About
Nathalie Seddon is Professor of Biodiversity and Founding Director of the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Departments of Biology and Geography (Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment) at the University of Oxford. She is also Director of the Agile Initiative, co-lead of the Biodiversity and Society Programme and Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, and is a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College.
In 2021, she co-founded the Oxford University Social Venture, Nature-based Insights of which she is non-executive Director.
Nathalie 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 determining the ecological and socioeconomic effectiveness of nature-based solutions to societal challenges, and how to increase the influence of robust biodiversity science on the design and implementation of climate and development policy.
Advisory roles
Nathalie advises governments, UN agencies, and the private sector on nature-based solutions. She is a member of the Adaptation Committee of the UK Climate Change Change Committee, leading on nature; a member of DEFRA’s Science Advisory Council Biodiversity Expert Committee; serves on the Science Advisory Boards of Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and sits on the Science & Knowledge Committee of the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions. She is also Trustee of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance.
In 2022-2023, Nathalie was Academic co-Lead for the UK’s first People’s Assembly for Nature.
For enquires or to arrange a meeting, please contact audrey.wagner@biology.ox.ac.uk
Media
Video
- What is nature and why do we need it? Speaking at the UK’s first People’s Assembly for Nature
- Evaluating and investing in Nature-based Solutions Speaking with Professor Cameron Hepburn
- What can nature offer for #COP26, and what can COP26 offer for nature?
- Co-created with Apolitical: Biodiversity loss puts humans and the environment at risk
- Three short films on Nature-based Solutions in Action around the UK
- The future we must choose
Podcasts
- Climate Perspectives Magazine: An in-depth conversation about the value of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation
- Science Magazine: Using waste to fuel airplanes, nature-based climate solutions, and a book on Indigenous conservation
- Economist: Going in reverse – how can greenhouse gas emissions be removed from the atmosphere?
- UNDRR: Words into action: Nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction
- Kleinman Center for Energy Policy: The Potential, and Risks, of Nature-Based Climate Solutions
- Future makers: Solving climate change… nature or technology?
Recent writing
- Harnessing the potential of nature-based solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change
- Why efforts to address climate change through nature-based solutions must support both biodiversity and people
- Getting the message right on nature-based solutions to climate change
- Nature-based solutions can help cool the planet – if we act now
- Guidelines for Successful, Sustainable Nature-based Solutions
Blogs about Nathalie