From planetary boundaries to ecosystem services: Guiding development on a changing planet

January 14, 2020 - 7:00 pm CST
Nebraska Innovation Campus Auditorium
2021 Transformation Drive, Lincoln

The current scale, rate, and intensity of anthropogenic change is unprecedented, and has evoked broad discussion about how these changes will affect the future of the planet. Indeed, we are unnecessarily threatening our own security by undermining natural capital and the provision of ecosystem services. In this talk, I will show how the science of ecosystem services can be used to guide natural resource management and limit anthropogenic change while providing for human well-being.

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Avatar for Elena M. Bennett
Elena M. Bennett
Associate Professor at McGill University

Dr. Elena Bennett is a Professor at McGill and CRC in Sustainability Science. She received her BA in Biology and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College in Ohio in 1994, earned her MSc in Land Resources in 1999 (U. Wisconsin) and her PhD in Limnology and Marine Sciences in 2002 (U. Wisconsin). She is co-chair of the international Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society and Founding Director of ResNet, a pan-Canadian network to improve management of working landsacpes for the provision of multiple ecosystem services. Dr. Bennett was a Leopold Leadership Fellow (2012), and a Trottier Public Policy Professor (2013-2014). At McGill, she has won awards for undergraduate teaching, graduate supervision, and contributions to campus sustainability. In 2012, she was selected to be one of two representatives of the Royal Society of Canada at the Summer Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Tianjin, China. In 2016, she was named one of six NSERC Steacie Fellows. In 2020, she was a Clarivate Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher, indicating a citation rate in the top 1% in her field.