Our director Dr Michael Burgass has been recognised in The ENDS Report#PowerList! This recognition celebrates Mike's work in bridging the gap between business and biodiversity. His feature in the consultant's section underscores Mike's commitment to developing innovative solutions for a sustainable future 🌱
Mike's vision, however, extends beyond his work here at Biodiversify. Mike has recently been collaborating with Emma Oldham, who also features on this year's Power List, to transform Nottingham into a thriving hub for start-ups that are focused on nature. This ambitious initiative, driven by a shared vision, aims to position Nottingham as a leader in the green nature economy 🍃
By bringing together universities, NGOs, local government, and businesses, this project aims to;
🚀 Fill research and design gaps in #NatureConservation
🚀 Foster and empower local talent in the #GreenSector
🚀 Attract businesses and investment to Nottinghamshire
We're excited about the future and eager to see this vision brought to life! To learn more, watch Emma and Mike discuss their plans on Notts TV 🔽
🔗 Mike's feature on the Power List - https://lnkd.in/et2bANdB
🔗 Emma's feature on the Power List - https://lnkd.in/e6UdY_mx
This is exciting. Then this is tell us. Tell us what's behind the plan. Well, it it formed really when Emma and I came together. I think we were having similar ideas but from different perspectives, Emma's much more on the sort of policy and societal side, myself, I'm more private sector and academia. And it was like, there's so much good stuff happening, but very fragmented. And we really wanted to draw it all together and kind of set a vision for the county that we can kind of take forward, I suppose. I mean, what is the state of conservation generally in the country at the moment, you know? Yeah. So, you know, we were just saying now is the right time to really progress this vision and to bring it forward because, you know, the United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted countries, sadly, but there are so many right opportunities to bring this forward. You know, next year all local authorities have got to publish their local nature recovery strategy, which really sets out a vision and how they're going to create bigger, better, more connected up areas for benefits for people and wildlife. We've got the natural GCSE history that's going to be taught across all secondary schools in September next year as well. So there's a real time where you've got national energy and direction in this so locally it's how can we start to marry up all of the local businesses skills like Mike was saying businesses, NGO's, academia so that we can really start to get this vision in practice. We've got you know the UK have legally, you know required that we we've got to protect 30% of nature by 2030. Sadly, we're far from that we've only protected 8% of our marine environment and 4% on land. So actually we've got a significant amount to go and we feel that actually we've got a real chance here locally to supercharge that energy for nature recovery and to help meet those global targets. Yeah and and what a time to do it like you say as well and Mike, like you see come from the private sector which is always helpful because that's where the money will will come into it. And you've worked with like you've done this for Globals as well, corporations? Yeah, so our business, Biodiversify, we work with businesses based all over the world, helping them to kind of understand their impacts on on nature and start to address those. But like you say, private sector finance is where the money has to come from. And it's about moving conservation beyond sort of handouts to something that can really stimulate like a new green economy and create jobs as well as positive societal impact. Really. Well, that's the amazing thing about this, isn't it? So you get, you know, you get nature and, and the environmental impact in the in the positive way, but also the economic impact in a positive way as well. So what? What steps you take and what's happening? So to start with is really about steps like bringing the stakeholders together. So that's what we're planning on doing this summer is to start to pull the different organizations from the university through to businesses and the council as well to try and create to create that vision. But really coming at it from that economic perspective so that we can start to take talents coming out of the universities, talents already in the businesses and provide new job opportunities for people and and move forward really. So what realistically how like you say, you know, 2030 is when we're going to be carbon neutral. So it was what, what's the, the realistic steps from, from the environmental point of view? Well, we was, we was just saying like there's a whole plethora of job creation with nature recovery, you know, so and, and nature recovery really does drive new jobs Rewilding Britain did an analysis across 33 sites across England that have put rewilding into practice and saw a 54% increase in full time job employment. So this isn't just us talking, like the proof is in the pudding. It works. And this stimulates all sorts of jobs from, you know, scoping out actually, you know, first. Level monitoring, creating habitat baselines for these sides, putting in conservation management plans, linking up these habitats. People have got to physically, manually create these habitats. You've got architects that are designing it. You can then, you know power in the ecotourism element part of that. So then you can look at how you have glamping sites, educational trips, the school trip. So there's this can go in so many directions. And I think The thing is, is that me and Mike. don't have those answers we want we want the local kind of businesses, economy, students, schools to take ownership of this and and put their vision on how they want this to be the new green heart of the show. Brilliant. Thank you so much for coming and explaining. What a summer it's gonna be.
Call for Papers Volume 6 Issue 2 deadline 1 June https://lnkd.in/eq82EuUd.
Livelihoods, Community Resilience and Environmental Regeneration: the role of smallholder organisations, coops and social enterprises. What is the case for and against the role of farmer coops, social enterprises/third sector organisations in sustainable transformation and mitigating climate change?
