Keynote speakers​​​​​​​​​​​

Under the theme “From global to local ecosystem services: pathways to Nature-based Solutions inspired from Down Under,” keynote speakers will explore how Indigenous knowledge, innovative Nature-based Solutions, and stronger science-policy-practice links can guide sustainable action. From local success stories to global ambitions, these talks will highlight the vital role of ecosystem services in shaping a nature-positive future.

Below, you will find an overview of our distinguished keynote speakers.

Monday

• Robert Costanza, University College London, UK (title to be confirmed)

• Kamaljit Sangha, Charles Darwin University, Australia - Understanding the economics of Indigenous efforts in land management

Tuesday

• Andrew Petersen, Business Council for Sustainable Development, Australia - From Risk to Opportunity: How Businesses Are Investing in Natural Capital to Unlock Growth and Resilience

• Paula Harisson, UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology and Pamela McElwee, Rutger University - Co-chairs of the IPBES Nexus Assessment - Managing Ecosystem Services across the Nexus of Biodiversity, Water, Food, Health and Climate Change

Wednesday

• Joe Morrison, Group CEO, Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, Australia (title to be confirmed)

• Anita Varghese, Keystone Foundation, India - Linking Conservation, Enterprise and Livelihood in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India

Thursday (morning)

• Jeremy Russell-Smith, Charles Darwin University, Australia - Incentivising community-based fire management in fire-prone savannas

• Stephen Syampungani, Copperbelt University, Zambia (title to be confirmed)

Thursday (afternoon)

• Ruchi Badola, Wildlife Institute of India - From Global Visions to Local Actions: Building Resilient of Riverside Communities through Nature-Based Solutions in India

• Quentin Grafton, Australian National University, Australia - Pushing Back on Water Takeovers in Australia 

Biographies

Robert Costanza (PhD, FASSA, FRSA) is a professor of Ecological Economics at the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London and a 2024 winner of the Blue Planet Prize. He is an Ambassador of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll), co-founder and past-president of the International Society for Ecological Economics, and founding editor of Ecological Economics. He is the current editor in chief of The Anthropocene Review. Professor Costanza’s transdisciplinary research integrates the study of humans and the rest of nature to address research, policy and management issues at multiple time and space scales, from small watersheds to the global system. His areas of expertise include: ecological economics, ecosystem services, landscape ecology, integrated ecological and socioeconomic modelling, energy and material flow analysis, environmental policy, social traps and addictions, incentive structures and institutions. He is the author or co-author of over 600 scientific papers and 30 books, including his latest book: Addicted to Growth: Societal Therapy for a Sustainable Wellbeing Future. His work has been cited more than 160,000 times in Google Scholar with an h-index of 142. More than 360 interviews and reports on his work have appeared in various popular media and he has written over 75 articles for the popular press.

Quentin Grafton, FASSA, is Professor of Economics, Australian Laureate Fellow, Convenor of the Water Justice Hub, and Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy (CWEEP) at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. In April 2010 he was appointed the Chairholder, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance and between August 2013 and July 2014 served as Executive Director at the Australian National Institute of Public Policy (ANIPP). He currently serves as the Director of the Food, Energy, Environment and Water Network and Covenor of the Water Justice Hub. See Quentin's full profile here

Pamela McElwee is Professor of Human Ecology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in the US. Her research focuses on climate mitigation, ecosystem services valuation and biodiversity conservation, and human vulnerability and adaptation to environmental change. She recently cochaired the IPBES Nexus Assessment. She was also chapter lead for ecosystems, biodiversity, and ecosystem services for the Fifth US National Climate Assessment (2023), and has served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land. She is trained as an interdisciplinary environmental scientist, with a joint Ph.D. in anthropology and forestry from Yale.

Paula Harrison is Principal Natural Capital Scientist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Professor of Land and Water Modelling at Lancaster University. She specialises in the co-creation of integrated scenarios and models to provide evidence for informing systemic solutions that enable transitions towards sustainable and just futures. She recently co-chaired the IPBES Nexus Assessment on the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food, health and climate change. Previously, she was a member of the IPBES Scenarios & Models Task Force, a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Europe and Central Asia Assessment and a contributing author to the IPBES Global Assessment.

Joe Morrison is Dagoman and Mualgal and has over 30 years’ experience working with Indigenous people in northern Australia, nationally and more recently globally. He has extensive experience in public policy, governance, research, Indigenous development, native title, land rights. land and sea management and economic development. He is currently the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC).

