Initiatives / Events
Natural Capital Initiative

The Natural Capital Initiative are proud to host our second ‘Valuing our Life Support Systems’ natural capital summit on 6th & 7th November 2014, held at the British Library.

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

The Natural Capital Initiative are proud to host our second ‘Valuing our Life Support Systems’ natural capital summit on 6th & 7th November 2014, held at the British Library. Since our launch summit in 2009, a growing number of influential activities have emerged across all sectors within the natural capital space – from networks to research programmes, committees to coalitions. This emerging hive of activity is testament to the traction the natural capital concept has gained with a variety of audiences.

Five years on, we will once again bring together 250 influencers from across academia, policy, business, and civil society within this expanded community and beyond to assess gains made and further enable the valuing of natural capital in planning and decision-making based on sound science.

We are delighted to confirm that the following speakers will be at our event.

Keynote Speakers
Prof. Georgina Mace Prof. Georgina Mace Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystems and Director of the UCL Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research (CBER).
Peter Young Peter Young Chairman, Aldersgate Goup and Strategy Director, Jacobs.
Prof. Duncan Wingham Prof. Duncan Wingham Chief Executive, NERC
Prof. Giles Atkinson Prof. Giles Atkinson Professor of Environmental Policy, Department of Geography & Environment, London School of Economics
Glyn Davies Glyn Davies Director of Programmes, WWF
Prof. Anthony Kessel Prof. Anthony Kessel Director of Public Health Strategy at Public Health England
Pieter van der Gaag Pieter van der Gaag Interim Executive Director, Natural Capital Coalition
Will Evison Will Evison Assistant Director, PwC
Inder Poonaji Inder Poonaji Head of Sustainability, Nestlé S. A.
Richard Spencer Richard Spencer Head of Sustainability, ICAEW.
Jo Pike Jo Pike Project Director, World Forum on Natural Capital.

Matthew Agarwala Matthew’s research explores the economics of water and how it relates to development, growth, and sustainability. His work seeks to inform policy regarding the economic valuation and pricing of water, optimal water governance, and the relationship between water, gender and development.

Steve Albon Steve Albon was a Co-Chair for both the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) published in 2011, and its Follow-on project, published in June this year. He was part of the team that developed the Valuing Nature Network and coordinated the Environment – Land Use and Rural Stewardship research programme for the Scottish Government between 2006 and 2011. Steve is internationally renowned for his contribution to the long-term research on the population ecology of red deer on the Isle of Rum, Soay sheep on St Kilda, and reindeer on Svalbard. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s National Academy of Sciences and Letters, in 2008. Steve has held an Honorary Chair at the University of Aberdeen since 1997, when he moved to be Director of ITE/CEH Banchory, Scotland. He has spent the last ten years at the James Hutton Institute (previously the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute).

Victor Anderson Victor Anderson is Visiting Professor at the Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. He has worked as an economist for the UK Sustainable Development Commission and for WWF, and was a member of the London Assembly and the Board of the London Development Agency. His ‘Alternative Economic Indicators’ book was republished by Routledge at the end of last year.

Giles Atkinson Professor of Environmental Policy at London School of Economics. An environmental economist by training, his research interests cover a number of aspects of environmental policy and appraisal. In particular, Giles has published extensively on the subject of sustainable development. Much of this research has examined how policy-makers might construct better measures of economic progress through ‘green accounting’, particularly comprehensive measures of (genuine) saving. An additional component of his research is the application of cost-benefit analysis particularly stated preference methods to appraise environmental (and related) policies as well as using these methods to examine the importance that the public attaches to different notions of environmental equity. Giles is currently a member of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Environmental Economics Academic Panel, Honorary Fellow at CSERGE, University of East Anglia and a member of the advisory board of the Green Indian States Trust (GIST)..

Justin Atkinson Justin is on the board of directors of Alliance Trust’s private equity subsidiary. He manages the impact, private equity, and mineral rights portfolios at Alliance Trust, having joined the group in 2010. Justin also leads the stewardship programme, having previously co-managed the Japan fund and worked on the Asian and North American quoted equities desks. Prior to Alliance Trust, Justin worked at the activist investing boutique Principle Capital. He qualified and practised as a corporate lawyer with the international law firm Ashurst, including a secondment to the Financial Services Authority. Justin graduated with distinction from the College of Law in 2002 after graduating with an MA in Oriental Studies (Japanese) from Cambridge University (St John’s College).

