Kicking off the New Year, an inter-disciplinary team of scientists from around the globe gathered at the University of Oxford to take part in the Zoology Department’s Biosymposium. The meeting lasting for 2 days (6th – 7th January 2015) was packed full of presentations and discussions, seeking to understand the importance of biodiversity and how, or even if, it should be valued.
This team of attendees also included a representative from the WI-CATS group – Charlotte Whitham, who attended to present some of her recent work on how we value ecosystem services. As part of a paper currently in review, Charlotte has investigated the use of various land-use land-cover classifications and economic valuation approaches in how we value ecosystem services across a protected area. This work comes from a case study in Nangunhe Nature Reserve (Yunnan Province) on which she has worked for the last 3 years as part of her PhD. Charlotte wished to bring attention to the fact that we don’t always have access to the time, resources and skills necessary for the most accurate of assessments. We should therefore be aware of how our valuations might differ when using different data and valuation approaches.
The symposium was a great success. Charlotte and the other attendees left full of ideas and motivation for how we can understand and appreciate the incredible functions and values that biodiversity holds, and most importantly, how we can work together to conserve it.
This team of attendees also included a representative from the WI-CATS group – Charlotte Whitham, who attended to present some of her recent work on how we value ecosystem services. As part of a paper currently in review, Charlotte has investigated the use of various land-use land-cover classifications and economic valuation approaches in how we value ecosystem services across a protected area. This work comes from a case study in Nangunhe Nature Reserve (Yunnan Province) on which she has worked for the last 3 years as part of her PhD. Charlotte wished to bring attention to the fact that we don’t always have access to the time, resources and skills necessary for the most accurate of assessments. We should therefore be aware of how our valuations might differ when using different data and valuation approaches.
The symposium was a great success. Charlotte and the other attendees left full of ideas and motivation for how we can understand and appreciate the incredible functions and values that biodiversity holds, and most importantly, how we can work together to conserve it.