Conservation Biology seminars

David Cooper assesses progress towards the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s 2030 targets and 2050 goals. He explains why biodiversity matters for human security and wellbeing, drawing on recent assessments of conditions in the UK and globally. The lecture considers prospects for recovery and argues that conservation efforts need complementary changes across economic sectors and society to address biodiversity loss and support people and nature together.

This panel examines the growing need to account for nature and biodiversity in private-sector decisions. Researchers and business practitioners consider the challenges and opportunities involved, in the context of the IPBES assessment of biodiversity and business. The discussion brings perspectives from biodiversity science, management, financial disclosure, industrial leadership and water infrastructure to the relationship between ecosystems and commercial activity.

This panel examines how biodiversity science can inform decisions in business, finance and government. It assesses what is known about biodiversity status and trends in marine and terrestrial systems, which dimensions matter for decisions, and how to navigate financial-disclosure frameworks, science-based targets, national indicators and biodiversity credits. The discussion considers emerging methods including genomics, AI-based monitoring, functional traits, multiple knowledge systems and global indices. It asks how these approaches can support ecological recovery without reinforcing extractive measurement or governance, and how metrics can respect Indigenous rights, knowledge and decision-making. The panel also recognises that better measurement is only one component of changing business impacts on nature.

David Obura draws on IPBES and other assessments to examine interconnected disruptions affecting biodiversity, climate, economies, societies and governance. The lecture asks how underlying drivers and potential tipping points relate to the international order and what constructive transformations could emerge from present crises. It considers differentiated responsibilities across countries and sectors, pathways that recognise ecosystems as foundations of human wellbeing, and ways to balance nature, economies and social outcomes. Existing multilateral institutions offer starting points, but changes in conservation priorities, finance and governance are needed to move towards safer and more equitable conditions.

My research interests are centered on animal ecology, and more specifically include the following areas: visual ecology, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology, as well as the interactions between them. My research is question-driven. I answer my questions in a comprehensive manner, using a combination of empirical, theoretical, and comparative approaches. My model species are usually birds, but I have also worked with fish, mammals, amphibians, and insects. ​I was fortunate to enrich my education by attending Universities in different parts of the world. I did my undergraduate, specialized in ecology and biodiversity, at the "Universidad Nacional de Cordoba", Argentina. My Ph.D. was in animal ecology and conservation biology at the "Universidad Complutense de Madrid", Spain. My two post-docs were focused on behavioral ecology; the first one at University of Oxford (United Kingdom), and the second one at University of Minnesota (USA). I was an Assistant Professor at California State University Long Beach for almost six years. I am now a Full Professor of Biological Sciences at Purdue University.