How should we value nature in a human-dominated world?

Nature conservation has traditionally focused on preservation and protection. However, this approach is increasingly challenged as the impact of human activities on land and in the sea continues to spread and intensify. At the same time, people depend on nature for material goods, as well as for health, recreation and inspiration. In this talk, Georgina Mace will show how the focus of conservation has shifted from preserving biodiversity (primarily species & habitats and their spatial patterns), to maintaining form and function, adaptability and resilience for the future. But this requires new tools and techniques for measuring and conserving nature. She will use examples of valuing natural capital using some recent work of the UK Natural Capital Committee.

Biography

Georgina Mace is Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystems, and Director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London.

Her research projects cover a range of topics that relate to the trends and consequences of biodiversity loss and ecosystem change. She developed the criteria for measuring species extinction risk that are now used by the IUCN for their regular Red Lists of Threatened Species. Georgina Mace also identified the factors that cause different species to be more or less vulnerable to extinction. She developed approaches to understanding climate change impacts and how this varies between species and in different ecosystems.

A second area of research concerns ecosystem services and natural capital accounting, which she became interested in through her work on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the United Kingdom’s National Ecosystem Assessment. Georgina has been especially concerned with evaluating the links between biodiversity and ecosystem services, incorporating ecosystem services into biodiversity targets and examining trade-offs amongst ecosystem services. Most recently, she developed a new approach to measuring the loss of natural capital, using a risk register. Georgina Mace was awarded the International Cosmos Prize, and is a fellow of the Royal Society.

Background

This event will be held in conjunction with an invite-only workshop hosted together with the Swiss-based Future Earth Global Research Projects on September 12-13, 2017. The workshop will focus on the definition of the concept of Natural Assets as inputs to the Future Earth Natural Assets Knowledge Action Network (KAN). This public event will provide an opportunity to meet and dialogue with this renowned scientist in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem studies.

The lecture will be followed by an apéro offered by Future Earth Switzerland.