Send us a text Guests Natalie Duffus (DPhil student, Dept. of Biology) https://naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/people/natalie-duffus/Matti Troiano (Research Assistant, School of Geography and the Environment) https://naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/people/mattia-troiano/Host: Stephen Thomas (Centre Manager, Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery) In this illuminating episode, we tackle the increasingly tangled web of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and get an update on what is happening with its current imp...

Send us a text Nature Finance – Opportunities, Challenges, and What Comes Next In this episode, we delve into the fast-evolving world of nature finance — with a focus on schemes emerging in England, and insights relevant to the global shift toward blended finance for nature recovery. As governments increasingly look to private investment to complement public funding, what’s working, what’s not, and where is this movement headed? We explore the key challenges facing nature finance today, from ...

Send us a text Discussing Ohio's beautiful forests and northern Ohio nature recovery efforts with Jessica Miller Mecaskey, Consulting Forester at Holden Forests and Gardens, one of the U.S.'s largest and foremost arboretums. Bio: Jessica Miller Mecaskey was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and is a forestry and natural resource professional with specialization in woodland ecosystems, experienced in forest management from every part of the management cycle. She currently assists landown...

Send us a text This podcast covers topics including current environmental threats to Ohio's habitats and species, nature recovery work being undertaken in urban and rural areas, as well as ways people can become involved in Ohio nature recovery. In Part 1 of our Ohio Nature Recovery series, we will be talking with Anna Zaremba, the Nature-based Solutions Sustainability Manager for the City of Cleveland, Ohio as well as Dr. Lara Roketenetz, Biological Field Station Director for the University ...

Send us a textThis week I'm joined by Andrew Allen, the lead policy advocate on land use for the woodland trust. We will be discussing their new report out on the 3rd of December and how it attempts to encourage more debate as to how we go about recovering nature.You can find a link to the report here:https://www.naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/projects/exploring-the-role-of-the-state-in-achieving-nature-recovery/The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of v...

Send us a textThis month sees the publication of The Nattergal Report on Stakeholder Engagement Best Practice for Landscape-scale Nature Recovery Projects. Developed for the Boothby Wildland Landscape Recovery project, and funded via the DEFRA Landscape Recovery Development Phase, the report was led by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Agile Initiative projects at Oxford University, wi...

Send us a textWho pays is a challenging question in any nature recovery project. In this episode we chat with Christoph Warrack of Woodland Savers (https://woodlandsavers.org/) about how they use a mix of finance sources to enable community ownership of natural areas. Reports referenced:The Lawton Review - Making Space for Nature (2010), and The State of Natural Capital report (2024).The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on n...

Send us a textOur guest this week is Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland who is the Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford. She leads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, founded the Conservation Optimism organization and co-founded the Saiga Conservation Alliance. In June 2024 she published a perspectives piece entitled Now is the time for conservationists to stand up for social justicehttps://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.300...

Send us a textHuman societies and their use of land have transformed ecology across this planet for thousands of years. As a result, the global patterns of life on Earth, the biomes, can no longer be understood without considering how humans have altered them. Anthromes, or anthropogenic biomes, characterise the globally significant ecological patterns created by sustained direct human interactions with ecosystems, including agriculture, urbanisation, and other land uses. Anthromes now cover ...

Send us a textWhat role does the state have to play in nature recovery?If we are serious about halting the decline in biodiversity do we need to lay out a more ambitious agenda that can unify the currently fragmented aspects of private nature finance, state intervention and the role of public sector institutions. This is part of the argument raised buy Dr. Sophus zu Ermgassen and a team of experts in a recent pre-print: https://osf.io/preprints/osf/td4qjWe talk to him about this mission-drive...

Send us a textThis week we look at Rewilding from the social perspective. Most of the challenges currently facing nature can be linked to human activity and more specific human prioritizations of one type of land use over another. So when we come to look at solutions to biodiversity loss (Rewilding being one of the most well known) its essential that we understand the role of people in making these solutions work.. It's hoped that Nature Recovery projects supported by local commun...

Send us a textOn this podcast we are joined by guest host Alena Goebel as we talk to Professor Christina Hicks about the impact of fishing on our oceans. We examine the differences in scales of fisheries and the important nutritional role fish plays in numerous communities. We look at what is meant by sustainable fisheries and the differences between large scale fish production verus community governed artisanal fishing.Christina is an Environmental Social Scientist interested in the relation...

Send us a textIn this episode Dr Alix Dietzel and Dr. Caitlin Hafferty discuss 'Just Transitions' and discuss different approaches to societal change whether it be decarbonization or recovering nature. If we only focus on the technical aspects we will eliminate the voices of those who are directly impacted. For change to be effective and purposeful, it's essential that people get a say and participate from every sector of society.You can find out more about their work here:https://www.bristol...

Send us a textThe ash tree plays a huge role in Europe's culture and ecology. From Yggdrasill, the giant ash world tree of Norse Mythology to the Guardian trees of Ireland; the ash tree has been a central part of European folklore and mythology. It can be a prolific natural regenerator making it an excellent species for timber and its flexible, white wood is still in high demand today and is used in the manufacture of Morgan cars, Irish hurling sticks and numerous items of furniture and carpe...

Send us a textIn this taster episode we speak to the award -winning writer Emma Marris who offers a fresh and challenging view on some of the issues around conservation and nature recovery.We'd really encourage you to check out more of Emma's writing. You can find links to her articles and books at:https://www.emmamarris.com/The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners. The views...

Send us a textIn this podcast we take a look at Ghana, where landscapes are changing as mining and industrialisation affect traditional ways of managing the land. We look at the impact on cocoa and the effectiveness of global regulations on preventing deforestation and contrast these with traditional community methods.The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners. The views, opini...

Send us a textWe were lucky enough to have a short conversation with Sandra Diaz, where we find out more about here involvement with the COP 15 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. If you enjoy what she has to say, you can find a full lecture from her here:https://youtu.be/oe2dKpudS4sas well as numerous articles like this:https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04154-wandhttps://royalsociety.org/blog/2023/01/biodiversity-cop15-sandra-diaz/We'd love to hear from you and answ...

Send us a textNature recovery isn't just about biodiversity; it has real implications for our health and wellbeing. In this episode Joseph Gent joins the podcast to talk to Emeritus Prof Michael Depledge CBE DSc FRSB FRCP who is one of the founding members of the European Centre for the Environment and Human Health. (www.ECEHH.org). The ECEHH was the first Centre of its kind in Europe and pioneered much of the early work on fostering health and wellbeing using the natural environment (from ar...

Send us a textPatrick Greenfield is a biodiversity and environment reporter for the Guardian and the Observer. In January 2023, a joint investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Source Material found that the forest carbon offsets approved by the world’s leading certifier and used by major corporations for climate claims are largely worthless.In this podcast we discuss some of the implications and dive into the challenges and complexities of wanting to do the right thing in a world wh...

Send us a textIn this espisode we speak to Nat Duffus to find out the good and the bad about Biodiversity Net Gain which is a major driver of the UK's policy to improve the state of biodiversity whilst still allowing for development. Some of the things mentioned in this podcast include:Kidbrooke Village: https://www.berkeleygroup.co.uk/news-and-insights/news-and-features/2020/kidbrooke-village-wins-attenborough-awardsLye Valleyhttp://www.friendsoflyevalley.org.uk/about/index.htmland of course...