About
We will examine and quantify the ecosystem health, climate benefits and challenges of different approaches to nature recovery, by directly targeted data collection, synthesis of data collected by partners and assimilation of the wider literature and evidence base.
Our approaches
Our first approach will be experimental, because there is a need for well-designed long-term studies with consistent baselines and monitoring and evaluation of nature recovery pathways. The 10-year funding for the Centre uniquely enables long-term ecological, social and financial experiments to be initiated, monitored and rigorously evaluated for their effectiveness in delivering successful outcomes.
We will provide scientific support for a range of studies in our Case Study landscapes, working with local partners on their lands. Most locally, we will establish a flagship set of robustly designed long-term nature recovery experiments on University of Oxford-owned lands. Experiments will include different strategies for biodiversity-supportive agriculture, for assisted and natural regeneration of forests and other ecosystems, and the effects of animal-mediated rewilding.
Our second approach will harness cutting-edge approaches in AI to develop innovative methods for the compilation and continuous updating of a global open-access evidence base of the effectiveness and benefits of nature recovery strategies.
A key challenge is the rapid rate of increase of data and evidence: a huge and rapidly growing literature is scattered across disciplines in the physical, natural, and social sciences in thousands of publications and is thus not easily accessible to decision-makers. To address this challenge, we will utilise state-of-the art machine learning/natural language processing technologies to expedite and deepen our learning from systematic reviews of existing literature on nature recovery.
We will examine how the key findings of our robust studies can be integrated within development plans at local, national and global scales and contribute towards goals to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Related News Articles
Africa’s wildlife has lost a third of its natural ‘power’, Oxford-led study warns
New paper in Nature today
Measuring Green Infrastructure Equity: Insights from an OPEN Fellowship
Why equitable access to green infrastructure matters
New research starts to unlock the wild secrets of vast nature recovery project
Groundbreaking wildlife acoustic monitoring and soil analysis begin at The Rothbury Estate in Northumberland
Beavers in Paradise
In anticipation of a re-beavered urban future, a cohort of urban rewilders seeks to prepare Londoners to welcome the rodent’s imminent return
Satellites are transforming biodiversity monitoring for global nature targets, but major gaps remain
Related Projects
Healthy Ecosystem Restoration in Oxfordshire
Developing the local Oxfordshire landscape as a case-study, nature-recovery laboratory and community of practice.
Ecoacoustic Data Analytics
Advancing AI methods to determine ecosystem composition from acoustic recordings, distinguishing species, geophonic & anthropogenic sounds in soundscapes as well as flagging unusual or unanticipated sounds.
Assessing Ecosystem Health Across a Gradient of Herbivory in East African Savannas
Identifying tipping points by quantifying key indicators of ecosystem health in East African savannas.
Ecoacoustics for assessing ecosystem health and function, from air to soil
Developing scaleable, transferable, and open approaches for ecoacoustics to assess nature recovery across global ecosystems
Tropical forest research
The rainforests of Southeast Asia are rapidly disappearing. And with the trees goes the service they provide. A forest is a water reservoir, it acts against drought and it is a source and a sink for carbon. That's why ecologists came onto the scene.
Assessing urban ecosystem composition and function to understand pathways towards equitable, Nature-smart cities
Through considering the ecosystem composition and functioning of Greater London, I hope to provide not only a comprehensive analysis of nature of in cities as it currently stands, but I also hope to provide routes to improving nature in these areas based on this.
Revealing the compositional and functional responses of mycorrhizal fungi to rewilding at the Knepp Wildland
Using novel eDNA methods to understand if rewilding is also serving below-ground communities, focusing on 'keystone' mycorrhizal communities and their functions.
Exploring the ecological effects of forest pests and diseases in a changing world
We leverage experimental and synthesised data approaches to create integrative models that predict the effects of pests and pathogens on forest ecology.
Expanding native forest in Scotland: small-scale mechanisms, landscape-scale responses
Experimental and landscape-scale data collection to understand above and belowground drivers of and responses to native forest expansion in the Scottish Highlands
An energetic approach to assessing nature recovery in soils – a regenerative agriculture case study
Measuring and comparing energy to and through soil biodiversity under regenerative and chemical farming to understand and assess nature recovery in this traditional ‘black box’
The role of regenerative farming for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
We utilise both standardised and cutting-edge methods to explore biodiversity and ecosystem functioning along a land use gradient to better understand the role of regenerative farming.
