Moulding the future
The Anthropocene perspective that humans are integral to the Earth system releases us from the mind-set that human impacts are wholly negative.
However, humans are unlikely to leave change entirely to chance.
This programme considers whether we can build a future in which humans foster further gains in biodiversity, without compromising human wellbeing or risking historic biodiversity.
This programme has been building as the Centre develops, with the implications of the results and conclusions from the Biodiversification, Philias and phobias, and Utility programmes feeding into Moulding the Future.
Areas of interest
- Society-biodiversity feedbacks, aiming to analyse and model feedbacks between human attitudes, benefits humans obtain from nature, and biological diversification; seeking ways to facilitate the future growth of beneficial elements of biodiversity.
- The ideal climate, considering the desirability of returning to pre-industrial temperatures, or would a different temperature trajectory be preferable?
- Conservation and cultivation, given that some elements of biodiversity are growing in the Anthropocene, what approaches to environmental thinking and management could we adopt if we wish to increase biodiversity further?
News and views
Researchers have suggested appointing practitioners or stewards to bring together local knowledge and conservation practices to inform policies on coexistence with large carnivores such as wolves, bears and lynx.
The need for information on long-term change throughout the Holocene provides an interface for sustainability science and palaeoecology.
LCAB PhD student Andrew Gibson shares his experience of the American Geophysical Union annual conference