Pioneering nature-based solutions for biodiversity and ecosystem services
We are pioneering research on the sustainable management of resources and biodiversity protection. Our work is breaking barriers between research, policy and practice and underpinning national and international policies for a better world.
Re-framing environmental resource use has led to the emergence of the ecosystem services (ES) concept. This concept explicitly acknowledges our dependence on nature and the need to better protect and manage natural resources.
Although ecosystem services has been adopted in national and international policy frameworks, applying the concept in policy and decision-making practice remains challenging.
Bringing everyone together
Our research has consistently identified the need for knowledge sharing between science, policy and practice for the ecosystem services framework to support land management decision-making successfully.
Through our work, we have:
- Established a spin-out company used by thousands, including national and international policymakers
- Contributed to key research that informed policy decisions, including the European Commission Biodiversity Strategy and the UN climate policy.
- Provided the technical infrastructure to support the United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform (IPBES), which underpins IPBES's support of policy action worldwide
Highlights
You can find out key information by clicking on each heading below:
Our researchers established a spin-out company named Oppla, used by partners and practitioners worldwide.
Oppla is an online innovation hub that shares and provides access to research outputs and examples of good practice. It uses nature-based solutions and ecosystems to support sustainable land use decision making.
The Oppla hub has over 100 strategic partners and a community of over 2000 members drawn from a wide range of sectors representing science, policy, business and society who share resources and best practice.
The Oppla approach has become established as best practice in web-based knowledge sharing. Oppla is now recognised as the EU Knowledge Repository for Nature-based Solutions by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DT RTD) and Environment (DG ENV).
Oppla software and systems also underpin the United Nation’s IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) Catalogue of Policy Support Tools and Methods.
Research from the School of GeoSciences has supported the IPBES policy process in other ways. Notably, Oppla provided the technical infrastructure for the development of the IPBES web portal on policy support tools and methodologies, which underpins IPBES’s support of policy action worldwide.
Other notable examples include:
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
- Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI)
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)
- World Wildlife Fund Colombia
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Scottish Government
- Scottish National Heritage
The new Oppla Application Programming Interface (API) service enables sharing EU-funded outputs hosted on Oppla with other knowledge platforms around the world. Notably, it has expanded into Latin America, including playing a key role in both the new EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) knowledge exchange programmes, funded through the EU Horizon 2020 initiative.
There are over 500 products in the Oppla marketplace, such as tools, guidance, software and data. There are also over 270 case studies demonstrating multiple examples of nature-based solutions worldwide, illustrating how the ecosystem services concept can support sustainable decision-making and ecosystem management. Oppla currently receives over 10,000 unique monthly page views and attracts over 4000 unique monthly visitors (and growing).
Since launching in 2016, Oppla has generated over £1.5 million in income and employs eight staff members.
You can read more about the Oppla hub on the Oppla website:
Background
Between 2012 and 2017, Professor Mark Rounsevell and Professor Marc Metzger coordinated the European Commission funded OPERAs project (Operationalising Ecosystem Research Applications). The project aimed to explore how and under what conditions the ecosystem services concept could move beyond the academic domain towards practical implementation in support of sustainable decision-making and ecosystem management.
A diversity of methods was co-produced with practitioners and policy-makers. The methods provided new knowledge and understanding to support policy and decision-making and improved methods, tools, and instruments to support ecosystem management. This resulted in new approaches to understanding user needs and co-creating research that is useful, useable and used by creating space, aligning motivations and building trust.
Scotland formed a multi-level case study, including a national assessment of conceptual and operational integration of ecosystem services concepts in Scottish policy. In addition, regional case studies included collaboration with environmental NGOs to understand how citizen values and preferences for alternative land management options can be understood and included in policy and land management decisions.
An ecosystem services community of practice was established to ensure knowledge sharing, problem-solving and shared learning among land managing practitioners and policy-makers. It brought together over 600 individuals from diverse constituencies to share experiences and learn from each other.
These insights provided the motivation for the establishment of Oppla to improve and simplify how knowledge is created, obtained and shared for better environmental management.
Our research has provided insight that has underpinned key international policies on biodiversity and ecosystem services.
Research has also demonstrated the impact of global trade policy on ecological degradation and the role of natural capital management in achieving the Paris Agreement, and the barriers in using natural capital to implement effective climate policy.
IPBES
Our researchers are significant contributors to IPBES (United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services).
Our research has supported the IPBES assessment process, providing insight to underpin key international policies on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our research focused on translating the outcomes of IPBES assessments into concepts that have resonance in policy.
For example, our research exploring the equivalent for the biodiversity of the 2°C global mean temperature change target is used in relevant climate policy.
IPBES has more than 130 government members who approve the scientific assessments created by experts at annual IPBES plenaries. It has a crucial role in translating scientific knowledge into policy action through the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA).
Professor Mark Rounsevell co-chaired the IPBES regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia, leading the production of the full technical report and the summary for policy-makers. He subsequently led on summarising the outcomes of the four IPBES regional assessments for SBSTTA as input to the Convention on Biological Diversity policy process.
You can read more about the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) on their website:
European Commission
Based on the request from the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment, Professor Mark Rounsevell is engaged with the European Commission (ECA). His work involves translating the findings of the ECA assessment into the EU's post-2020 Biodiversity Strategy, using IPBES assessments to support this.
This work focuses on defining a single indicator of biodiversity to match the policy relevance of the 2°C target for a global mean temperature change of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Want to know more?
We've provided some useful links for you. To see the information, simply click on each heading below:
Study with us, and join one of the largest and most successful groupings of geographers and geoscientists in the UK as we address the most compelling issues of our time.
The following degrees may be of interest to you:
Undergraduate study
Postgraduate study
- Environment and Development
- Environmental Protection and Management
- Environmental Sustainability
- Food Security
- Soils and Sustainability
Postgraduate research
Check out more of our diverse undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees and help us change the world.
Environmental Change and Societal Transitions Research Group
This research group is an interdisciplinary group that explores the relationship between people, the environment and technology.
Visit the Environmental Change and Societal Transitions research group
Research institutes
Our research is carried out across our three interdisciplinary research institutes. There are also a number of research groups within each institute. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of our research, academic staff may belong to one or more groups across the institutes.
| Earth and Planetary Sciences Institute | Global Change Institute | Geography and the Lived Environment Institute |
Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes
Launched by our School, the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes is a hub that brings together various sectors working on global issues of environment and development. The Centre addresses challenge-led issues such as deforestation, responsible logging, conservation, carbon storage and the landscape's role in ensuring secure and sustainable food supplies.
Visit the Centre for Sustainable Forests and Landscapes website
External centres and networks
Our research enables people from different institutes within the School, other departments within the University as well as external partners and organisations to work together to address local and global challenges.
We have pioneered research in process-based modelling, data assimilation and remote sensing of forests. We can map and interpret changes in forest carbon, which is informing policies to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Our work has underpinned the development and implementation of national and international policies to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Mapping changes in forest carbon