Biodiversity
Global efforts to combat biodiversity loss are deeply social and political, reflecting not a uniform approach to nature, but a plurality of approaches to protecting, rebuilding, rewilding, and caring for natures in the 21st Century. Our research examines these diverse approaches and their implications for governing human-nature relations in the Anthropocene.
Rebuilding coral reefs. Planting a trillion trees. Protecting thirty percent of the planet’s lands and oceans by 2030. Efforts to counter biodiversity loss range from large-scale feats of ecological engineering to preserving wild spaces to emerging networks of ecological care practices. Our projects engage with these divergent trends in biodiversity governance, including critical investigations of how certain approaches are privileged, while others remain marginalized.
At the global level, we investigate how different visions for a sustainable future intersect with rising geopolitical tensions and calls to decolonize conservation. At the local level, we investigate how different discourses, values, and knowledge claims affect the development and implementation of conservation and restoration governance initiatives. Our work covers forests, coasts, oceans, tourism, urban nature, spatial planning, and food production – from bottom-up local initiatives to collective global governance – with an emphasis on knowledge co-production and environmental justice.
