The policy paper, Unlocking benefits for people, nature and climate, and the statement on climate and nature delivered in Parliament on July 14th, marks a rare and important shift in tone

Nature and climate: welcome ambition, but policy contradictions threaten delivery

The UK government’s recent statement and new policy paper recognise that nature and climate are inseparable. This is a critical and overdue shift in policy framing. But this welcome vision risks being undermined by legislation that weakens nature protections and prioritises development at the expense of biodiversity.

15 July 2025

Big ben on the Thames — The science is clear that protecting and restoring forests, wetlands, and urban green spaces are among the most cost-effective approaches to reducing emissions, mitigating extreme weather, and improving people’s lives.

Leading UK scientists urge Prime Minister to place nature at the centre of economic and climate policy

A group of over 35 senior UK academics—drawn from ecology, economics, public health and the social sciences—delivered an open letter to the Prime Minister.

10 June 2025

Hand touching small plant — Our goal is to explore new ways of sparking a nature-positive culture.

NbSI receives RCA grant to work on nature reconnection

On World Environment Day, we’re delighted to share that we’ve been awarded funding from the Royal College of Art’s Ecological Citizens programme to support an exciting new collaboration with nature-connection non-profit I Stand Beside.

05 June 2025

People standing in a tropical forest — The team is made up of researchers from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Nature-based Solutions Initiative (NbSI).

Updates from the field: Cocoa agroforestry in the Ashanti region, Ghana

PhD Researcher Lubasi Limweta shares updates from fieldwork in Ghana, where the Flourishing Landscapes Programme is investigating the balance between ecological, social and economic outcomes of agroforestry systems.

09 June 2025

A cocoa pod — Cocoa pod growing on a cacao tree.

Embedding sustainability and equity in forest-risk commodity value chains

A range of recent outputs from NbSI collaborations examine sustainability, equity, and power dynamics in forest-risk commodity value chains.

17 June 2025

Young woman holding protest sign — Action on climate, biodiversity, and human wellbeing must be re-politicised

Power, participation, and the politics of Nature-based Solutions: getting transformation right

A recent paper by social scientists at The Agile Initiative, Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Nature-based Solutions Initiative reminds us that new science, improved metrics, and boosting private finance solely are unlikely to be resilient in the long term unless we address the root causes of power inequality and injustice.

16 June 2025

A shot from the workshop — AGRIIH was established to catalyse high-impact, interdisciplinary research on agricultural resilience, with a focus on systems thinking, stakeholder co-creation, and real-world application.

AGRIIH Workshop maps interdisciplinary research opportunities for agricultural resilience

On June 2, the Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub (AGRIIH) hosted its inaugural workshop at the University of Oxford, bringing together researchers from across disciplines —including colleagues from Biology, Smith School, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford Martin School and Engineering — to explore how interdisciplinary collaboration can strengthen agricultural resilience in the UK and beyond.

10 June 2025

Figure from report — The reports provide an evidence base and a forward-looking plan for shaping agricultural resilience research.

New report highlights the current landscape of agricultural research

Two new resources from the Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub provide an evidence base and a forward-looking plan for shaping agricultural resilience research.

09 June 2025

Education

We offer the Nature-based Solutions to Global Challenges Foundation course and custom-designed courses on the science, policy, practice, finance and governance of nature-based solutions for executives and public servants. We also provide undergraduate and graduate teaching and supervision for students enrolled at the University of Oxford. If you are interested in taking part in one of our courses, please contact us.

Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub

The Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub (AGRIIH) aims to generate a transformational shift in the scope of Oxford‘s agricultural research impact, by engaging industry and stakeholders to co- develop novel and industry-relevant research and innovation that transforms our agricultural systems for a sustainable future.

The Flourishing Landscapes Programme

The Flourishing Landscapes Programme (FLP) addresses the triple challenge of livelihoods, climate change, and biodiversity loss at tropical forest frontiers. FLP focuses on landscapes with agricultural land-use dominated, to varying extents by, by coffee or cocoa production.

Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation

This project aims to understand biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to different woodland creation methods.

Sustain-Cocoa: Sustainable sourcing policies for biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and improved livelihoods in the cocoa sector

The conversion and degradation of tropical forests have multiple negative socio- environmental impacts. Conversely, their restoration, including enhancing tree cover on already cleared farmland, is a powerful nature-based solution to climate mitigation and adaptation, with potentially large biodiversity and rural livelihood co-benefits. A major driver of forest loss and degradation in the tropics is the […]

Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub

NbS and biodiversityNbS for climate change adaptationNbS for climate change mitigationSocial dimensions of NbS

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How can we manage uncertainties in habitat greenhouse gas emissions?

Estimating emissions and developing mitigation pathways for environmental greenhouse gases presents additional challenges beyond those associated with tracking fossil carbon dioxide (CO2). Firstly, environmental emissions are uncertain and variable in time and space, reflecting the complicated interactions between ecological communities and their physical environment that give rise to emissions. Secondly, environmental greenhouse gas emissions are […]

NbS for climate change mitigation

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The Flourishing Landscapes Programme

NbS and biodiversityNbS for climate change adaptationNbS for climate change mitigationSocial dimensions of NbS

View Project

Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation

This project aims to understand biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to different woodland creation methods.

Nature and climate: welcome ambition, but policy contradictions threaten delivery

Leading UK scientists urge Prime Minister to place nature at the centre of economic and climate policy

NbSI receives RCA grant to work on nature reconnection

Updates from the field: Cocoa agroforestry in the Ashanti region, Ghana

Embedding sustainability and equity in forest-risk commodity value chains

Power, participation, and the politics of Nature-based Solutions: getting transformation right

AGRIIH Workshop maps interdisciplinary research opportunities for agricultural resilience

New report highlights the current landscape of agricultural research

Education

Research Projects

Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub

The Flourishing Landscapes Programme

Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation

Sustain-Cocoa: Sustainable sourcing policies for biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and improved livelihoods in the cocoa sector

Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub

How can we manage uncertainties in habitat greenhouse gas emissions?

The Flourishing Landscapes Programme

Biodiversity and ecosystem function responses to woodland creation

Recent Outputs

Landscape Analysis for an Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub (AGRIIH) at Oxford

Introducing The Agricultural Resilience Impact and Innovation Hub

A menu of standards for green infrastructure in England: effective and equitable or a race to the bottom?

Tree Diversity Increases Carbon Stocks and Fluxes Above—But Not Belowground in a Tropical Forest Experiment

Bluesky

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