The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery

Deadline TOMORROW! There's still time to send in your submission for our symposium in Oxford this June. More information and to register: https://lnkd.in/gJwXVwTh Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford

Still a few days left to submit a presentation! TABLE, the British Ecological Society & The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery are facilitating the Nature, Farming & Food Symposium (19-20 June) to bring together science, policy & practice. Submissions for presentations for the symposium are due 26 March 2025 at 17:00 GMT. More information about the call for presentations: https://lnkd.in/gC89f4g3

Can we have more honest conversations about the future of food and agriculture? In the latest episode of the Feed Podcast, Ken Giller, recently retired professor at Wageningen University & Research, makes the case for more nuanced discussion after four decades of witnessing both progress and setbacks in supporting farmers worldwide. He and host Matthew Kessler discuss the dangers of populist narratives that oversimplify agricultural challenges, how to reshape research incentives to embrace complexity and nuance, why he opposes carbon credit schemes for farmers, and more. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/g8zwbKhs

Register here for this timely discussion facilitated by Leah Gerber, with E.J. Milner-Gulland and Tim Coulson: bit.ly/4iCQ3Vx

Second reading of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill in Parliament today. E.J. Milner-Gulland Natalie Duffus Alexa Culver & I have worked with Zero Hour to make this Briefing for MPs: https://lnkd.in/emp2Y6FG Basically, we say parts 1 & 2 of the Bill look good. But part 3, the Nature Restoration Fund, *needs to be paused* and **must not be passed at this point**. Basically, all of us are pro some of the concepts behind the Nature Restoration Fund - we're all behind the idea of a strategic, joined-up approach to conservation that spends money more efficiently and effectively. We see how the NRF can be an important part of this vision in the future. But the thing that's included in this bill is way, way too rushed. There are so many overshadowing question marks about how this thing will work, and some of them if poorly addressed could make this policy really damaging for nature and also new infrastructure. - the government has not yet done a meaningful consultation - the government has not yet published its impact assessment for the policy - the government has done zero piloting. Contrast this with Biodiversity Net Gain, which started piloting **IN 2010** - 14 years before implementation. And there's a bunch of things that seriously worry me. One is that Natural England currently already implements something akin to the NRF: the Statutory Credit pathway of BNG. And that pathway has been dogged by implementation problems - one year in, and Natural England hasn't spent any of those funds yet, for various reasons (they say they haven't raised enough, amongst other things). There are also serious issues around how the NRF measures impacts to nature (it doesn't, really) and decides on compensation levies, that simply need to be worked out *before* this becomes legislation, not after. And we need to establish a good procurement mechanism too, like disbursing public funds through mechanisms that deliver efficient and additional conservation outcomes like well-thought-through auctions (using research and knowledge of scholars like Alexander Teytelboym). All of this needs thinking through. So: potentially good idea. But way too many huge risks for it to become legislation before they have been thought about or even basic details have been published and analysed.

𝐈’𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬, 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬! I’m conducting research on business and investor perceptions of risk and uncertainty in high-integrity voluntary carbon and nature markets (VCNMs) and how UK policy can better support. This study is part of my work with the Oxford Policy Engagement Network (OPEN) and the The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and is being conducted while I’m on Secondment to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. This project aims to provide evidence to inform the UK Nature Markets Framework - the government’s approach and vision for scaling up high-integrity private investment into net zero and nature recovery - and the international significance of lessons learned from the UK. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫? The UK is committed to environmental goals, including nature recovery and net zero, through its Environmental Improvement Plan, legislated net zero target, and other measures. A major challenge is the £44-98 billion “nature-finance gap” over the next decade. Among other objectives, the UK government aims to help close this gap by attracting private investment via voluntary carbon and nature markets, supported by policies like the Nature Markets Framework and Green Finance Strategy. The UK aims to support “high-integrity” markets that deliver climate, ecological, and social benefits while protecting Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples. However, a key challenge is understanding drivers and barriers to investor participation, including tensions between ensuring certainty on return for investment and the inherent risks associated with projects aiming to deliver community benefits alongside environmental goals. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡? If you’re involved in or thinking about high-integrity carbon and nature markets – whether as a business leader, investor, agency, or industry expert – I’d love to hear your perspectives. While this study is initially focused on the UK, I’m also interested in hearing about the international significance of these issues. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝? A 30-minute, confidential interview held flexibly online in March-May 2025. Before the interview, you'll receive full information about the project and data privacy, and can withdraw at any time. Your insights will contribute to strengthening evidence for policy around high-integrity voluntary carbon and nature markets. 📩 If you’re interested in participating, please feel free to DM me or email me at: caitlin.hafferty@ouce.ox.ac.uk. I’m very happy to have an informal chat before you decide whether or not to participate. I’d also love to hear about other work in this space - feel free to reach out for a general chat on collaboration!

While I’m not opposed to the idea of a Nature Restoration fund… I have a lot of questions and concerns about the implications of what is laid out here. This proposal for the use of Environmental Delivery Plans (EDPs) to deal with environmental harms seems to entirely disconnect impact and compensation. EDPs will be approved where their proposed compensation measures are *likely* to outweigh the negative [likely] impact of development. The language of this ‘overall improvement test’ suggests EDPs will be a best guess of what the impacts are but with no real measure of impacts. By no longer having project-level impact assessments, it seems to me that the levy listed in EDPs will likely be a flat fee (per ha?) for all developments. And in setting this levy, Natural England must account for the economic viability of development. I fear this consideration PLUS the disconnect from project-level impact will create a seriously underfunded pot for compensation measures. A levy proportional to impacts makes a lot more sense to me. I also question whether having EDPs for some environmental harms and the existing regulations for other harms will really create efficiency and certainty for developers? What will the geographic scope of EDPs be & will there be national consistency for developers? And there remains a number of questions as to how Natural England will use the funds, measure success, report transparently etc… And the impacts of this bill could be huge! An EDP could in theory be created for every environmental feature, converting them all into a levy system so long as they pass the above overall improvement test (as decided by Secretary of State for MHCLG). Given the potential impact, I seriously question the lack of meaningful consultation, no evidence of impact assessment, and no piloting. BNG was more than a decade in the making, with numerous consultations, impact assessments, and pilots behind it. As it stands, I worry this is a serious reduction in environmental protections and an abandonment of the mitigation hierarchy. https://lnkd.in/egZ88MEM

We're really looking forward to hearing from David Cooper this Friday, join us in person or online, register here: https://lnkd.in/dMf8eNjK

UPCOMING SEMINAR: Governments worldwide have pledged to reduce emissions under the Paris Agreement, yet many struggle to implement their own decarbonisation plans — even with strong legislative frameworks in place. What drives these challenges? And what shapes a state's ability to build the capacity needed for a successful green transition? Join Dr Rosie Collington, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Copenhagen Business School, for a new installment of the #NatureFinance@Oxford seminar series, exploring how global political economy dynamics influence national bureaucracies in their efforts to implement climate strategies. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 Wednesday, 12 March, 1.30-2.30 PM GMT In person: Environmental Change Institute, East Lab Register to attend online: https://lnkd.in/eGwqrvep Seminar convenors: Sophus zu Ermgassen and Dr Nicola Ranger We run this seminar in collaboration with the Global Finance and Economy group at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford Nature Positive Hub at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford. The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery | Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment - University of Oxford | Oxford Biodiversity Network

Join us this Friday when we will be joined by Prof Joanne Preston who will be speaking in our penultimate #Nature seminar of the month. Online and in-person, followed by a drinks reception- everyone is invited! PLease register in advance here: https://lnkd.in/d23RYWS9