Birkbeck Public Lectures 2011
‘World biodiversity in crisis’

You are here: Home > News > Birkbeck Public lectures

The Society aims to encourage interest in conservation, based on sound ecological principles, by arranging lecture courses, field visits and meetings to keep its members up-to-date. The Society was established in 1980 by graduates of the Birkbeck College, University of London, Ecology and Conservation courses and maintains close links with Birkbeck.

The ECSS Spring 2011 Free Public Lecture Series will be run in collaboration with Birkbeck Institute of Environment.  It will be held on consecutive Friday evenings from 11 February to 11 March 2011 inclusive.  This series will examine,: - ‘World biodiversity in crisis’

The Millennium Biodiversity Assessment painted a dismal picture of species extinction and habitat loss, not only a loss of well-loved species, but even a threat to the ability of the planet to support humanity.  At Rio in 2002, governments agreed to slow this loss by 2010, but little or nothing has been achieved.  The present rate of extinction is believed to be as great as that in the five periods of mass extinction in the geological record.  What must we do to halt the loss?  In this series we ask what causes the losses and what more is needed to meet international targets?

Join the debate, all welcome.  
Free admission.  Booking is not necessary.
The lectures will be held in

Birkbeck Clore Building Room B01
25-27 Torrington Square, London, WC1E

All lectures are from 6.30pm to 8.30 pm on the following Fridays. 
Doors open at 6.00pm.
Enquiries to e-mail:  jeremy.wright@walkern.org.uk    (tel:  020 7485 7903)

Directions

Nearest Tube Stations

Northern  Line Goodge Street
Piccadilly Line Russell Square

Bus info

Transport for London website

Leature Notes

11 February    

‘The Evil Quartet – what do we know of the causes of biodiversity loss?’
Dave Dawson is the Chairman of the Ecology and Conservation Studies Society.  He trained as a vertebrate population ecologist at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and the Edward Grey Institute, Oxford.  He researched bird populations in New Zealand temperate rainforests, where he developed a framework for the protection of threatened lowland forests.  Then he came to London to work on applied urban ecology, working in turn for the Greater London Council, London Ecology Unit and Greater London Authority.  There he helped to develop the London Habitat Survey, the hierarchy of Sites of Importance for nature conservation and the handbook series describing them.  As a background to these practical experiences, he prepared, for English Nature, a review of the science behind the concept of ecological corridors and another, for a meeting of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, on the principles of nature reserve design.

His lecture will cover the following themes:
To be able to halt the decline of biodiversity, we need to know what causes the losses.  Clearly, the causes will point to the remedies, but there is much debate over which are the most significant.  Many consider that the prime cause has been man’s destruction and degradation of wildlife habitat, leading to concerns over the small size and isolation of the remaining fragments of good habitat, and fears that this has resulted in an “extinction debt”.  Other causes are found in: pollution and the intensive management of productive agriculture and forestry; the over-exploitation of wild animals and plants; and difficulties with invasive aliens - diseases, predators and competitors - giving rise to “biotic homogenisation”.  Whilst these four causes appear to account for the historical losses, we now need to consider how climate change might affect all of these.

back to top

18 February    

‘Protecting the Best Areas’
Charles Besançon is the Head of the Protected Areas Programme at the United Nations Environment Programme, World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge.  His team of researchers works to measure how well we are doing at protecting important areas of land and sea where endangered species and other biodiversity live, as well as important ecosystems like coral reefs and mangroves.  His background includes working as a park ranger, environmental advocate, developing conflict-sensitive approaches to conservation in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and developing information management systems for protected areas.

