Send a text

Nature finance is often presented as a solution to biodiversity loss but what does it actually mean?

In this episode of the Nature Recovery Podcast, David Goodman speaks with Dr. Alice Stuart, a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment. Alice’s research maps and analyses public, private, and philanthropic finance flows into conservation across the UK.

They explore:

• Why most conservation funding still comes from public sources
• The role of philanthropy and corporate funding
• Why private investors are hesitant to fund nature
• How Biodiversity Net Gain and habitat banking work
• The risks of reducing biodiversity to a metric
• Goodhart’s Law and “gaming” environmental targets
• Why democratising nature finance requires local empowerment

Alice argues that the key issue isn’t how much money flows into nature but whether it goes to the right places, empowers the right people, and delivers meaningful ecological outcomes.

Find out more about Alice's work and view their outputs on mapping financial flows here:
https://naturerecovery.ox.ac.uk/people/alice-stuart/

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 a text

In this episode we talk to Dr Keith Kirby MBE about Wytham Woods, a Thames Valley hill of limestone, ancient woodland and one of the most intensively studied woodland sites in the world. Keith traces the site’s deep history (a coral reef 150 million years ago), the human influence on the landscape over centuries, and the key decisions that shaped the wood we see today: enclosure and planting by estate owners, the university bequest in the 1940s, and the later tussles between foresters and ecologists over management.

Keith shares highlights from decades of scientific monitoring: the bird-box programme started in 1947 (now over 1,000 boxes), permanent 10×10 m vegetation plots set up in the 1970s and remeasured repeatedly, badger and small-mammal studies, and how changing deer numbers and later ash dieback altered forest dynamics. He reflects on the practical lessons — how deer control enabled ground flora recovery, how some management mistakes left long legacies, and the rare moments of continuity (including recent tree plantings by the family of Charles Elton). Keith also points out the small, poignant human stories inside the woods: WWI practice trenches under a spring carpet of bluebells, and the rediscovery of rare plants.

The Wytham Woods Book is here:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/wytham-woods-9780197610602?cc=gb&lang=en&

And you can find more information about visiting the wood here:
https://www.wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk/visit
and you can find the guidebook here:
https://www.wythamwoods.ox.ac.uk/shop

To here more from Keith you can watch his lecture here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICD4B3d28b8

or read his popular blog here:
https://theoldmanofwytham.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.

Send us a text

In this episode Elizabeth Bock speaks with Dr Molly Grace (University of Oxford), co-chair of the IUCN Green Status of Species working group. The conversation explains how the Green Status complements the Red List by measuring species recovery, not just extinction risk. Molly unpacks the three components of recovery (distribution, viability, functionality), explains how the assessment quantifies the impact of conservation actions, and outlines how the Green Status can be used for national reporting under the Global Biodiversity Framework.

Key takeaways

• The Green Status answers a question the Red List does not: what does recovery look like, and how much has conservation achieved so far.
• Recovery is measured using three components: distribution (pre-impact vs current range), viability (extinction risk), and functionality (ability to perform ecological roles).
• The assessment includes a counterfactual element: it estimates what recovery would look like without past conservation, making conservation impact visible.
• Baselines matter and are contested; the Green Status uses a pre-impact baseline within the past 500 years to allow standardised comparison.
• Early priorities include improving taxonomic coverage (beyond charismatic vertebrates) and piloting national reporting with countries such as Indonesia and South Africa.

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.