Natasha Barker-Bradshaw Natasha spent ten years leading the work of three estuary partnerships in south-west England (Severn, Exe, Teign estuaries) co-ordinating local government, business and communities to support sustainable management. She was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to research estuaries with the highest tidal ranges in the world and their potential for renewable energy, tourism and sustainable development. Natasha has undertaken consultancy work for the UK government and World Bank on coastal management and public interpretation projects in the Black Sea countries. She spent the early part of her career specialising in environmental impact assessments of river and coastal engineering projects. She is a Council Member for The European Coastal & Marine Union (EUCC) and currently serves as a Marine Management Organisation appointee on the Devon & Severn Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority.

Martin Ballard Martin Ballard is an environmental sustainability professional and performance improvement leader in built environment construction, maintenance and asset management. He has experience of delivering on waste, water, and carbon reduction, as well as strategic stakeholder and supply chain engagement, for example on biodiversity, surface water and sustainable urban drainage. As Group Environment Manager, he leads Willmott Dixon’s environment team on legal assurance, environmental protection and promotion of environmental improvements, assisting the business with best practice to perform to company targets. Martin began his career in pollution prevention and inspectorate roles with the National Rivers Authority and Environment Agency, before joining Anglian Water where he held operational, asset investment and supply chain performance roles. Environmental improvement and sustainability enhancement has been core to his career across the utility and built environment. He is a Charted Environmentalist and Chartered Manager.

Richard Brazier Richard Brazier is Professor of Earth Surface Processes in the Department of Geography at the University of Exeter. He has written more than 100 scientific papers, 20 book chapters and 10 reports to Defra/UK Govt over the last 14 years. Richard is an expert on hydrology, soil erosion, water quality and diffuse pollution from agricultural land. He has recently pioneered the field of landscape restoration science to understand how land management, restoration or landscape recreation can provide multiple environmental and economic benefits to society. His research takes an holistic approach, utilising field data collection, laboratory analysis, remote sensing and numerical modelling techniques, to evaluate the ways in which water and soil resources can be better managed. Richard currently runs a number of landscape restoration monitoring experiments as part of the DWT-funded Devon Beaver Project and Culm grassland proof-of-concept projects; The SWW/NERC/TSB-funded Mires-on-the-Moors project and the Defra-funded Pilot Scheme to establish a National Soil Erosion monitoring framework.

Dylan Bright Head of Sustainability at South West Water.

Allan Buckwell Emeritus Professor Allan Buckwell joined IEEP as a half-time Senior Fellow in January 2012. Two thirds of his career has been as an academic agricultural economist specialising in agricultural and rural policy. This involved fourteen years at Newcastle University and then from 1984-1999 as Professor of Agricultural Economics, Wye College University of London (which was merged into Imperial College). During this period he specialised on teaching and research into all aspects of European rural policy dealing especially with the Common Agricultural Policy, trade issues, and technology and structural change in farming and its impacts. During 1995/6 he was seconded to the analysis and conception unit of DG Agri in the European Commission where he chaired a policy integration group who laid out a model for the evolution of the CAP. He joined the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) as Policy Director in 2000. Since then he has been involved in debates on how to balance the CAP as a policy for Food and Environmental Security. He chaired and authored a report on Public Goods from Private Land and worked a good deal on Climate Change, the threats and opportunities this poses to rural land managers and Green House Gas accounting from land-based businesses.

Jamie Butterworth Jamie Butterworth is the outgoing Chief Executive of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an organisation with the mission of accelerating the transition towards the circular economy. Jamie has worked together with Ellen MacArthur for over six years to setup, launch and develop the Foundation but is now stepping down in order to establish a new venture that will be complementary to the Foundation’s work. Before working with Ellen and the team at the Foundation, Jamie managed a global sales and distribution network for B&G, a leading UK SME focussing on building the world’s best marine electronics. Jamie’s interests include sailing, running and he is a visiting Business Fellow of the Oxford University Smith School.