His lecture will cover the following themes:

National parks and protected areas are well recognised for their central role in conservation and development.  They protect 1/3 of critically endangered species, 1/3 of the world’s largest cities depend on protected areas for fresh water, and millions of the world’s poorest people depend upon them for their livelihoods.  The World Database on Protected Areas has identified over 150,000 protected areas in every country and in the High Seas beyond national jurisdiction.  The UN Convention on Biological Diversity has recently passed a new strategic plan where 193 countries have agreed that at least 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, will be protected by 2020.  This talk will discuss 1) where in the world biodiversity and ecosystem services are found and concentrated; 2) whether the percentages agreed by the 193 countries will be sufficient to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services and how will this be measured; 3) why traditional monitoring approaches have failed and why we need to embrace citizen science, the wiki approach and social networking applications like Facebook, blogging and Twitter.

back to top

25 February     

‘Making Space for Nature – a review of England’s protected area network’
Sir John Lawton is Chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, and formerly Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council (1999-2005), and Director of the Centre for Population Biology at Imperial College (1989-1999).  He trained as a zoologist at the University of Durham, and subsequently held posts at Oxford and York Universities.  His scientific interests have focussed on the population dynamics and biodiversity of birds and insects, with emphasis over the last decade on the impacts of global environmental change.  He was elected FRS in 1989, awarded a CBE in 1997 and knighted in 2005 for his contributions to ecological science.  He has been awarded numerous other national and international prizes, including the Japan Prize 2004, and was elected as a Foreign Member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.  He is married to Dot, with two grown up children and five grandchildren.

His lecture will cover the following themes:
The lecture will summarise a review of England’s protected area network, commissioned by the outgoing Labour government, and accepted by the new coalition.  The review concludes that whilst the network of protected sites largely established since the end of the second world war has been valuable in slowing down the loss of species and habitats, it has failed to halt the loss of England’s biodiversity, and looks increasingly inadequate in the face of climate change.  The report argues for a step-change in the way that species and habitat conservation are delivered in England.  Its recommendations can be summarised in four words: ‘more, bigger, better and joined’.  The scientific evidence points overwhelmingly to the need for more sites, bigger (landscape-scale) sites, better managed sites and better connections between sites in the form of ‘stepping stone’ reserves and corridors.  The means to delivering these ends will be discussed in detail, particularly the need to establish Ecological Restoration Zones in England.  The report sets out a long-term vision – a desired direction of travel – and recognises the critical importance of collaboration between statutory agencies, local authorities, the voluntary sector and private land-owners and managers to deliver that vision.

back to top

4 March    

‘Agri-environment Schemes’
Dr Nigel Boatman  (details TBA)

back to top

11 March

‘Island Invaders: what are the biodiversity impacts of invasive species and what are the conservation solutions?’
Richard Cuthbert is a senior conservation scientist within the International Research Section of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  He has been involved in a programme of conservation work on islands in the UK Overseas Territories for over ten years, as well as in the conservation of vultures in South Asia.  His research on the impact of invasive mammals has involved working at some of the world’s remotest islands groups, including Tristan da Cunha and the Pitcairn Island group.  As well as researching the impact of invasive species, he is actively involved in working towards the conservation solutions, in particular planning for the eradication of invasive rats and mice from these two island groups.

His lecture will cover the following themes:
Islands harbour some of the world’s most spectacularly diverse biodiversity, often holding unique species and vast populations that have evolved in isolation and prospered in the absence of mammalian predators.  However, islands are also especially vulnerable to the negative impact of invasive species, no more so than in the case of introduced mammalian predators.  These introductions have caused severe losses of biodiversity in the past, as well as ongoing losses in to the future, and are one of the major causes of the world’s ongoing extinction crisis.  As well as outlining the problems and impacts of introduced species, the talk will also focus on the solutions: most notably the control and eradication of invasive species.  He illustrates the problems of invasive species and solutions with examples from two major RSPB projects which are planning to eradicate invasive rats and mice from Henderson Island in the Pacific and from Gough Island in the South Atlantic.

back to top

18 March

TBA.  (probably a spokesman from DEFRA, presenting the Government’s Programme)

back to top

back to top

 *******************************

The Ecology and Conservation Studies Society aims to foster interest in conservation based on sound ecological principles by arranging lecture courses, field visits and meetings, and by keeping its members up to date on literature, new concepts, research and practical field studies techniques.  Membership is open to all who have relevant experience or interests.  Non-members are most welcome at these lectures series. 

      The Ecology and Conservation Studies Society website         

back to top