How have plants adapted over centuries or millennia to survive and recover from human interference? David Moreno-Mateos and his team are analysing tree species in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest to find out, and to help inform and improve future restoration practice.
News
Why ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves are a Trojan horse to hide humanity’s destruction of nature
In a thought-provoking feature for The Conversation, Dr Rich Grenyer, Associate Professor in Biodiversity and Biogeography, examines the ethical and ecological concerns surrounding de-extinction, arguing that the allure of reviving species like dire wolves risks diverting attention from the ongoing human-driven destruction of the natural world.
How finance can be part of the solution to the world’s biodiversity crisis
More than half of the world’s total GDP is at least moderately dependent on nature. Yet arguably, there is no economy (or life) without nature. A quarter of animal and planet species are now threatened, and 14 out of 18 key ecosystem services – including fertile soils to grow food, flood and disease control and regulation of air and water pollution – are in decline. Emma O'Donnell, Dr Jimena Alvarez and Dr Nicola Ranger, all of the ECI, explore how finance can be part of the solution to the world’s biodiversity crisis in an article for The Conversation.
IN THE MEDIA
Getting carbon capture right will be hard – but that doesn’t make it optional
The UK government has given the go-ahead to carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) schemes worth £22 billion (US$28.6 billion). Critics are insisting that this technology – which involves capturing carbon as it is emitted or taking it back out of the atmosphere, then pumping it into rocks deep underground – is unsafe, unproven and unaffordable. Defenders are responding with painstaking rebuttals. Prof Myles Allen explores why we need CCS to work in an article for |The Conversation.
IN THE MEDIA
Professor Louise Slater wins prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize
Congratulations to Professor Louise Slater who has been awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize, which recognises the achievement of outstanding research scholars whose future career is exceptionally promising, and whose work has made original and significant contributions to knowledge as well as shown sustained international impact.
IN THE MEDIA
Major investment to boost Oxford’s heritage science capability
The University of Oxford is to play a leading role in a major £80m research and innovation investment to harness the latest technology to safeguard heritage for future generations. The funding, from the UKRI Arts & Humanities Research Council, will support a new nationwide Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme to be led by Professor Heather Viles, Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation in the School.
IN THE MEDIA
Why our roads flood so easily during wet weather – and what can be done to improve the network
Dr Linda Speight, from Oxford's School of Geography and the Environment, comments on how UK infrastructure could be adapted to better withstand heavy rainfall and flooding events.
IN THE MEDIA
New report spotlights urgent issues faced by mobile indigenous populations
A new report developed with SoGE researchers, Dr Ariell Ahearn and Elizabeth Hempstead, in collaboration with the UN, addresses urgent challenges faced by Mobile Indigenous Peoples. It focuses on legal recognition, land rights, and mobility, responding to demands from the Dana+20 Manifesto.
IN THE MEDIA
Oxford researchers record wettest month in 250 years
Oxford University researchers have recorded the wettest month in Oxford in 250 years at the School's Radcliffe Meteorological Station. Data from the station this week confirmed that September 2024 saw an extraordinary 193.3 mm of rainfall, making it Oxford’s wettest month since 1774 and the second wettest of any month since rainfall records began in 1767.
IN THE MEDIA
Gregory M Thaler Awarded International Science Prize by HGBS for Book ‘Saving a Rainforest and Losing the World’
The Hans Günter Brauch Foundation for Peace and Ecology in the Anthropocene (HGBS) has announced that Associate Professor Gregory M. Thaler, who recently joined the School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford, is one of the recipients of its prestigious International Science Prize.
NEWS
Over 40% of major companies, cities and regions lack emission reduction targets, shows new report
As the climate crisis accelerates, the Net Zero Stocktake 2024 identifies a commitment gap across cities, states and regions, which is holding back the necessary economy-wide transition. The Net Zero Tracker’s annual assessment of the intent and integrity of global climate commitments, shows only a modest increase in net zero targets set by subnational governments (states and regions, and cities) in the past year.
IN THE MEDIA
Experts predicted more hurricanes in the Caribbean this summer – where are the ‘missing’ storms?
In 2024, experts predicted an unusually active hurricane season due to warm seas, but by mid-September, only seven storms were named. Unprecedented Saharan rainfall and shifting African easterly waves reduced storm formation. Francesca Morris, Postdoctoral Researcher in Convective-Scale Modelling in the School of Geography and the Environment, explores the reasons behind this unexpected lull.
IN THE MEDIA