Sarah Jane Chimbwandira Sarah Jane Chimbwandira manages the Biodiversity, Evidence & Policy department for the Surrey Wildlife Trust which encompasses the delivery of the planning advisory service, ecological consultancy, Surrey Biodiversity Information centre and Living Landscapes team. More latterly her role has focussed on the development of Surrey Nature Partnership which is implementing two key partnership projects this year on Biodiversity Offsetting and Valuing Surrey. Sarah Jane has a first degree in Zoology and a Masters degree in Environmental Management. Following two years as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in Malawi as a secondary school science teacher and her Masters, she began work with Surrey County Council in the Countryside Service over a number of years working at a range of locations including Newlands Corner Visitor Centre and the Semaphore Tower at Ockham. After several years working with SCC she transferred to Surrey Wildlife Trust following the ground-breaking agreement between SCC and SWT for management of the SCC Countryside Estate. She is a Member of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (currently serving on the Advisory Forum) as well as a Chartered Environmentalist. She is also a trustee of the Surrey Hills Society.

Andrew Church Andrew Church is Professor of Human Geography and Director of Research for Social Sciences at the University of Brighton. His research is in the field of geography and culture-nature relations. Andrew was a coordinating lead author for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment chapter on ‘Cultural Ecosystem Services’ and Principal Investigator for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow On Research into indicators for cultural ecosystem services. He is currently working on an Arts and Humanities Research Council Connected Communities major project on Hydrocitizenship.

Andrew Clark Dr Andrew Clark joined NFU in January 1993. He is the NFU’s Director of Policy managing the NFU’s multi-disciplinary commodity, policy, legal and food chain teams. Prior to his appointment in March 2005, he was the NFU’s Chief Environment Adviser with special interest in wildlife, public access and rural development policy. Andrew previously worked for Hertfordshire County Council as Landscape Officer and ran its conservation grant programme. Andrew lives in Worcestershire where he grew up on a hop and fruit farm and is a Chartered Landscape Architect.

Peter Costigan Dr Peter Costigan is an independent consultant. He has a first degree in Biology and a PhD in land reclamation. Following 12 years of research on soil and crop science in the public and private sector, Peter joined the UK Ministry of Agriculture in 1991 and managed the Ministry’s Agri-Environment science for 12 years. In 2003 Peter moved to the Environment and Rural policy group in Defra where he oversaw Defra’s evidence on a wide range of environmental issues, and was Head of the Natural Environment Science Division and the Science Co-ordinator for the environment. He was particularly involved in developing the evidence base to support the Ecosystem Approach. He represented Defra on the Client Group of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, and was Chair of the UK Biodiversity Research Advisory Group. He was also a member of NERC’s National Capability Advisory Group. Since retiring from Defra in 2012, Peter has been a member of Panel B of HEFCE’s Research Excellence Framework, has chaired the Impact Panel for the Evaluation of NERC Centres and is an Associate Editor of Soil Use and Management.

Nick Dales Nick Dales works in the Evidence Team at Natural England advising the organisation on how to develop its evidence base to deliver greater environmental, social and economic impact. His interest in Natural Capital was developed through his work on Green Infrastructure in the North East of England where he was involved in the delivery of a number of projects and development of Green Infrastructure strategies. He also managed the region’s evidence team and was principle author behind the State of the Natural Environment Report (North East) in 2009. On joining the Evidence Team in 2010 Nick led a two year project which ended in development of Natural England’s Spatial Targeting Toolkit. The use of spatial data and an increasing interest in the use of environmental evidence for socio-economic benefits led him to involvement with Natural England’s work on the Ecosystem Approach. He will shortly publish a research report titled, ‘Assessing the potential for mapping ecosystem services in England based on existing habitats’ which will describe how Natural England approached the development of ‘simple’ ecosystem service maps. Current projects include further development of Ecosystem Service mapping, an internal research project on the impact of evidence and a collaborative project with other government departments on mapping the accessible natural environment.

Glyn Davies Glyn Davies spent the early part of his career (1970s and 1980s) as a scientist in Malaysia, India and Sierra Leone, specialising in forest ecology research, and natural conservation strategies; producing technical reports and academic papers / books. He went on to work for the British Government (DFID) in Kenya and Cameroon, and after a secondment to the European Commission in Brussels, he joined the Zoological Society of London as Director of Conservation Programmes in 2001. Glyn is now Director of Programmes at WWF-UK, where he has a remit to work with the WWF Global Network to support achieving our mission: for a world where humans live in harmony with nature.

