Symposium on the science of nature recovery, Oxford University
On Monday and Tuesday this week PfL members Tom Morrison (Hogshaw Hill Farm), Rebecca Charley (Ruscombe Farm Partnership), and Silas Hedley-Lawrence (FAI Farms), along with PfL’s founder John Meadley, participated in a two-day symposium on “The Science of Nature Recovery” at Oxford University at the invitation of the Professor of biodiversity EJ Milner-Gulland.
The purpose of the symposium was to bring together researchers working on the science that could underpin planning for nature recovery. There were over 100 decision-makers and practitioners present who are working within government, academia, industry and civil society to discuss how science could best be deployed to support decisions for nature recovery. The findings of the symposium were due to be fed into the Natural England conference on the same topic the following day.
Tom, Rebecca and Silas were the only farmers present. All three of them are certified Pasture for Life, with Tom and Silas having done biodiversity case studies (here and here) and with Rebecca recently appointed as the Strategic Lead for Nature Recovery at Stroud District Council. Their presence significantly helped to ground the discussions in the realities and practicalities of farming the land whilst nurturing nature. Most of the participants left with a copy of our new biodiversity flyer (here and here) and we encouraged them (a) to focus on helping farmers to establish biodiversity baseline data in order to allow subsequent surveys to measure change numerically rather than anecdotally, (b) to look into those instances where farmers have successfully encouraged biodiversity and to better understand what encourages (or discourages) other farmers from following suit (behaviour change) and (c) to think more holistically in terms of “functioning ecosystems” rather than focusing on individual species. The implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation later in the year was a dominant topic and it behoves us all to better understand the mechanics and the implications of BNG both for farmers and for society more widely.
Useful contacts were made with senior people in DEFRA, Natural England, RSPB, WWF, BNG and the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery as well as several other academic institutions. Nobody left the event unaware of the Pasture for Life movement and what it stands for or of the vital role that farmers can play in nature recovery. Thanks to Rebecca, Silas and Tom for taking two days out of their busy schedules to represent us.