Prior to this he was the Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s largest land rights authority, the Northern Land Council and the founding CEO of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA). He is currently a Director of the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre, International Savanna Fire Management Initiative, National Centre for Indigenous Excellence, ILSC Employment, Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia, Eastern Health Board and a member of the AFL Indigenous Advisory Council.

Andrew Petersen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia (BCSDA), the Australian network partner of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. With over two decades of experience in corporate sustainability, Andrew advises government and industry on practical solutions that balance economic growth with ecological stewardship. Under his leadership, BCSDA advocates for nature-positive policies, climate resilience, and circular economic pathways, forging strategic partnerships to align business innovation with global sustainability goals.

Jeremy Russell-Smith has 40+ years of experience researching savanna fire ecology, carbon market, ecosystem services, and associated livelihood opportunities for land managers and Indigenous communities in northern Australia and other countries. Over the past 25 years he has been involved with developing and applying savanna fire management carbon and related nature-based methods. He is honorary Research Director, Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research at Charles Darwin University, and Principal Scientist, International Savanna Fire Management Initiative.

Kamaljit K Sangha works as an outstanding future researcher in Ecological Economics at Charles Darwin University, Australia. Her research informs the Science-Policy interface by highlighting Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ (IPLCs) perspectives towards nature and the management of natural resources. Her work is focused on linking ecosystem services (ES) with the well-being of Indigenous/tribal communities across northern Australia and the Western Ghats in India. She has developed unique community values-based ES valuation techniques and frameworks and is currently working on developing ground-up, culturally appropriate, nature-based economies (PES), particularly suiting IPLCs’ context.

She is the Co-Chair of the IUCN-CEESP-led Local Economies, Communities and Nature specialist group and lead author for the IPBES-led Nexus Assessment and UNEP’s Geo-7 Assessment Report.

Anita Varghese is Director at Keystone Foundation . She leads the biodiversity team at Keystone, which undertakes implementation and action research projects on human-wildlife interactions, apiculture, restoration, and climate change. She is one of the founders of the Nilgiri Natural History Society. She is chair of the Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group of the SSC IUCN, which was established in 2019. She is a member of the Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group steering committee (CEESP/SSC- IUCN) and Cycad Specialist Group (SSC/IUCN). She is interested in conservation, specifically on sustainable use, non-timber forest products, long-term population dynamics of harvested species, human-wildlife interactions, invasive plants, cycads, and endangered trees. Her work looks at the factors that mediate the relationship between people and nature, specifically how the goals of conservation and development can be harmonized

Ruchi Badola is the Dean, Faculty of Wildlife sciences at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, an autonomous institute under Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC). She oversees academic activities and teaches ecological economics, ecosystem services valuation, and human dimensions of natural resource management. Her research is on various aspects of wildlife management such as community participation in biodiversity conservation, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, valuation of ecosystem services, livelihood development. With 36 research projects granted, totaling approximately ₹350 Crore, her research spans diverse ecosystems across India, from riverine systems to the Trans-Himalayas. Dr. Badola provides consultancy to governmental and international organizations and is actively involved in large projects focused on ecosystem and species management, emphasizing stakeholder engagement and integrating science with policy and community involvement. She has also designed and conducted numerous training programs and contributed significantly to integrating ecological economics into various academic institutions. She is coordinating the Ganga biodiversity conservation initiative under the Namami Gange program. This project has established linkages with local communities and other stakeholders along the principles of “Jan Bhagidari” to derive replicable models for an integrated science–policy–society interface for conservation of rivers and wetlands in the Ganga river basin. The project is first of its kind aiming towards a comprehensive basin scale biodiversity conservation. As a part of this project, she has created the Ganga Prahari concept, which is a trained and motivated cadre of local communities living in the Ganga river basin and working voluntarily for conservation of aquatic species and restoration of rivers and wetlands. She has also founded the Jalaj livelihood models that demonstrate linkages between local people’s livelihoods, particularly women and marginalized groups, and conservation of aquatic biodiversity. She is also leading the project “Assessment of ecological status of select Indian rivers for conservation planning” and a project “Conservation of the Sangai Deer in the Keibul Lamjao National Park”. She has developed and implemented pioneer training programmes in human dimension of wildlife conservation. She has published over 100 peer reviewed articles in journals of international repute, books and book chapters. She has been at the forefront for developing mechanisms for institution building in wildlife conservation. She has been associated with several International institutions, such as IUCN, ICIMOD, IPBES and provided support in various capacities.