Department of Biology academics head to COP16 to advocate for ambitious nature recovery actions
The United Nations Conference of the Parties for Biodiversity (COP16) is in process until the 1 November in Cali, Colombia and will bring together governments from nearly 200 countries to decide on actions to meet the agreed target to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030. Our colleagues from the department of Biology will be part of the Oxford delegation and their involvement is summarised below.
The Oxford delegation comprises around 30 researchers representing the Department of Biology, School of Geography and the Environment, Blavatnik School of Government, Saïd Business School, Department for Continuing Education, and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute. Their expertise covers a wide spectrum including conservation and human rights; nature-based solutions; biodiversity finance; climate change and biodiversity; human-wildlife conflict; wildlife trade; land use; and environmental law.
Drawing on the depth and breadth of Oxford’s expertise on nature, the delegation will provide cutting-edge academic insight to the negotiations including the critical need to find synergies between climate and biodiversity goals. All the academics listed on this resource are happy to be approached by journalists and members of the media, you can also get in touch at news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk or comms@biology.ox.ac.uk.
Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland. Her research areas include Nature Positive, equity and human rights, biodiversity metrics and credits, wildlife trade, saiga antelopes, food systems, and agricultural sustainability. She aims to contribute to policy and practice via collaborative networks which include Nature Positive Universities, the Conservation and Sustainability Consortium of Academic Institutions (CASCADE), and Conservation Optimism. She also advises Defra, the Convention on Migratory Species, and IUCN via membership of various groups and committees.
“Currently, conservation finance faces an enormous deficit, estimated at $600-800 billion. This means that a key priority for COP16 is to consider new financial models for biodiversity. A particularly exciting breakthrough could be the negotiations around setting up a fund for conservation based on contributions of users of genetic information (Digital Sequence Information), for pharmaceuticals for example. Another important discussion is the urgent need to develop a robust, holistic indicator for the sustainable use of wildlife, which does not currently exist.”
Professor of Biodiversity, Nathalie Seddon. Professor Seddon trained as an evolutionary ecologist at Cambridge University and has over 25 years of research experience in a range of ecosystems across the globe. As a University Research Fellow of the Royal Society, she developed broad research interests in understanding the origins and maintenance of biodiversity and its relationship with global change. Her work now focuses on the role of nature-based solutions in social and ecological flourishing, and how to increase the influence of robust biodiversity science as well as traditional knowledge on the design and implementation of climate and development policy.
"The new Living Planet Report underscores the urgency of our mission at COP16 in Cali. The average population size of wildlife has declined globally by 73% since the 1970s and with it the resilience of the ecosystems on which we entirely depend. My hope is that Cali will mark a turning point where commitments become concrete actions, with more countries submitting robust action plans that set us on a path to halt and reverse nature's decline by 2030 whilst also helping us mitigate and adapt to climate change. We want nations to act with ambition, integrity and unity to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework effectively, aligning it with climate action, and ensuring that all voices, especially those of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, are heard and empowered in the fight to protect nature, and ourselves as part of nature.”
Dr Helen Newing. Dr Newing is a research fellow in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science in the University of Oxford’s Department of Biology. Her research focuses on conservation and human rights, especially the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities in tropical forest areas. Together with colleagues from the university and from the international human rights organisation Forest Peoples Programme, she has produced a major new guidance document on conservation and human rights that will be launched at the CBD COP on 29th October.
“Governments have made impressive commitments in the Global Biodiversity Framework to move towards rights-based approaches to conservation. However, conservationists need practical tools on how to make this happen. Our new guidance is designed to meet this need. It provides authoritative information on international human rights law and standards as well as presenting several practical tools for rights-based conservation.”
Audrey Wagner. Audrey works as Programme Coordinator at the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NbSI) at the University of Oxford, leading the workstream on international policy with a focus on climate-biodiversity synergies and nature-based solutions. She organised and led the Oxford delegation to CBD COP15 in 2022 in Montreal where the Global Biodiversity Framework was agreed, and is again Head of Delegation for Oxford going into COP16 in Cali. Audrey also coordinates the Academia and Research Caucus (The A&R group), the official group that represents academics and scientists within the Convention on Biological Diversity and was invited to co-deliver the group’s opening statement at the Plenary 1. The A&R group is also co-coordinated by Hannah Nicholas of Biology and both Hannah and also Paola Fajardo (DPhil student in School of Geography and the Environment) had a pivotal role in the drafting of the opening statement. You can watch Audrey reading the statement here [watch at 01:59:40]: https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k16/k16efktkoj
“Academia and research have an important role to play at COP16 and within the CBD to ensure that political decisions on biodiversity are evidence-based and in line with the latest science. Oxford researchers will be able to share their recent findings contributing to the objectives of the Global Biodiversity Framework, while being on hand to support Parties with evidence they may seek for negotiations and implementation, and call out any lack of ambition that goes against what the scientific evidence says we must do to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.”
Hannah Nicholas. Hannah is the coordinator of CASCADE (Conservation and Sustainability Consortium of Academic Institutions), a network of higher education institutions across the UK. CASCADE aims to use the higher education sector’s expertise and networks in cross-disciplinary conservation science to support the development of principles, policies, and practices that meet the goals of the CBD's Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework in an equitable, inclusive way that respects and protects human rights. Hannah is also co-coordinator, alongside Audrey, for the CBD Academia & Research Caucus, which supports academics and researchers engaged in CBD processes.
"The biodiversity crisis requires coordinated international action, with input from different sectors and knowledge systems. At COP16, we hope to emphasize the important role that science and academia can play in informing biodiversity conservation policy. It is essential that we strengthen partnerships for effective mobilization of capacities and resources, share existing knowledge and expertise, and push for greater capacity-building and development internationally."
Melissa Felipe Cadillo. Melissa is Coordinator of the Biodiversity & Society Research Programme from the Oxford Martin School. Her work focuses on how to better integrate Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' knowledge, values and needs within biodiversity conservation action and governance, considering participatory and deliberative democracy processes. She is also a member of the UN CBD Women Caucus, a global coalition advocating for gender-responsive implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
“The inclusion of Targets 22 and 23 in the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was a milestone in 2022. I am hopeful that COP16 will build on this by strengthening the key mechanisms to embed gender equality and women’s rights into GBF implementation, particularly in the elaboration of NBSAPs, funding access, and the monitoring framework.”
Emily Stott. Emily coordinates the Nature Positive Universities initiative, an inclusive global community of higher education institutions taking bold action to halt and reverse nature loss, founded in partnership with the UN Environment Programme.
“I hope to see bold commitments to mobilise resources and find common purpose between the global north and south, to safeguard biodiversity hotspots, and meet needs whilst keeping our planet liveable.”