Nick Dearden As director, Nick Dearden manages the staff team and resources on behalf of WDM’s members. He is also the public face of the organisation. Nick started his career at War on Want where he became a senior campaigner. He went on to be corporates campaign manager at Amnesty International UK. As director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, he built strong relationships with campaigners in the global south. He helped win a new law to stop Vulture Funds from using UK courts to squeeze huge debt payments out of poor countries.

Ian Dickie Ian Dickie joined eftec in November 2007, where he is now a Technical Director. He also is a Director of the Aldersgate Group, for whom he leads work on biodiversity and ecosystem services. His interests include biodiversity and natural resources policy, and the management of natural capital; he was principal investigator for the UKNEA follow-on project’s work package on a natural capital asset check, and has worked on natural capital for the Natural Capital Committee, Natural Capital Coalition and Defra. He has also managed studies on habitat banking and biodiversity finance for the European Commission; and worked on marine site designations and policies, forestry, wildlife trade and invasive species. Previously Ian was head of economics for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, whom he joined in April 2000. Ian managed a team providing economic advice and analysis to support all aspects of the Society’s conservation efforts. He co-authored several RSPB reports on the impacts of nature conservation on local economies and wellbeing.

Felix Eigenbrod Dr Felix Eigenbrod a spatial ecologist broadly interested in understanding how human-induced land use changes affect ecosystem services and biodiversity. He is particularly interested in quantifying the often complex interactions between biodiversity, society and ecosystem services, and at identifying the spatial and temporal scales at which tradeoffs and interactions occur.

Rob Fish Dr Rob Fish is social scientist and human geographer by training with research interests in the cultural and environmental aspects of sustainable land management. His work is distinguished by its interdisciplinary and collaborative nature, as well as by direct intervention in the policy process. Rob developed the conceptual rationale and framework for the National Ecosystem Assessment follow-on work on Cultural Ecosystem Services. Rob currently researches and teaches in the Politics Department, University of Exeter.

Tara Garnett Tara Garnett is based at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford, is a fellow of the Oxford Martin School and runs the Food Climate Research Network. She has worked on food issues for over 20 years, first in the NGO community and, since 2005 within the academic sector. As such she is concerned not only with the production of knowledge but on how it is communicated to and interpreted by policy makers, civil society organisations and industry.Her work centres on the food system’s contribution to climate changing emissions and on the options for reducing them. A particular focus is the relationship between emissions reduction objectives and other social and ethical concerns, notably human health, food security and nutrition, livelihoods, and animal welfare. Tara set up the Food Climate Research Network in 2005. Since then, membership has increased to over 2600 individuals who share a common interest in food system sustainability, spanning diverse disciplines and sectors and drawn from over 70 countries worldwide. The FCRN provides accessible, policy relevant and integrative knowledge on food systems, and a safe neutral space for diverse stakeholders to engage in the contested food arena – through its membership, its very well used website, and via the workshops it runs.

Hilary Graham Prof Hilary Graham is a social scientist and public health researcher. She was awarded a CBE for services to social science in 2014. Hilary was Director of the Health Variations Programme (1996-2001), funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Director of the Public Health Research Consortium (2005-11), funded by England’s Department of Health. She is a member of a range of research and policy committees. Her research has focused on health behaviours – on the lifestyle factors like smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity that damage people’s health. She is also leading an ESRC project which is seeking to build links between promoting people’s health and protecting the ecosystems on which human life depends. For information on the Health of Populations and Ecosystems (HOPE) project, see www.planethope.org.uk

Nick Grayson Nick Grayson holds the post of Climate Change and Sustainability Manager for Birmingham City Council. This is a citywide sustainability role whilst leading on green infrastructure, climate change adaptation, Biophilic cities network and natural capital. With over 30 years experience at Europe’s largest municipality, having gained post graduate qualifications in Horticulture, Landscape Architecture and Public Service and Policy. Nick was the lead author for the Birmingham Green Living Spaces Plan (2013), currently working on the Natural Capital Planning Tool and a 25 year Natural Capital Plan for the city. Nick has had European experience through the EU-Project URGE, EU-Cities Adapt; nationally supported the National Ecosystems Assessment Follow On project; and sits on UK MAB Urban Forum, Forest and Woodlands Advisory Committee – West Midlands; national Urban FWAC Network; Liveable Cities (EPSRC) research project; and the global -Biophilic Cities Network Steering Group.

