Pinned Stories

Description coming soon — The framework was conceptualised with smallholder Kichwa agroforestry farmers in Napo, Ecuador. Photo credit: Óscar Luna

A pathway towards equitable co-design with smallholder farmers

New research by the Flourishing Landscapes Programme offers a pathway towards more equitable collaboration between researchers, practitioners and smallholder farmers. The study presents a practical framework for embedding equity within co-design, moving from top-down knowledge transfer to knowledge co-production.

18 August 2026

Groundswell Festival: Sharing Oxford’s Agricultural Research

At Groundswell Regenerative Agriculture Festival, the AGRIIH marquee was a hub for all things agriculture resilience. Researchers from across the University of Oxford showcased agricultural research across disciplines, from soil biodiversity to agricultural policy and beyond.

08 July 2026

Fishbone Deforestation Rondônia, Brazil August 5, 2016 — Fires burning to clear forest for farming and grazing in the Amazon rainforest, Rondônia, Brazil. Credit: Planet Labs, Inc., licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How can action on deforestation strengthen UK food resilience?

Introducing a new research project exploring the link between deforestation and UK food resilience. The UK government’s recent national security assessment highlights the risks of accelerating global ecosystem degradation for UK food security. In collaboration with DEFRA, the project brings together an interdisciplinary team to identify evidence-based policy solutions, funded by the Agile Initiative.

04 June 2026

Pathways to strengthen biodiversity protection in oil palm landscapes

A new study published today in Ecological Solutions and Evidence examines the challenges and solutions for protecting biodiversity within oil palm landscapes. Palm oil is a major global commodity, yet its production can come at significant environmental and social costs. Drawing on practitioner interviews, the study proposes recommendations to strengthen biodiversity protection and social safeguards in oil palm landscapes.

04 February 2026

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One World, One Health: Recommendations to harness the power of landscapes

The Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Biodiversity Conference in October 2020 focused on the relationship between biodiversity and health, and highlighted the power of landscapes for transformative change towards inclusivity and sustainability. The GLF together with the Youth in Landscapes Initiative created the One World, One Health report which synthesises perspectives from the session at the […]

16 February 2021

Scottish Highlands landscape restoration at Bunloit

This landscape-scale programme will restore 1200 acres of land to boost biodiversity, enhance carbon stores, and provide sustainable livelihoods for local people. Sustainable businesses will provide employment and affordable zero-carbon housing will be constructed from local materials; this will contribute to COVID recovery and set an example of how to deliver a rural green new […]

16 February 2021

Nature-based solutions on Radio 4

NbSI Director Nathalie Seddon talked to Tom Fielden of the BBC in Wytham woods, Oxfordshire, about the critical importance of getting the message right on nature-based solutions to climate change in this pivotal year for addressing biodiversity loss and climate change. Listen to the clip here:

16 February 2021

Park for water purification, flood mitigation & recreation

A three hectare park near Milan, Italy, which aims to contribute to flood protection, water quality, biodiversity enhancement and provide a place for recreation. When sewers overflow during heavy rains, the water first flows into reed beds in the park which remove some of the pollutants, it then flows into a constructed wetland (acting as […]

15 February 2021

Restoring degraded land in Kenya

Regreening Kenya is a project aiming to bring over 150,000 hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2022 and improve the livelihoods of 50,000 smallholders. The project has a community-centred approach, by which farmers are given individual support in transitioning to agroforestry. This gives direct benefits by providing a greater and more stable source of […]

15 February 2021

Cairngorms Connect – large-scale restoration in Scotland

This is an ambitious project with a 200-year vision to manage 600 square kilometres of the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland for biodiversity whilst providing other benefits such as carbon storage and livelihoods for local people. It is the largest habitat restoration project in the UK, with an unparalleled time frame including goals for 2065 […]

15 February 2021

UK Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement

The UK submitted an updated NDC in December and committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 68% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. This equates to per capita emissions falling from around 14 tCO2e/person in 1990 to 4 tCO2e/person in 2030. This is more ambitious than the UK’s previous contribution, which was a […]

12 February 2021

UK Adaptation Communication to the UNFCCC 2020

The UK submitted its first Adaptation Communication to the UNFCCC in December 2020, setting out its plans to prepare for the impacts of climate change in the UK and to support climate change adaptation overseas. The Adaptation Communication provides the following: An outline of the impacts of climate change in the UK, and the consequent […]

12 February 2021

USA re-joins the Paris Agreement: what does this mean for the future of the climate and nature-based solutions?

Donald Trump announced that the US would be leaving the Paris Agreement back in 2017, with the official withdrawal taking place in November 2020. This was part of a wider effort to dismantle US environmental policy, including loosening regulations on air pollution and endangered species protection. On Biden’s first day in office on January 20th […]

12 February 2021

Evaluating nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and conservation requires comprehensive carbon accounting

Keith et al. 2021 Whilst the science is clear that nature-based solutions have high potential for contributing to climate change mitigation, there remains uncertainty and confusion as to how to estimate this potential for a given project. This paper highlights that carbon accounting has often missed important aspects of the carbon cycle, and has predominantly […]

12 February 2021

Transdisciplinary science for improved conservation outcomes

Margules et al. 2020 Although the goals of conservation are clear, there is still much progress to be made on how to achieve those goals, balancing local aspirations with environmental values. One of the overarching reasons has been that conservation has often overlooked the complex social, economic, and political context in which conservation actions take […]

12 February 2021

Ten golden rules for reforestation to optimize carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits

Di Sacco and Hardwick et al. 2021 Over the past year a growing number of tree planting pledges have been made and projects initiated, most often motivated by contributing to climate change mitigation. Such investments in nature are welcomed by the nature-based solutions community, and if well designed and implemented they should contribute significantly to […]

12 February 2021

NbSI talk: role of local people and communities in fostering successful NbS

Alexandre Chausson spoke at the Fringe Climate Action Space on the role of local people and communities in fostering successful NbS. The Climate Fringe is providing a diversity of events in the run-up to and during COP26, as well as connecting people and projects to enhance collaboration around COP26. In his talk, Alexandre emphasised the […]

10 February 2021

Diagram explaining what NbS are — Conceptual diagram of nature-based solutions. People and nature, together (yellow circle), co-produce a variety of outcomes (ecosystem services or Nature's Contributions to People, blue band) which benefit society; these benefits can, in turn, support ecosystem health (blue arrows). While the ultimate goal of NbS is to support sustainable development, including human health and wellbeing, the ecosystems that provide NbS must be healthy, functional and biodiverse if such benefits are to be provided in the long term.

Getting the message right on nature-based solutions

The role of nature-based solutions (NbS) in tackling the climate and nature crises has gained the world’s attention. They were high on the agenda at the World Economic Forum and the Climate Adaptation Summit last week, and will continue to be a central topic of discussion in the wake of COVID-19 and in the run-up […]

01 February 2021

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