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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UK climate commitments to kickstart Climate Week NYC

Climate Week NYC is taking place from 21st to 27th September; it’s the biggest climate summit of the year and will focus on how we can address climate change as we recover from COVID-19. Alok Sharma, COP26 President, has made the following announcements to kickstart the week: Race to Zero is a global campaign for […]

21 September 2020

Living Planet Report: bending the curve of biodiversity loss

WWF’s 2020 Living Planet Report publishes updated figures for the Living Planet Index (LPI): the size of around 21,000 mammal, bird, fish, amphibian and reptile populations fell by an average of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The change in LPI varies regionally, with the most striking result being a 94% decline in tropical subregions of […]

17 September 2020

Global map of distribution — First global systematic review of the effectiveness of nature-based solutions

Mapping the evidence of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation

Our systematic review on the effectiveness of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation has been published in Global Change Biology. It is the first global systematic review of the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and provides evidence that nature-based solutions play a key role in addressing the impacts of climate change, but also highlights potential trade-offs […]

10 September 2020

HSBC to asset management venture for natural capital

The UK-based multinational bank, HSBC, is collaborating with a climate change advisory firm to create a venture which will target investments at projects which protect or enhance nature whilst generating profit. Some of these projects will likely qualify as nature-based solutions, such as sustainable forestry and regenerative agriculture. The venture is expecting to raise up […]

04 September 2020

First chapter of Trillion Trees programme launched

Over 20 cities, companies and nonprofits in the US have pledged to collectively plant more than 800 million trees by 2030. This is the first chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Trillion Trees programme to be officially launched. Groups taking part in the new national programme will need to outline detailed plans for how they […]

04 September 2020

New UK law proposed to protect forests

The UK government has proposed a new law which will force companies above a certain size to ensure that the products they sell have deforestation-free supply chains. Currently, most environmental targets and regulations are restricted to UK territory alone. For example, the net-zero emissions by 2050 target does not include emissions released abroad during the […]

26 August 2020

The Cerrado – Brazil’s savanna deserves protection

This article explains how the Cerrado, the world’s most biodiverse savanna, has been neglected in part due to being overshadowed by its charismatic neighbour – the Amazon rainforset. In fact, the Cerrado is invaluable: Its deep soil holds water from the wet season, feeding into eight watersheds which together provide 40% of Brazil’s freshwater It […]

26 August 2020

Brewdog goes ‘carbon negative’ using NbS – what does this mean?

Brewdog has announced that from the 22 August 2020 they will remove twice as much carbon from the air each year than they emit. Currently, the only method for removing carbon from the air at scale is using natural ecosystems. Let’s take a look at what this company is doing: Calculating scope 1, 2 and […]

26 August 2020

Cloud forest & páramo NbS for water security in Colombia

In April this year Colombia experienced 40% lower rainfall than expected, leading to water shortages during the height of the pandemic. As climate change progresses, Colombian water security will be increasingly threatened with knock-on effects for agriculture, health, and hydroelectric power which generates 73% of the country’s electricity. It is clear that steps must be […]

25 August 2020

IUCN examples of NbS providing multiple benefits

IUCN provide short summaries of NbS being successfully integrated on the ground, including: Agroforestry in Rwanda enabling people to send children to school Integration of shrimp farming with mangrove protection and management in Viet Nam Conservation agricultural providing food security in Mozambique Forest landscape restoration in Malawi with information disseminated by a radio programme Stabilisation […]

25 August 2020

Economic and social constraints on reforestation for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia

Zeng et al. 2020 Reforestation will play an important role in mitigating climate change, but some estimates of reforestation potential lack consideration of social and economic constraints. This paper takes the example of Southeast Asia to estimate the extent to which such constraints reduce total mitigation potential from reforestation. 121 million ha of land were […]

25 August 2020

Local People’s Participation in Mangrove Restoration Projects and Impacts on Social Capital and Livelihood: A Case Study in the Philippines

Valenzuela et al. 2020 Participatory management of mangrove restoration projects by local People’s Organisations in two communities in Quezon, Philippines, has been shown to provide substantial benefits for the people involved as well as increasing long-term sustainability of the restoration projects themselves. Members of People’s Organisations increased their social capital by gaining more numerous and […]

24 August 2020

Climate change mitigation potential of wetlands and the cost-effectiveness of their restoration

Taillardat et al. 2020 Although inland and coastal wetlands are highly efficient sinks of carbon dioxide, they also release methane – another carbon-containing greenhouse gas. Hence, wetlands can in some cases draw down carbon and yet have a net warming effect on the climate due to methane release. This means that restoration, protection and management […]

24 August 2020

Active restoration accelerates the carbon recovery of human-modified tropical forests

Philipson et al. 2020 Over half of tropical forests have been degraded by human activities, such as timber harvesting, reducing carbon storage and biodiversity value, and making them more vulnerable to conversion to agriculture. This paper investigates the effect of natural regeneration and active restoration of degraded forests on recovery of carbon stocks in Sabah, […]

24 August 2020

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