There is a growing sense that "projectised social" and environmental interventions are costly and not always 'durable'.
Do SPOs/coops/SME alliances and clusters that acquire skills, infrastructure and community presence and have more longevity or more impact?
The JoFT Society is accepting Submissions now, deadline June 1st 2024.
We welcome producer co-op/social enterprise case studies/experiences as well as theoretical work, critique and evaluation.
Guidelines for contributors are available on the JoFT website. Contact Emma Anderson [email protected] if you have ideas or questions.
Call for Papers Volume 6 Issue 2 deadline 1 June https://lnkd.in/eq82EuUd.
Livelihoods, Community Resilience and Environmental Regeneration: the role of smallholder organisations, coops and social enterprises. What is the case for and against the role of farmer coops, social enterprises/third sector organisations in sustainable transformation and mitigating climate change?
There is a growing sense that "projectised social" and environmental interventions are costly and not always 'durable'.
Do SPOs/coops/SME alliances and clusters that acquire skills, infrastructure and community presence and have more longevity or more impact?
The JoFT Society is accepting Submissions now, deadline June 1st 2024.
We welcome producer co-op/social enterprise case studies/experiences as well as theoretical work, critique and evaluation.
Guidelines for contributors are available on the JoFT website. Contact Emma Anderson [email protected] if you have ideas or questions.
How to align and activate more than 30 organisations to re-green business premisses across the Netherlands? 🌱🏢
In collaboration with IVN, Instituut voor natuureducatie and a wide variety of public and private organisations, we have shaped an impact coalition aimed at re-greening business parks across the country. Such a challenge can only be a success when truly working across organisational boundaries. We are happy and proud that we have been able to shape this impact coalition, contributing to the transformation of 1000 business premisses by 2030.
Would you like to know more about how Elemental can help you co-create your next impact coalition? Make sure to reach out to us at [email protected].
#Coalition#RreGreening#CoCreation#Biodiversity#ClimateAdaptation
📣 Innovative Planning: Inviting Practitioner Contributions to the Practice Forum
We launched Planning Practice & Research (PPR) in 1986 with a core mission to strengthen dialogue between those doing the planning and those investigating planning through academic research.
This open call is to remind practitioners of all kinds that PPR holds onto that core mission more strongly today than ever before. We can help you to share innovative cases from practice in our scholarly Practice Forum, enabling your findings to help advance the work of fellow professionals, academics and civil society actors from around the world.
We are particularly interested in hearing from planning practitioners working on subjects including:
- innovative tools for citizen engagement;
- social justice;
- informal and unregulated development;
- accommodating the implications of digitalisation;
- adaptation to risks posed by climate change;
- affordable living;
- enhancing biodiversity;
- city centres.
Authors interested in submitting to the Practice Forum are encouraged to first send an outline or short abstract of the proposed contribution to the editor-in-chief, Vincent Nadin at [email protected].
For more information follow the link ➡ https://lnkd.in/e__ar_Ek
This is an open call and there is no deadline!
#urbanplanning#citizenengagement#socialjustice#digitalisation#climatechange#affordablehousing#biodiversity
If it's Wednesday, it must be Cardiff...
Over the past four weeks, North Star Transition has had the opportunity to share its story in meeting after meeting, with our co-founder Jyoti Banerjee representing us. A #UN conference in Geneva. The #MakeMyMoneyMatter pensions event in London. The Fera Science Ltd. symposium in York on environmental science. An Edinburgh meeting of the CEOs of regulators and environmental NGOs. At the start of November, it was #Anthropy at the Eden Project in Cornwall. And today it is #PublicFinanceLive, a CIPFA conference in Cardiff for senior public finance officers.
Clearly, each meeting is different in terms of content and audience but the common theme is the deep interest everywhere in the work we are doing in #WalesTransitionLab to build a regenerative economy, and reconnect #food, #health and #environment across our shared system.
Why do roul roul birds feature in this post? Well, how often do roul roul birds attend your meetings? One of the joys of holding a meeting in Eden Project is that we get close to nature, certainly closer than most of our other meetings. Andy Brown of Anglian Water Services hosted a workshop at Anthropy which Jyoti spoke at, and the birds just wandered around us.
Public Finance conferences are more likely to feature white elephants than exotic birds. But the challenges facing all of us are at crisis-level, whether climate, biodiversity, health, water or inequality. Let's keep talking.
I talk about ways to reduce climate change and regenerate natural environments that human activity has damaged. I host a podcast and publish a newsletter where I interview experts about regenerative practices.
4 online resources to learn about building communities that regenerate nature
If you want to know more about planning, designing, and building regenerative communities, you can find helpful information online in English.
Let me save you time by sharing four resources.
These are the most helpful English-language websites I've found:
1. ReCommon is a U.S. nonprofit organization that provides frameworks for collective land ownership and stewardship.
The group also develops technologies and systems that facilitate operations and governance of regenerative communities. Alex Corren, Chris Giersch, and Charlie Dubbe are cofounders.
