Oxford Researchers at COP30

The Nature-based Solutions team is representing The Agile Initiative Nature-Based Solutions Initiative Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment - University of Oxford. COP30, the first Climate COP in the Amazon, offers a crucial opportunity to spotlight the critical role of tropical ecosystems and the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) who care for them.

The team's key hopes are:

• Biodiversity at the heart of climate action: protecting and restoring ecosystems as essential for both mitigation and adaptation.
• Rights and equity in stewardship: ensuring Indigenous Peoples and local communities have secure rights, finance and authority.
• Joined-up governance: aligning the climate, biodiversity and land conventions so their goals reinforce each other.
• Ethics in delivery: embedding the Global Ethical Stocktake as a compass for just and integrated implementation.

Find out more about Nature-based Solutions Initiative and the work to connect rigorous research with practical pathways for implementation.

Professor Seddon's policy brief, 'Aligning Climate and Nature with Justice - Five Priorities for COP30', co-authored with colleagues, Harriet Bulkeley and Melissa Leach, sets out five priorities for governments at COP30:

1. Join up the global goals — align climate, biodiversity, and land agendas.
2. Track what really matters — trust, care, and fairness alongside carbon.
3. Keep nature finance open and equitable.
4. Support Indigenous and local leadership directly.
5. Build shared decision-making and accountability.

These are practical steps toward an integrated, ethical response to the planetary crisis.