Speaker:  E.J. Milner-Gulland, Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity, University of Oxford

In 2020, governments will hopefully agree upon a new vision for nature and people that tackles the linked sustainability challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and human development in an integrated way. But how can high-level aspirations be translated into real, and timely, change on the ground, where complex ecological and social processes intertwine to constrain and derail the change needed for sustainability? Using examples from her work in conservation, EJ explores how we could put more effective institutions and incentives in place, so that individual behaviour and the decisions of companies and governments are more aligned with both ecological sustainability and improving human well-being. Her examples focus mostly on wildlife exploitation and rural people living in low-income tropical countries, but the lessons are universal. Given the challenging times we live in, it may seem perverse to claim that optimism is both necessary and warranted, but she ends by making this case.

Previously E.J. Milner-Gulland was Professor of Conservation Science at Imperial College London, and she has also held lectureships in Resource Economics and Mathematical Ecology. Her research group, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, (ICCS) based in the Department of Zoology, undertakes a wide range of research, outreach and engagement projects, in both marine and terrestrial settings. These include developing and applying methods for understanding, predicting, and influencing human behaviour in the context of local resource use in developing countries, and working with businesses to improve their environmental and social sustainability. Her team also works on controlling the illegal trade in wildlife and on designing, monitoring and evaluating conservation interventions in order to improve their effectiveness. She aims to ensure that all the research in her group is addressing issues identified by practitioners, and is carried out collaboratively with end-users.