Julian Harlow Economic Advisor – Natural Capital Committee and Secretariat at Defra.

Jim Harris Professor of Environmental Technology, Cranfield University. Professor Jim Harris’ research is focused on microbial ecology and how the diversity of the microbiota and their spatio-temporal distribution affect ecosystem processes. He has applied this particularly in studying soil forming processes in disturbed landscapes and their role in organic matter dynamics; in the assessment and treatment of wastes such as landfill leachate and other wastewaters; restoration ecology and in the quantitative assessment of ecosystem goods and services.

Sarah Kemmitt Sarah’s interest in Natural Capital stems from her varied career, which has spanned ecological conservation, the third sector, scientific research, banking regulation and internal audit. Sarah’s first degree was in environmental science at UEA which sowed the seeds for working in the Norfolk countryside on practical conservation of ancient woodlands, lowland heath and wetlands. Her MSc in environmental forestry at Bangor further developed these interests and led to her setting up a community agroforestry project where volunteers worked together to create a, now well established, example of a forest garden and provided experiences for many socially excluded groups. A decade of science followed, including a PhD in soil microbial ecology/biogeochemistry at Bangor and post-doctoral research at Rothamsted Research with many national & international collaborations. Sarah left the laboratory to pursue a unique opportunity at the British Library where she developed and implemented a strategy to respond to the changing scientific information landscape. The next radical career change came in taking the fascinating opportunity in 2010 to join the Financial Services Authority (later to become the Prudential Regulation Authority) as a Banking Supervisor. Now at the Bank of England, Sarah applies her varied analytical skills to internal audit. Her experience of environmental science alongside finance and business provides a unique perspective on the Natural Capital agenda.

Anthony Kessel Anthony Kessel is a public health physician and medical ethicist. His current position is Director of International Public Health and the Responsible Officer for Public Health England (PHE), and Honorary Professor and Co-ordinator of the International Programme for Ethics, Public Health and Human Rights (IPEPH) at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). At PHE Anthony’s responsibilities include oversight of international public health, antimicrobial resistance and healthcare associated infections, field epidemiology training programme and medical and scientific trainees, as well as professional appraisal and performance of doctors. Previously Anthony has been Director of Public Health Strategy at the Health Protection Agency, Director of Public Health at Camden Primary Care Trust in London, and also a general practitioner.

Pushpam Kumar Dr Pushpam Kumar is Chief, Ecosystem Services Economics Unit, Division of Environment Programme Implementation, UNEP. He has been engaged in international scientific assessment efforts on biodiversity and ecosystems and climate change. Dr Kumar was Co-coordinating Lead Author and Co-coordinator, Responses Working Group for Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and Lead Author for the Fourth Assessment of the IPCC (Mitigation). He was also the Scientific Co-coordinator of the Conceptual Framework for the TEEB. His research has been on designing market based response options for management of biodiversity, economics of ecosystem services, ecosystem accounting, and linkages of poverty and environment.

Sari Kovats Sari Kovats is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Social & Environmental Health Research, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the leading research institution on public health in the UK. Sari has a PhD in environmental epidemiology and her research interests are primarily on methods to assess the health impacts of weather, climate and climate change. She has worked on a range of (observational) studies on climate/weather to quantify their impacts on health, and developed frameworks for the assessment of future climate change impacts on human health. She is Director of the new NIHR Health Protection Research Unit on Environmental Change and Health, a multi-disciplinary five-year research programme, in partnership with Public Health England. Sari was Coordinating Lead Author for Chapter 23 on Europe in the Fifth Assessment Report for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014). She has also co-authored several key scientific assessments on climate change and health at national and regional levels.

Georgina Mace Professor Georgina Mace is Head of the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research at University College London. Her research interests are in the assessment of extinction risk and measuring the trends and consequences of biodiversity loss and change. She led the process to develop, test and document criteria for listing species on IUCN’s Red List of threatened species, and subsequently worked on the biodiversity elements of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the technical development of measures for the CBD 2010 target. She recently contributed to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment and the IPCC 2014, and is a member of the Government’s Natural Capital Committee. She was awarded a CBE in 2007, elected FRS in 2002, and was the 2007 winner of the international Cosmos prize. She has been President of the British Ecological Society (2011-2013), President of the Society for Conservation Biology (2007-2009) and Chair of the international programme on biodiversity science DIVERSITAS (2012-2014).

