Westminster Energy, Environment & Transport Forum Keynote Seminar: Biodiversity 2011

Biodiversity loss is today seen as one of the greatest and most immediate threats to the natural environment, with wide-reaching consequences, not only for wildlife and agriculture but also for human and economic development. Timed to follow the publication of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs` White Paper on the natural environment, this seminar will consider the value of biodiversity in the UK and across the world. Planned sessions focus on the benefits of biodiversity, as well as considering the next steps that can be taken to conserve the natural environment for the future. The agenda will include discussion of how best to evaluate the economic value of ecosystems, and will question whether current regulation is adequate to halting biodiversity loss. The agenda will include an update on the Campaign for the Farmed Environment and will look at the place of biodiversity in the `Big Society`, including consideration of how best to engage businesses, individuals and the third sector in protecting and enhancing the natural environment.