The post-1945 ‘Great acceleration’ era of mass production, consumption and economic expansion particularly in industrialised countries has seen the gradual simplification, range reduction and disappearance of megafauna populations across the globe (Ripple et al 2019). The tides of loss are so extensive that a general consensus amongst experts is emerging: we are now well into a ‘sixth mass extinction’ event (Ceballos et al 2020). The WWF’s latest ‘Living Planet Report’ (2022) found an incomprehensible 69% decline in the relative abundance of monitored wildlife populations across the globe. Such loss doesn’t just constitute an existential threat to the continuity of human life, but crucially, a grave ethical and political failing towards our fellow terrestrial companions.

And yet, global biodiversity negotiations to date have been largely ineffective, with none of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) 20 Aichi 2011 – 2020 targets having been fully achieved (CBD 2020). The second half of COP15 in Montreal has just come to a close, with a historic global agreement on a Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework for ‘living in harmony with nature by 2050’. Yet questions around whether such targets are ambitious enough, as well as how they can be implemented justly, abound. This diverse panel will feature critical reflctions from a range of experts on key developments at COP15, and on the sorts of fundamental transformations needed in order radically reconfigure our relationships with our terrestrial counterparts.

Chaired by: Dr Heather Alberro, Co-convenor of the PSA Environment specialist group

Confirmed Speakers:

• Dr Prakash Kashwan – Brandeis University
• Dr Alison Hutchinson & Dr Teresa Lappe-Osthege – Beastly Business Project, University of Sheffield