Publications

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 (2026). 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.

Yadvinder Malhi, Terhi Riutta, Oliver R. Wearn, Nicolas J. Deere, Simon L. Mitchell, Henry Bernard, Noreen Majalap, Reuben Nilus, Zoe G. Davies, Robert M. Ewers & Matthew J. Struebig (2021). Logged tropical forests have amplified and diverse ecosystem energetics. Nature.

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.

Ryan Veryard, Jinhui Wu, Michael J. O’Brien, Rosila Anthony, Sabine Both6, David F.R.P. Burslem, Bin Chen, Elena Fernandez-Miranda Cagigal, H. Charles J. Godfray, Elia Godoong, Shunlin Liang, Philippe Saner, Bernhard Schmid, Yap Sau Wai, Jun Xie, Glen Reynolds, and Andy Hector (2023). Positive effects of tree diversity on tropical forest restoration in a field-scale experiment. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adf0938.

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.

Charles J. Marsh, Edgar C. Turner, Benjamin Wong Blonder, Boris Bongalov, Sabine Both, Rudi S. Cruz , Dafydd M. O. Elias, David Hemprich-Bennett, Palasiah Jotan, Victoria Kemp, Ully H. Kritzler, Sol Milne, David T. Milodowski, Simon L. Mitchell , Milenka Montoya Pillco, Matheus Henrique Nunes, Terhi Riutta, Samuel J. B. Robinson, Eleanor M. Slade, Henry Bernard, David F. R. P. Burslem, Arthur Y. C. Chung, Elizabeth L. Clare, David A. Coomes, Zoe G. Davies, David P. Edwards, David Johnson, Pavel Kratina, Yadvinder Malhi, Noreen Majalap, Reuben Nilus, Nicholas J. Ostle, Stephen J. Rossiter, Matthew J. Struebig, Joseph A. Tobias, Mathew Williams, Robert M. Ewers, Owen T. Lewis, Glen Reynolds, Yit Arn Teh, Andy Hector (2025). Tropical forest clearance impacts biodiversity and function, whereas logging changes structure. Science.

The natural value of recovering selectively logged forests
Large areas of forest in Borneo have been selectively logged and are now undergoing recovery – how do these selectively logged forests differ from their undisturbed old growth counterparts and what are the consequences if they are converted to oil palm plantation?