Natures glass: half-full or half-empty? December 10, 2012

Speaker: Professor Andrew Balmford FRS, University of Cambridge
The world’s governments failed to meet their pledge of reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Wild populations, their habitats, and the benefits they provide for people, are continuing to decline. But is the situation hopeless? In this talk Professor Andrew Balmford FRS will examine a series of case studies where things are getting better rather than worse. He will explore how the motivations for conservation, the approaches adopted, and the people involved are changing and becoming increasingly diverse. He will investigate what lessons these examples yield about how conservation might increase its success rate - and examine what together these stories tell us about the prospects for nature in the 21st century.

Speaker bio: Andrew Balmford FRS is Professor of Conservation Science in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge. His main research interests are in the costs and benefits of effective conservation, quantifying the changing state of nature, identifying efficient conservation responses and exploring how conservation efforts might best be reconciled with farming. To try to have most impact he focuses his research in developing countries and on collaborations with conservation practitioners and with colleagues in other disciplines.

Admission is free – no ticket or advance booking required. Doors open at 6pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis

http://royalsociety.org/events/2012/natures-glass