Website: https://www.recommon.land/
2. RegenEarth Studio is a recently launched U.S. company that helps its clients create or refine plans for regenerative communities. It then helps to implement the plans.
The studio brings together a team of experts with long experience in the diverse disciplines needed to create effective regenerative communities.
Cofounder Eric Amyot leads the company as chief executive officer. Other cofounders are Kirsten Liegmann, Josh Burtnett, and Rob Taff.
Website: https://lnkd.in/etyd234p
3. The Regenerative Communities Network (RCN) describes itself as a learning community for regenerating bioregions around the world.
The group, based in Costa Rica, publishes a free newsletter in English.
Website: https://lnkd.in/efutA-pT
4. The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) is a not-for-profit organization that links and supports ecovillages. Based in the U.K., the group has affiliates around the world. GEN provides education about ecovillages and works to grow the regenerative movement.
Ecovillages are not exactly the same as regenerative communities, but the GEN website is a good place to learn about trends in building sustainable communities around the world. The group publishes a free newsletter.
Website: https://ecovillage.org/
If you know of other good resources on this topic, please share them in the comments.
Follow me here for future post about English-language books and podcasts I've found on the topic of planning and creating regenerative communities.
#regenerativecommunities#regeneration#regenerativefarming
Interested in community-engaged research & citizen science in South Africa around water, energy and food? Our funder, NWO (Dutch Research Council), wrote a great piece about our research: https://lnkd.in/exW8S-Tf.
Our team studies the interlinkages between water, energy and food at the household level in rural areas in Eastern Cape and Northern Cape/North-West province. In addition, we analyse legal frameworks from national to local levels, including customary law.
Unique is that we collaborate with Ecochamps: community members who help design our research, conduct surveys, and co-create our public engagement strategy. Ecochamps are also key in the co-management of natural resources, together with the NGO Environmental & Rural Solutions which hires and trains them.
We are here in South Africa to do research on these Ecochamps. A best practice example of community-engaged research & citizen science, as well as co-management with large societal impact!
Our project is a collaboration between Utrecht University, North-West University / Noordwes-Universiteit, University of Fort Hare, University of Groningen and WWF South Africa. Funded by NWO (Dutch Research Council) and The National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF). See also https://lnkd.in/e47RC2T9.
Bringing people together to create long-term change 🙏
The essence of the 4 Returns Framework is to offer a common language that unites diverse stakeholders - often with conflicting needs - to co-create and implement a practical, long-term vision for their landscape.
Throughout the co-visioning process, the 4 Returns Framework guides stakeholders into broadening their understanding of what a landscape can offer. The approach emphasises collaboration and innovation, making sure that every voice is heard and every potential explored.
The 4 Returns is also crucial for moving beyond tunnel vision around financial profit. When we take that step, we can see that restoring a landscape not only realises long-term community income, but it also regenerates biodiversity, and brings back jobs and education, giving people hope for the future.
Head to our website to learn more about the 4 Returns 👉
More than 400 delegates and 13 exhibitors attended the 2023 Nature Finance #UK Conference at London’s Guildhall, and made several recommendations to central and regional governments.
At the event, private landowners and professional from the finance and corporate worlds had the opportunity to engage in discussions about the role investment needs to play in directing land and water stewardship, while a new UK Nature Accelerator fund was announced.
The Accelerator aims to ‘create a step change in the growth of a high impact and high-integrity market for nature-based solutions in the UK’ and ‘provide matched funding from #DEFRA, and a dedicated team to prepare nature-based solutions for investment at scale in nature recovery.’
Speakers at the Nature Finance UK event included Dr Geoff Hilton, Chief Scientist and Head of Research at Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, who presented on the plight of Britain’s saltmarsh, seagrass and oyster beds. Caroline Price, Senior Development Manager for The Crown Estate, was also in attendance. Topics ranged from the need to establish centralised governance of nature recovery to avoid an industry ‘marking its own homework’, and better cooperation between policymakers and enforcers, communities and landowners.
‘Land managers can and must be at the forefront of practical responses to the #climate and #biodiversity crises. The potential to ensure we all benefit from a vibrant rural economy driven by natural capital markets is huge,’ said James Farrell, Head of Rural at Knight Frank. ‘We are, therefore, all missing a golden opportunity if we don’t enable land owners and farmers to deliver #environmental enhancement in its many forms.’
Naomi Conway, Director of National Parks Partnerships, added: ‘The UK’s National Parks have been at the fore of catalysing new finance for the restoration of nature through Revere, our partnership with Palladium. The Nature Finance UK Conference was a key opportunity for us to drive positive conversations between land managers, corporates and financial services to find ethical and scalable solutions.’
Leading Regulatory Policy, Intelligence & Material Stewardship at Bayer Consumer Health
4wAwesome well deserved recognition Dr Michael Burgass 👏🏼 🌱