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Guests

• Natalie Duffus (DPhil student, Dept. of Biology)
  https://naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/people/natalie-duffus/
• Matti Troiano (Research Assistant, School of Geography and the Environment)
  https://naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/people/mattia-troiano/
• Host: Stephen Thomas (Centre Manager, Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery)

In this illuminating episode, we tackle the increasingly tangled web of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and get an update on what is happening with its current implementation. We also look at the Nature Restoration Fund — two major pieces of England’s ecological compensation puzzle.

Our guests Natalie and Matti break down what these policies are, how they affect developers, landowners, and communities — and why even good intentions may go sawry when market logic meets under-resourced local authorities.

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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Nature Finance – Opportunities, Challenges, and What Comes Next

In this episode, we delve into the fast-evolving world of nature finance — with a focus on schemes emerging in England, and insights relevant to the global shift toward blended finance for nature recovery. As governments increasingly look to private investment to complement public funding, what’s working, what’s not, and where is this movement headed?

We explore the key challenges facing nature finance today, from market design to policy uncertainty, and discuss promising innovations that could shape the future of investment in biodiversity and ecosystems.

Hosted by: Raphaella Mascia

Guests:

Professor Alexander Teytelboym
Department of Economics, University of Oxford
Alexander Teytelboym is a Professor of Economics whose research focuses on market design—including matching markets, auctions, and network economics. He applies economic theory to pressing policy challenges in areas such as environmental protection, energy systems, and refugee resettlement.

Dr Sophus zu Ermgassen
Department of Biology, University of Oxford
Dr Sophus zu Ermgassen is an ecological economist specialising in biodiversity finance, sustainable infrastructure, and nature-positive policy and investment. His research has been featured in The Guardian, BBC Countryfile, Sky News, The Financial Times, and the ENDS Report. He advises the UK government through roles with Natural England’s Biodiversity Net Gain Monitoring and Evaluation group, the UK Treasury’s Biodiversity Economics working group, and the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits. He has also contributed to UK Parliamentary reports and briefings on biodiversity and just sustainability transitions.

Alqayam (Al) Meghji
Senior Policy Advisor, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Al Meghji is a Senior Policy Advisor at Defra, bringing together technical engineering expertise and strategic policy insight across water, energy, and land use. His work addresses the intersection of natural resources and climate resilience under demographic and environmental pressures, with a focus on unlocking private investment to complement public funding in nature recovery.

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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Discussing Ohio's beautiful forests and northern Ohio nature recovery efforts with Jessica Miller Mecaskey, Consulting Forester at Holden Forests and Gardens, one of the U.S.'s largest and foremost arboretums.

Bio:

Jessica Miller Mecaskey was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and is a forestry and natural resource professional with specialization in woodland ecosystems, experienced in forest management from every part of the management cycle. She currently assists landowners as a Consulting Forester out of the Holden Arboretum, assisting private woodland owners to meet their goals to keep forests thriving.

Important Links

• Holden Forests & Gardens

· Great Lakes Basin Forest Health Collaborative

• Cleveland Tree Coalition
• Cleveland Metroparks
• Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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This podcast covers topics including current environmental threats to Ohio's habitats and species, nature recovery work being undertaken in urban and rural areas, as well as ways people can become involved in Ohio nature recovery. In Part 1 of our Ohio Nature Recovery series, we will be talking with Anna Zaremba, the Nature-based Solutions Sustainability Manager for the City of Cleveland, Ohio as well as Dr. Lara Roketenetz, Biological Field Station Director for the University of Akron, and Dr. Randall Mitchell, Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Akron.

Anna Zaremba is a public sector sustainability and climate resilience professional with a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and Certificate in Food Studies from Dickinson College. Currently serving as the Nature-Based Solutions Sustainability Manager at the City of Cleveland's Mayor's Office of Sustainability, Anna has contributed to the development of the city's Climate Action Plan and oversees projects focused on organic waste reduction and community resilience. Anna has also contributed to various sustainability and climate justice initiatives through previous roles, including plastic bag outreach campaigns, circular economy planning, and food security research. Passionate about environmental justice and sustainable development, Anna is dedicated to creating equitable and impactful solutions for climate resilience in the Great Lakes Region.

