. .

Over the past 50 years, large transnational “keystone” corporations have concentrated power and gained significant influence over the world’s resource reserves, production and trade. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework emphasizes the crucial role of businesses in setting and disclosing targets to mitigate their impact on nature. In this study, we identified 180 keystone corporations from highly concentrated sectors with significant environmental impacts and assessed their biodiversity commitments. Our findings reveal that while 79% of firms have made some form of biodiversity pledge, only 13% have reported sufficiently detailed, transparent and specific commitments (“robust commitments”) to allow others to assess if the targets have been met – a key prerequisite of accountability. We discuss future directions and underscore the urgent need for companies, governments, and civil society – including the research community – to work collaboratively to develop, implement, and monitor credible corporate strategies that drive meaningful action for nature.
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Theo Stanley , Mark Hirons , Jonathon Turnbull , Jamie Lorimer , Eric Mensah Kumeh , Caitlin Hafferty , Lea May Anderson , Constance L. McDermott (2025). Just nature recovery: A framework for centring multispecies and multi-dimensional justice in land management. Environmental Science & Policy.

Highlights

• Justice considerations can be overlooked in the planning and delivery of nature recovery projects.
• Multispecies justice and multi-dimensional justice offer alternative framings of justice and how it can be achieved.
• Integrating MSJ and MDJ approaches can inform nuanced analyses of nature recovery projects.
• We consider the different justice concerns in a range of examples from Scottish nature recovery.
• Historicizing contexts is crucial for highlighting justice concerns and creating more equitable governance alternatives.

Maria B. Millsa,b , Yadvinder Malhic , Robert M. Ewersb , Lip Khoon Khoc,d, Yit Arn Tehe , Sabine Bothf , David F. R. P. Burslemg , Noreen Majalaph , Reuben Nilush , Walter Huaraca Huascoc,d , Rudi Cruzi,j , Milenka M. Pillcoj , Edgar C. Turnerk , Glen Reynoldsl , and Terhi Riuttab,c,d (2022). Tropical forests post-logging are a persistent net carbon source to the atmosphere. PNAS.

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.