Evenlode Landscape Recovery
Lead by the North East Cotswold Farming Cluster and funded by DEFRA as apart of the Environmental Land Management schemes, the project aims to expedite the transition to a financially and environmentally sustainable farming system through nature recovery efforts.
Oxfordshire Treescape Project
Supporting Oxfordshire land managers, parishes and communities with nature recovery planning.
Understanding nature recovery paths and ecosystem functioning through forests health assessments
Quantifying the health of forests ecosystems by means of earth observation can aid in understanding nature recovery paths and ecosystem functioning
Bunloit and Beldorney
Exploring the ecological and social dimensions of nature recovery.
Mapping the resilience of tropical forests and savannas to global environmental change
Climate change effect on tropical forests
Equitable distribution of nature-rich accessible green space: An Oxfordshire case study
Investigating the distribution of freely accessible green space in Oxfordshire in relation to socio-economic status to inform local green space planning.
Remote sensing approaches to characterise pollinator diversity and plant-pollinator interactions in nature recovery landscapes of Eastern Ghana
Evaluating the effects of nature recovery on pollinators their interactions with plants.
Bridging Field Data and Vegetation Models: Forest Carbon Cycling Across Scales
Vegetation models have been used by many organisations (including the IPCC) to predict climate change on a global scale, but are these models getting the current ecosystem right?
The Energy of Nature
What energy flow can reveal about the functioning & health of ecosystems, as well as its potential to serve as a metric for tracking the decline & recovery of nature
From Roots to Canopy: A Whole-Plant Understanding of Nutrient Flows in Tropical Forests and Savannas
Gold at the Margins: Analysing how fragmented governance and risk regimes shape ecological outcomes and exclusion in global mineral supply chains.
How formalisation policies, enforcement practices, and international due diligence regimes influence both ecological outcomes and local livelihoods.
Ecoacoustics & citizen science at the Rothbury Estate
Monitoring the sound of nature recovery at the Rothbury Estate in colaboration with the Wildlife Trusts and citizen scientists.
Coordinating Research Around Biodiversity Net Gain
At its heart, BNG frames a challenging question: in a world where new housing, workplaces and other land use needs are deemed essential; is it possible to provide this infrastructure without Nature bearing the brunt of the costs?
Drivers of Soil Microbiota Composition Across Ecosystem Gradients
Exploring to what extent the community composition of soil bacteria and fungi across Ghana is driven by abiotic climatic or soil conditions and vegetation composition
Related Outputs
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
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.
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.
Example Opportunity Report
This Treescapes Opportunity Report is an example of a parish report showing existing natural assets, potential locations for nature recovery opportunities (species-rich grassland, woodland, hedgerows, silvo-arable or silvo-pasture, community orchards), and the natural benefits that they could provide. Such reports were provided free of charge to 150 Oxfordshire parish groups and land managers, thanks to […]
Oxford Nature Conversations Project Citizens’ Jury on People & Nature
In February 2025, Oxford Nature Conversations brought together 15 residents to collaboratively envision a future where both people and nature can thrive in Oxford. Over the course of four deliberative workshop days, participants engaged in structured discussions, expert presentations, and collaborative exercises to explore environmental challenges and opportunities in the city. This inclusive process resulted […]
HERO Workshop Report #2: Mapping, Assessment & Tracking of Land Availability & Nature Recovery Activities in Oxfordshire
This second workshop focuses on the second of those priorities: Mapping, assessment and tracking of land availability and nature recovery activities.
Priorities for Healthy Ecosystem Restoration in Oxfordshire
What are the key challenges to nature recovery across Oxfordshire? How can the University work alongside local partners with the aim of making Oxfordshire a model county for nature recovery? What are the priorities where HERO can contribute on a three-year timescale, and what should be the priority for the first year?
A compass toward a thriving and resilient Oxfordshire, the Oxfordshire Doughnut project, final report to Oxfordshire County Council
This report represents the first steps toward an Oxfordshire re-imagining economics to serve thriving futures - a future where the needs of all citizens are met
A menu of standards for green infrastructure in England: effective and equitable or a race to the bottom?