Dr. Lara Roketenetz moved to Cleveland for her undergraduate degree and never left once she discovered her love for the Great Lake Erie and wonderful people in Northeast Ohio. She has a Master's of Biology from John Carroll University and a PhD in Integrated Biosciences from the University of Akron (UA). She is the Director of the UA Field Station where her true passion is the K-12 outreach program for rural, suburban, and urban youth where she inspires our future changemakers through environmental and place-based education. She is a past President of The Organization of Biological Field Stations.

Randy Mitchell Distinguished Professor of Biology, University of Akron, and Faculty Director of the University of Akron Field Station. Dr. Mitchell grew up loving science, the outdoors, and insects. He has done research in many wonderful places, including Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, California’s deserts and mountains and scrub, Adelaide Australia, New Mexico’s mountains and deserts, Wisconsin’s wetlands, and the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley. Dr. Mitchell specializes in researching the ecology of plant-pollinator interactions

Important links

• Cleveland Residential Compost and Workforce Development Pilot Program: https://www.clevelandohio.gov/city-hall/departments/public-works/divisions/waste#:~:text=Food%20Scrap%20Composting%20Drop%2DOff%20Program
• Cleveland Tree Coalition: https://www.clevelandtrees.org/
• Urban Forestry Commission: https://www.sustain

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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This week I'm joined by Andrew Allen, the lead policy advocate on land use for the woodland trust. We will be discussing their new report out on the 3rd of December and how it attempts to encourage more debate as to how we go about recovering nature.

You can find a link to the report here:
https://www.naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/projects/exploring-the-role-of-the-state-in-achieving-nature-recovery/

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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This month sees the publication of The Nattergal Report on Stakeholder Engagement Best Practice for Landscape-scale Nature Recovery Projects. Developed for the Boothby Wildland Landscape Recovery project, and funded via the DEFRA Landscape Recovery Development Phase, the report was led by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) at the University of Gloucestershire and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery and Agile Initiative projects at Oxford University, with the objective of establishing a framework for enhancing and embedding stakeholder engagement into nature restoration.

Ben Hart, Head of Operations at Nattergal said: “As part of our Landscape Recovery Phase 1 Pilot development project for Boothby Wildland, we reached out to Dr. Caitlin Hafferty at the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery (LCNR), and Josh Davis at the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) to help us to understand how to develop and deliver an exemplar best practice programme for our first Nattergal nature restoration project. Josh, Caitlin, and their colleagues did an amazing job of reviewing all available guidance and frameworks on the subject and condensed them into a digestible 10-principle approach that we could implement on site.

• Read about Nattergal’s 10-point approach: https://www.nattergal.co.uk/blog/stakeholder-engagement-best-practice-nattergals-ten-point-approach
• Nattergal’s full report: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62bdbafba41de5210660365f/t/67066c880f1d7260c5c72eee/1728474250091/Nattergal+Report+on+Stakeholder+Engagement+Best+Practice.pdf
• Executive summary of Nattergal’s report: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62bdbafba41de5210660365f/t/670910c0c1dcca2ca70e3ef0/1728647362954/Stakeholder+Engagement+Best+Practice+-+Executive+Summary.pdf
• Governance guidance that helped inform Nattergal’s report, including links to case studies and lessons learned: https://nbshub.naturebasedsolutionsinitiative.org/governance/
• Highlands Rewilding’s Engagement Roadmap: https://www.highlandsrewilding.co.uk/blog/community-engagement-in-rewilding
• Podcast with Highlands Rewilding on people and participation: https://www.naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/news/new-nature-recovery-podcast-rewilding-people-and-participation/

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

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Who pays is a challenging question in any nature recovery project. In this episode we chat with Christoph Warrack of Woodland Savers (https://woodlandsavers.org/) about how they use a mix of finance sources to enable community ownership of natural areas.

Reports referenced:

The Lawton Review - Making Space for Nature (2010), and The State of Natural Capital report (2024).

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.

Send us a text

Our guest this week is Professor Dame E.J. Milner-Gulland who is the Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity at Oxford. She leads the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science, founded the Conservation Optimism organization and co-founded the Saiga Conservation Alliance. In June 2024 she published a perspectives piece entitled

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3002657

In this podcast we discuss some of the questions she raises in that piece and a range of issues related to the complexities inherent within conservation and how to stay optimistic in the face of them. You can join the Conservation Optimism Summit by visiting this link: https://summit24.wpenginepowered.com/

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners.

The views, opinions and positions expressed within this podcast are those of the speakers alone, they do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery, or its researchers.

The work of the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is made possible thanks to the support of the Leverhulme Trust.