News & Stories

Discover how Oxford’s researchers are tackling the world’s most pressing biodiversity challenges, sharing inspiring stories of innovation, collaboration, and lasting global impact that connect science with conservation action.

Selected News and Stories

wildflower meadow with fields and trees in distance
Wildflower meadow in Oxfordshire. Photo Yadvinder Malhi

The great significance of observing nature in your back garden

Yadvinder Malhi shares his rediscovery of nature at the local level Like many, I have found solace and refuge in local nature over this year of pandemic and lockdown. When able to escape from Zoom calls and cabin fever, I’ve wandered and exercised in my local floodplain meadow of the Thames. I’ve used books and […]

 
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Nature Networking Coffee morning & talk

Join us on October 22nd 2026 at 10.30 in Seminar rooms 1&2 in the Oxford Martin School for refreshments and pastries, at 11am our speaker will join us for an informal talk. 4 million UK votes for nature. The Why and How of school-based nature education (a brief introduction). Kim Polgreen. Dept. of Education & […]

 
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Would a whitelist work better to regulate the world’s wildlife...

Dr Dan Challender and Dr Amy Hinsley discuss a new paper in which they evaluate the potential of ‘reverse listing’ to regulate international wildlife trade, highlighting that this approach is not a panacea. Globally, people use and trade at least 50,000 wild species for food, medicinal products, construction materials, and to support their livelihoods, among […]

 

A complete cross-department network

The Oxford Nature Network is a network of researchers and practitioners in and around the University working on biodiversity.

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All Stories

Green fields, hedegrows and blue sky above
Could the next State of Nature report bring more positive news?

State of Nature: Ecologists have collected the evidence, now it’s...

In an article written for the British Ecological Society, Yadvinder Malhi reflects on the Sate of Nature report, published yesterday, September 27th. The latest State of Nature Report rings yet another alarm bell on the biodiversity crisis in the UK, showing major declines in many species since monitoring began in 1970. Since this date, species […]

 
2 mean and a woman sit behind a table, they are in conversations while an audience watches
EJ Milner-Gulland chaired the debate at the OUNHM

The Monbiot-Savory event: We need a common language if anyone...

The Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery is interested in promoting a wide variety of views and opinions on nature recovery from researchers and practitioners. If you are interested in writing for us please email us at naturerecovery@ouce.ox.ac.uk.   The views, opinions and positions expressed within this guest blog post are those of the author alone, they […]

 
buttercups and wildflower meadow, trees in the distance
Wildflower meadow

How to help wildlife thrive in our urban grasslands, verges...

Meadows Buglife: Managing urban areas for pollinators Buglife: Management of wildflower-rich grasslands for insects Plantlife: Meadow hub Plantlife: No Mow May Monmouthshire County Council ‘Nature isn’t Neat’ initiative (part of the Gwent Green Grid) Biodiversity Wales: Planting for Pollinators Wild Oxfordshire: Community Resources page. Includes signs to download (“Please don’t mow…”) Long Mead’s Thames Valley […]

 
ladybrid on thistles
Ladybird on thistles

Urban grassland & verge guidelines

Why do we need to change the way we manage urban grass? Although uniformly short grass used to be seen as a sign of good management, people now are becoming more aware of the value of nature and the need for more nature-friendly management techniques. Frequent mowing removes flowers that provide nectar for bees and […]

 
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Green Action Week: Professor EJ Milner-Gulland discusses how the whole...

As Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity, I work broadly on ways to make humanity’s relationship to nature more sustainable. That’s why I was so proud to be a part of the process that led to the University committing to biodiversity net gain by 2035, one of the two high-level goals of the Environmental Sustainability Strategy (alongside net […]

 
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Organisations making their catering more sustainable can make genuine positive...

Organisations making their catering more sustainable can make genuine positive contributions, though it will take extremely ambitious action to come close to fully mitigating biodiversity loss. A study published in Nature Food showed how Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), a college at the University of Oxford, can develop a bold roadmap for delivering reduced biodiversity impacts from their […]

 
young man and woman stand in front of a colourful sut-out reading COPY15
Seth Thomas and Audrey Wagner at COP15. Photo credit NbSI

The hopes of the Nature based Solutions Initiative team and...

This week, the much anticipated 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) kicks off in Montreal and will run to 19 December. This is an opportunity for the global community to come together to discuss urgent issues related to the protection of nature and its biodiversity. The primary purpose of the conference […]

 
ESSH text on the left and view of tree canopy on the right
Download the report here

BUILDING BRIDGES: ENGAGING THE ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Social and environmental challenges are deeply interwoven. Responding to overlapping concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss and inequality is not merely a scientific or technical enterprise, but also a deeply political, economic, moral and social endeavour Generating fair and effective responses requires a bridging and blending of different academic disciplines. This booklet outlines some recent […]

 
flower graphic
Join the Alliance of Nature-Positive Universities

Universities restoring nature – Join the Alliance of Nature-Positive Universities

UNEP and the University of Oxford are launching a global network of Nature Positive Universities in order to prompt the prioritization of nature and its restoration within the higher education sector; in their operations and supply chains, on campuses and within the cities where they operate. This network will form a major contribution to the […]

 
pple marching with banner of the world as a melting icecream cone
Photo by Harrison Moore on Unsplash

The natural world is critical to climate – Professor Yadvinder...

The living world is not a sideshow in the climate debate. Our climate benefits from a healthy and flourishing biosphere, just as ecosystems and the diversity of living organisms depend on climate. We have all seen images of distressed animals and devastated regions affected by flooding, fire and rising temperatures. They show real decline in […]

 
film trailer pics of nature flowers and buildings
Each film is an ideal showcase for quality Nature-based Solutions, and inspiration for a nature-positive future.

Nature-based Solutions in Action in the UK – Nature Day...

Research shows that further climate warming and biodiversity loss are now unavoidable but that we still have time to make a lasting difference: i.e. to keep warming below dangerous levels, stop further depletion of the diversity of life on Earth and make the world a better and just place for all. In 2021 the international […]

 
birds on a feeder
Birds on a lamp post. credit Shutterstock news banner

Academic policy engagement for biodiversity needs to take transdisciplinarity seriously

Biodiversity is the basis of life on Earth and the root of human existence. The complex synergy between plants, animals, earth and air underpins everything people do, and in turn, everything people do can impact biodiversity. As university-based researchers, we are interested in understanding the complexity of biodiversity, but also pooling evidence, expertise and experience […]