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.
A mixed methods approach to evaluate community (citizen) science as a tool to support nature’s benefits assessments in the UK: a systematic review and survey of community scientists
Developing methods for valuing nature aim to address biodiversity and environmental crises caused by nature’s undervaluation in decision-making. However, implementing methods to assess nature’s benefits is challenging for a myriad of reasons.
A shifting baseline theory of debates over potential lynx and wolf reintroductions to Scotland
In Scotland, efforts to reintroduce extirpated species have been marred by guerrilla rewilding and social conflicts. We ask whether these conflicts could at least in part be the product of shifting baseline syndrome.
Advancing nature-based solutions through enhanced soil health monitoring in the United Kingdom
This paper examines challenges and opportunities in selecting suitable soil health metrics. We find that standardization can facilitate widespread monitoring of soil health, with benefits for stakeholders and user groups
An integrated approach to above- and below-ground ecological monitoring for nature-based solutions
As the development of nature-based solutions (NbS) increases globally, it is important to ensure that projects meet the objective of benefiting biodiversity, alongside tackling societal challenges. However, most NbS projects do not directly monitor ecological outcomes, and those that do often focus on a limited set of metrics. It is therefore challenging to assess whether projects fulfil the aim of benefiting biodiversity.
Response to the consultation from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on the implementation of the UK government’s principles for voluntary carbon and nature market integrity
Comments from the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery
Navigating uncertainty in LCA-based approaches to biodiversity footprinting
The use of Life cycle assessment (LCA) methods is rapidly expanding as a means of estimating the biodiversity impacts of organisations across complex value chains. However, these methods have limitations and substantial uncertainties, which are rarely communicated in the results of LCAs. Drawing upon the ecological and LCA literature on uncertainty and two worked examples […]
Energy flows reveal declining ecosystem functions by animals across Africa
New research reveals that Africa’s wildlife ecosystems are running on less than two-thirds of the power they once had – threatening the vitality of the continent’s landscapes and the livelihoods they support.
Oxfordshire’s greenspace-deprived neighbourhoods
Coordinating author: Martha Crockatt This report explores Natural England’s Green Infrastructure data to identify neighbourhoods in Oxfordshire experiencing both socio-economic deprivation and poor provision of accessible greenspace, with a view to these neighbourhoods being prioritised in terms of planning, allocation of funding, and effort for improving quality and quantity of accessible greenspace. Contributors: Matt Witney […]
Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change
Species are expected to shift their ranges as the climate changes, but shifts may not occur fast enough, especially for immobile species such as plants. Two papers in this issue assess the degree to which plant species are tracking climate change in the American tropics, where data availability has constrained inference.
Related Landscapes
Ghana
Initiatives, including the Ghana Cocoa Forest REDD+ Programme and Cocoa and Forests Initiative, need to be centred around local communities to ensure they succeed and deliver equitable outcomes.
Kenya
Kenya has a diverse and renowned ecological landscape. Globally known for safaris in lowland savannahs and the big five. Kenya is a vast country and also home to deserts, swamps, mountains forests and more. The specific are of Kenya we are working in stretches from around the base of mount Kenya and includes open savannah, […]
Oxfordshire
With its active network of nature recovery groups, Oxfordshire presents a unique opportunity to test and showcase a portfolio of different ecosystem restoration strategies, to become a model county for nature recovery. Our work in this landscape aims to build a community of practice between the University and local practitioners, and will also form a […]
Scottish Highlands
Scotland is renowned for its distinctive and diverse range of landscapes, which are a significant part of the country’s natural and cultural heritage. The environment has been shaped by interconnected human and natural processes over thousands of years and includes built heritage, ancient woodlands, wildlife and native species, art and literature, folklore, language and traditions […]
Borneo
The island of Borneo supports high levels of biodiversity including in its unique tropical forests. However, decades of selective logging have altered these ecosystems changing their structure and functioning. The remaining forest has also become reduced in extent, fragmented and isolated as large areas of selectively logged forest are converted to agriculture - mainly plantations of palm oil.
