The past decades have seen the rise to dominance of the ecosystem services framework, a worldview and scientific practice that sees the processes of the biosphere through a lens of how they prop up human activities. Within academic circles, the concept is hotly contested. Some see valuing nature with the language of neoclassical economics as&nbsp;the only way to motivate governments and corporate actors into doing responsible environmental action. Others see concepts of ecosystem services and natural capital as the inevitable deepening of predatory capitalist relations extending into new environmental domains. &nbsp;, an environmental social scientist at the University of Edinburgh, joins the podcast to discuss the newly published Dasgupta Report, an independent review of the relationship between the economy and biodiversity commissioned by the UK Treasury. The report made headlines when it asserted that we should treat nature like an asset and manage it like any other financial portfolio. We discuss how the report is evidence of a rise to dominance of applying economic thinking into the domain of ecology and environmental conservation and what that means for scholars working on landscape science. Links to items mentioned in the episode            .   Ehrlich, P. R. (1968). The population bomb.&nbsp;New York, 72-80.                from the MEA.       and response:    And rejoinder!            Fletcher R., (2021) “.”,&nbsp;Journal of Political Ecology&nbsp;28(1). doi:&nbsp;   Additional research provided by Scott Herrett for this episode.&nbsp;

The Dasgupta Review - (Janet Fisher)

As part of the work I’m doing with the Landscape Decisions Programme (), I’m producing a series of interview style podcasts about land. The motivation of the Landscapes podcast is a trend I have been observing where scientific explorations of root causes of social and environmental problems end up focusing on land, landscapes, and land governance. This occurs in a variety of domains … those concerned with affordable housing end up looking at land taxation policy, food system scholars point out the crucial role of farmland tenure, and climate scientists target property rights as a key “lock-in” that prevents deep mitigation or adaptation. This type of thinking, the scaling up of research questions to landscape level, is what the Landscapes podcast will explore. &nbsp; The first “season” of episodes will focus on learning from researchers from the humanities, law, social and biophysical sciences about how their thinking on how to study and intervene on landscapes. This might be considered the “theory” season, where I’ll try to tease out key logics underpinning land use and land use change. The second season will concern the stories from differing forms of contested landscapes in flux, in threat, and in reform. Landscapes aims to share stories about how re-imagining land is a precursor to delivering the types of social and ecological change required to address the most pressing problems of our time. Full show notes, relevant links and transcripts can be found on the podcast website or at https://adamcalo.substack.com I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Landscapes Podcast Trailer

Notions of Land Reform, especially when looking historically, bring forth images of mass upheaval and unrest associated with nationalization and redistribution of resources—as it should. Yet, as the favored option to shift land use, where property entitlements are left unchallenged, continues to deliver watered down results, it seems to me it’s worth willing to experiment with reshaping the concept of property, while still respecting deeply entrenched social and legal norms of property. There may be no better case to critically think this through than by looking at what’s happening in Scotland, where a set of fairly recent Land Reform Acts have come into force. And I can’t think of a better person to discuss this with in detail than , a senior lecturer in Scots private law at the University of Strathclyde. Malcolm has long been writing on Scottish Land reform, including a new book, "Land Reform in Scotland" edited with Jayne Glass and Annie Tindley. In this episode, we`ll talk about the Scottish Land Reform Acts, but also why they may have been started, and how they operate in the law. We end up focusing on a really interesting case of these new legal entitlements in action—when a local church was put up for sale in a place called Portobello, just outside Edinburgh, the local community attempted to use the new powers available to try and bring the asset into their control. Episode Links .    *Since recording of interview, Andy Wightman no longer serves as MSP for the Scottish Green Party This episode of Landscapes is supported by the UKRI Landscapes Decisions Programme Get in touch at https://adamcalo.substack.com/about

A Calo

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