Stephanie Maier Stephanie Maier is responsible for the Corporate Responsibility programme at Aviva Investors. She undertakes engagement on environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) issues and leads on the corporate responsibility element of Aviva Investors Corporate Governance and Corporate Responsibility Voting policy. Previously Head of Research at EIRIS, where she headed up a team of over 30 researchers and six international research partners providing research on ESG performance of developed and emerging market companies. Prior to EIRIS she was at corporate governance consultancy PIRC. Stephanie holds a BA (Hons) in Biological Sciences from Oxford University and an MSc (Distinction) in Environmental Technology from Imperial College. She also holds the Investment Management Certificate (‘IMC’). In September 2013, Stephanie was elected to the Board of Directors of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association.

Alistair Maltby Alistair was formerly Director of the Eden Rivers Trust in Cumbria before transferring to The Rivers Trust in 2006. He is a biologist with particular experience in river restoration and is passionate about the protection of water quality and resources and the management of water in the UK . He is also experienced at putting together project funding applications with specific knowledge of the Single Regeneration Budget, Heritage Lottery Fund, Landfill Tax, Sustainability Funds, the England Rural Development Programme, Regional Development Agency funding and the EU Interreg programmes.

Edward Maltby Professor Edward Maltby is Emeritus Professor of Wetland Science, Water and Ecosystem Management, University of Liverpool. He has over 40 years experience in scientific research with skills in multidisciplinary/international working and the linkage of natural science to social sciences and policy innovation with particular reference to the functioning of water and wetland ecosystems. He competently distils and translates complex science into assessment and decision-support tools especially for wetland ecosystem services. He has provide technical advice and advocacy at the Conferences of Parties and technical working groups of The Convention on Biological Diversity, The Ramsar Convention and other policy and legislative fora at international, supranational and national levels. Professor Maltby played a key role in the development and implementation of the Ecosystem Approach(CBD/IUCN),the Wise Use concept (Ramsar) and horizontal guidance for wetlands under the EU Water Framework Directive.

Dorothy Maxwell Dr. Maxwell has been working in sustainability with businesses, government and NGOs for 24 years in the USA, Europe and Asia Pacific. She has a PhD in Environmental Science and MSc in Environmental Economics & Law and specialises in sustainability in business. She has worked with Accenture and Willis risk management, was Director of the Irish government Sustainable Business Programme and an environmental policy maker with the European Commission and UNEP. Since 2006, she is the Founding Director of Global View Sustainability Services (GVSS) consultancy whose clients include Walmart, Nike, Defra and EC. She has been Special Advisor to The Prince of Wales’s International Sustainability Unit (2010-12) and DEFRA’s Sustainable Products/Green Economy programmes (2006-10). She was Executive Director of the Natural Capital Coalition (2012-14) and author of their 2014 Valuing Nature in Business: Towards a Harmonized Framework & Taking Stock. She is a visiting lecturer on sustainable business at the Imperial College London MSc in Environmental Science and RSA Fellow.

Tom Oliver Dr Tom Oliver’s research focuses on analysis of large spatial and temporal datasets to inform macro-ecological theory and applied landscape management. He is also interested in bridging the gap between theory and application, by providing tools to help decision makers and integrating biodiversity conservation into mainstream economics. Specific research topics include a) understanding how biodiversity underpins the resilience of ecosystem functions and services, b) Impacts of climate and land use change on biodiversity (including extreme events), c) conservation ecology (functional connectivity, design of landscape scale initiatives, butterfly population dynamics).

Ece Ozdemiroglu Ece started her career as an environmental economist in 1992 when she set up eftec (Economics for the Environment Consultancy). Since then, she worked on about 400 projects, majority of which she managed or directed, including several large scale infrastructure and policy studies for public and private sector and NGO clients. She specialises in interpreting economic value evidence for natural capital, ecosystem services, cultural heritage, charitable sector, information and education. She has co-edited or co-authored 11 books and contributed to several articles and conference papers. She is a Steering Group Member for the Natural Capital Initiative and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy. Ece is also a founding member of the UK Network of Environmental Economists.

