First biodiversity symposium looks to future

The symposium convened some of the world's leading experts on conservation. Vice-Chancellor Alison Richard provided the opening remarks and the keynote address was given by Janez Potocnik, the European Commissioner for the Environment.

During the course of the symposium, speakers and discussion panels highlighted a number of key issues which need urgent action and explored the question of how to build greater global understanding of the economic, social and political value of biodiversity within ecosystems.

The morning session addressed questions about such value and the conservation priorities this implies. In the afternoon, speakers investigated the ways in which conservation problems can be solved and highlighted some of the programmes currently being undertaken by the CCI to inform decision-makers and deliver solutions. Each session was followed by a lively, facilitated discussion by a panel of experts.

Mike Rands, Director of CCI, said: The world has a massive challenge to meet if we are to half the loss of the planet's natural capital. CCI offers an exciting combination of intellectual capacity, pioneering research, policy experience and practical knowledge to respond to that challenge. Today we heard about an array of new ideas that demonstrate the power of collaboration across disciplines and between researchers and practitioners."

Launched in 2007, the CCI is a collaboration between six departments of the University of Cambridge and nine leading conservation organisations (including the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, Birdlife International, Fauna and Flora International and the Tropical Biology Association) based in the Cambridge area. It represents a critical mass of expertise at the interface of research and education, policy and practice, for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems.

In October 2009, a new MPhil degree in Conservation Leadership was launched by CCI, led from the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge and funded by the MAVA foundation. The course has an innovative structure that draws on research from across six university departments and all nine of the conservation organisations in CCI. It is aimed at graduates with at least five years experience in conservation.

Last week a review written by a group of CCI members was profiled in the journal Science. In the paper they warn that unless people recognise the link between their consumption choices and biodiversity loss, the diversity of life on Earth will continue to decline.