David Pencheon Dr David Pencheon is a UK trained doctor and is currently Director of the Sustainable Development Unit [SDU] for NHS England and Public Health England. David Pencheon was previously Director of a Public Health Observatory in Cambridge from 2001 to 2007. He has worked as a clinical doctor in the NHS, a joint Director of Public Health, a Public Health Training Programme Director in the East of England, with the NHS R&D programme, and in China in the early 1990s with Save the Children Fund (UK).

Jo Pike Jo Pike is Co-Founder and Project Director for the World Forum on Natural Capital, the first major global conference on natural capital, which brought 500 together business leaders, environmental experts and government representatives from 35 countries to Edinburgh in 2013 to help turn the debate into action. The event was organised by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, where Jo is Deputy Chief Executive, in association with the United Nations Environment Programme, International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Natural Capital Coalition and The Wildlife Trusts. The next World Forum will take place in Edinburgh in November 2015. Jo is on the Steering Group for the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital, a new initiative bringing together stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors to protect and rebuild Scotland’s natural capital. Her background is in communications, strategy development and stakeholder engagement across a wide range of voluntary sector organisations. Jo is also a board member of Turning Point Scotland, a large social care charity.

Inder Poonaji Inder Poonaji is currently the Head of Sustainability for Nestlé UK & Ireland leading the company’s work in the area of creating shared value in the field of Sustainability. He has worked internationally for several years pioneering sustainability and change management strategies, creating holistic programmes that integrate the organisation, stakeholders and systems in reducing environment and social impact. He successfully implemented Safety and Environment ISO standards for over 100 factories worldwide. He is currently leading a holistic strategy for sustainable manufacturing along the supply chain from source to consumers, notable success have included – zero waste to landfill, reduction in energy, water and in creating butterfly meadows.

Drew Purves Drew Purves is head of the Computational Ecology and Environmental Science group (CEES) part of the Computational Science Lab at Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK. The goal of CEES is to develop predictive models of the ecological systems that comprise the Earth System, by inventing and applying new models and new scientific software tools. In addition to his role at Microsoft Research, Drew lectures at Cambridge University and is Treasurer of the British Ecological Society. In 2014 Drew was named by Fortune Magazine as a ‘Big Data All Star’.

Richard Spencer Richard Spencer is Head of Sustainability at ICAEW. He joined ICAEW in 2005 in order to set up the sustainability practice within the Technical Strategy department. During this time Richard has led on the ICAEW’s thought leadership and engagement programme in sustainability. He is a co-convenor of the Finance Innovation Lab that last year was named by the Observer and NESTA as one of the Top 50 of Britain’s New Radicals. He has also led on setting up the Natural Capital Coalition. Before joining ICAEW Richard worked as a strategy consultant in the Natural Resources division of Accenture. Prior to that he held a number of roles at N M Rothschild & Sons Ltd in the bank’s treasury and natural resources project finance teams. Richard began his career at the Bank of England. Richard holds degrees from the universities of Leeds and London. He is a member of the FTSE4Good Policy Committee, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board Technical Working Group and is a board member of the Social Return on Investment Network.

William Sutherland Professor William Sutherland holds the Miriam Rothschild Chair in Conservation Biology at the University of Cambridge and is president of the British Ecological Society. He is committed to improving the quality of policy making decisions by a range of approaches including improving the ease of access to evidence and using transparent and rigorous means for interpreting information. His interest in ecosystem services include identifying all the possible interventions for improving or retaining regulating services, collating the evidence on the effectiveness of these interventions and working with policy makers to set agendas for future work.

Camilla Toulmin Dr Camilla Toulmin is Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development based in London. (IIED). An economist by training, she has worked mainly in Africa on agriculture, land, climate and livelihoods. This has combined field research, policy analysis and advocacy. Her work has aimed at understanding how environmental, economic and political change impact on people’s lives, and how policy reform can bring real change on the ground. Camilla studied Economics at Cambridge and London, before gaining her doctorate in Economics at Oxford. Camilla is fluent in English and French. She is Chair of ICARDA’s Board, a trustee of the Franco-British Council and a number of other boards. She is currently a member of the Royal Society’s Working Group on Resilience

Pieter van der Gaag Since the start of his career in 1996, Pieter van der Gaag has always put his efforts to achieving sustainable societies that operate in harmony with nature. With a interest in networking and inspiring discussions, he has held senior positions with ANPED, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability; International Union for Conservation of Nature: National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL); and Triodos Investment Management. He was also closely involved with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Recently he established his own independent consultancy Niet Onverschillig (Dutch for Not Indifferent), advising organisations on effective stakeholder involvement. Currently he is appointed to the position of interim Executive Director for the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC), a global multi-stakeholder platform for valuing natural capital in business.

Ruth Waters Ruth Waters is Principal Specialist for the Ecosystem Approach and Natural Capital in Natural England. Her role is to work with the science and policy communities to interpret their latest thinking and evidence into practical advice and management tools to use the ecosystem approach on the ground. Previously, she was the overarching project manager for Natural England’s upland ecosystem service pilots, which are a successful example of using the ecosystem approach in practise. Ruth was actively involved in the National Ecosystem Assessment and its follow on. For a number of years, Ruth was a senior conservation officer on the Humber estuary, was a senior specialist in biodiversity leading on the Species Recovery Programme, she worked on invasive species and was the mammal ecologist for the Countryside Council for Wales. Ruth is currently a member of the Panel Advisory Group for NERC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability programme, a member of the LWEC Ecosystem Task Force and a member of UK Biodiversity Science Committee.

John Watkins John Watkins works at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology focusing on environmental informatics and the development of the NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. He has been involved for many years in the management and application of large-scale environmental data to produce national mapping and assessment of natural assets, especially within the UK Countryside Surveys. He has more recently been developing software tools and statistical methods to exploit existing data resources to assess the extent and condition of newly developed natural capital metrics.

Mathew White Dr Mathew White is an environmental psychologist at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), part of the University of Exeter Medical School. His most recent research examines the relationship between the environment and subjective well-being and mental health. To address these issues the ECEHH team use as wide a range of research methods as possible including analysis of longitudinal panel data, lab-based experiments, field studies, qualitative interviews and brain imaging techniques. He has a particular interest in understanding the effect of aquatic environments (the coast and inland waterways) on health and well-being.

Duncan Wingham Prof. Duncan Wingham received a BSc from the University of Leeds in 1979, and a PhD from the University of Bath in 1984, both in physics. He joined University College London in 1986, where he held lecturing posts at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory and the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering. He was appointed as a chair in the Department of Space & Climate Physics in 1996, and was head of the Department of Earth Sciences at UCL from 2005 to 2010. He was founder and director of the NERC Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling (CPOM) from 2000 to 2005 which, among other things, discovered the widespread mass loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its origin in accelerated ocean melting. He was chairman of the Science & Innovation Board of NERC and, since 2000, the lead investigator of the ESA CryoSat and CryoSat-2 satellite missions. Duncan became chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council on 1 January 2012.

Jonathan Winn Dr Jonathan Winn is an ecologist with a background in nature conservation, ecological survey, and conservation planning. Jonathan holds a PhD in Landscape Scale conservation planning and has worked practically in this area on National Park projects and the Wildlife Trust’s Living Landscape initiative. Jonathan worked with the UK NEA secretariat and contributed to report Chapters and analysis. Jonathan has worked in ecosystem services mapping for several years, with a focus on application in local decision making and county based promotion of the benefits of the natural environment, for use by conservation charities and local authorities .

Peter Young Peter Young is Strategy Director at Jacobs and has 30 years experience in multi-disciplinary environmental management consulting. In his role as Chairman of the Aldersgate Group he is actively involved in promoting the economic benefits of a strongly regulated and technically high quality environmental services sector; Peter drives for consensus amongst the broad membership including major blue chip companies, membership organisations, NGOs and influential individuals from all parts of the political spectrum. He regularly provides advice at ministerial level and has given evidence to House of Commons’ Committees (twice in 2009). He is founder and Director of CAT Alliance Ltd, a global subsidiary jointly owned with Cowi and Tauw, which has operations in over 50 countries and provides an international resource to compare and deliver best practice. Peter has one of the first degrees ever awarded in Environmental Chemistry, and has worked in the environmental sector throughout his career.