Lancaster marine ecologist elected to become Royal Society Fellow - Lancaster University

Lancaster University’s Distinguished Professor Nick Graham has been elected to become a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the world’s most prestigious learned societies.

lancaster.ac.uk

Students' ‘invaluable’ work to support repatriation of items to Ethiopia - Lancaster University

Staff and students from Lancaster University’s School of Global Affairs played a key role in the repatriation to Ethiopia (formerly Abyssinia) of two culturally significant artefacts.

lancaster.ac.uk

An analysis of expanding road infrastructure on indigenous land rights, food security and forest cover in southern Palawan, the Philippines : Find an Expert : The University of Melbourne

<p> Across the Southeast Asian uplands, expanding road infrastructure increasingly penetrates remnant forests and Indigenous territories, with major consequences for land rights, food security, and biodiversity (Clements et al., 2014; Reddiar and Osti, 2022). In the Philippines, where only 10 percent of original forest cover remains, new road networks linked to critical minerals mining, oil palm and tourism estate expansion are affecting forests long managed by Indigenous peoples (Sze et al., 2022; Nolos et al., 2023; Mason et al., 2025). As the country’s last ecological frontier, Palawan loses roughly 5,500 hectares of forest annually as roads penetrate forest reserves and ancestral lands (Nolos et al., 2023), yet their impacts remain poorly understood. </p> <p> <strong>Research Question:</strong> What are the origins and impacts of road networks on land rights, food security, and forest cover in southern Palawan? How and why do different types of roads emerge, and who wins and loses from them? </p> <p> This PhD project examines the historical and contemporary rise of road networks penetrating the upland forests of southern Palawan, where Indigenous communities face intersecting pressures on land, resources, and governance. It analyses how roads intersect with ancestral domain claims, livelihood changes, shifting land classifications, territorial disputes, and changing accessibility, and how these processes affect Indigenous food security, forest cover, and biodiversity. </p> <p> Using spatial analysis and ethnographic methods, the project traces the spatial and temporal dynamics of road expansion, land use conversion, livelihood changes, forest degradation and biodiversity declines. It integrates satellite imagery, planning documents, and community sketch maps to quantify forest cover change and model relationships between road density, agricultural transitions, and biodiversity. </p> <p> Grounded in political ecology and Indigenous land politics, the project examines how competing claims intersect along roads as socioecological corridors that facilitate market integration while catalysing dispossession and reconfigurations of customary authority. Through ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and spatial analysis, it generates a multiscalar account of road building as a political project reshaping ancestral lands, food systems, forest cover, and biodiversity in southern Palawan. </p> <p> References: </p> <p> Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben, et al. (2014) “Where and how are roads endangering mammals in Southeast Asia’s forests?.” <em>PloS one</em> 9.12 (2014): e115376. </p> <p> Dressler, W. (2021). Defending lands and forests: NGO histories, everyday struggles, and extraordinary violence in the Philippines. <em>Critical Asian Studies</em>, <em>53</em>(3), 380-411. </p> <p> Mason, D., Dressler, W., & Novellino, D. (2025). Extracting Value, Losing Ground: The Critical Minerals Boom in Palawan. <em>New Mandala</em>. June 13, 2025. <a href="https://www.newmandala.org/extracting-value-losing-ground-the-critical-minerals-boom-in-palawan/">https://www.newmandala.org/extracting-value-losing-ground-the-critical-minerals-boom-in-palawan/</a> </p> <p> Nolos, R. C., Zamroni, A., & Evina, K. F. P. (2023). Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Palawan, Philippines: an analysis using social-ecological systems (SES) and institutional analysis and development (IAD) approaches. <em>Geography, environment, sustainability</em>, <em>15</em>(4), 44-56. </p> <p> Reddiar, I. B., & Osti, M. (2022). Quantifying transportation infrastructure pressure on Southeast Asian World Heritage forests. <em>Biological conservation</em>, <em>270</em>, 109564. </p> <p> Sze, J. S., Childs, D. Z., Carrasco, L. R., & Edwards, D. P. (2022). Indigenous lands in protected areas have high forest integrity across the tropics. <em>Current Biology</em>, <em>32</em>(22), 4949-4956. </p>

findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

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Corporate concentration and power matter for agency in food systems

High levels of corporate concentration and power in agrifood supply chains raise important policy concerns because they can affect food systems in adv…

sciencedirect.com

How grocery giants control who can sell food in your neighbourhood | CBC News

Canada’s biggest grocery giants — including Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro — are using property law to control how other grocery stores, dollar stores, pharmacies and gas stations can compete with them, an...

cbc.ca

P124: Pedagogies of hope: Ideas and practices for teaching and learning in a time of crisis

An interactive, round table format, for the sharing insights, experiences and practices. 5 short talks (5 minutes each) invited to frame discussion.

nomadit.co.uk

Job Opportunity at Lancaster University: Senior Research Associate - Decolonising the Deep Seabed: Countermapping Territory, Heritage and Knowledge

Lancaster Environment Centre (LEC) is pleased to announce a Senior Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) position as part of a Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Decolonising the Deep Seabed: Counterma...

hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk

Seychelles study shows seabird nutrients boost marine ecosystems around rat-free islands - Lancaster University

A newly published study shows that nutrients from seabird droppings boost the growth of algae in coral reefs in the Seychelles – helping to feed and sustain populations of herbivorous fish that feed o...

lancaster.ac.uk

UN expert urges criminalizing fossil fuel disinformation, banning lobbying

Rapporteur calls for defossilization of economies and urgent reparations to avert ‘catastrophic’ rights and climate harms

theguardian.com

The hidden cost of your supermarket sea bass

Revealed: an investigation shows how consumers buying fish in the UK are playing a role in food insecurity and unemployment in Senegal

theguardian.com

Molson Prizes

The Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes are awarded to two persons – one in the arts and the other in the social sciences and humanities, who have distinguished themselves by their outstanding a...

canadacouncil.ca

Seafood Without Transparency is a Recipe for Disaster

Seafood is a staple in my house – fish tacos, paella, sushi. But no matter how good it tastes, I can’t help but wonder: was my fish caught responsibly? Or did something go horribly wrong before it eve...

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The $20 trillion fight over who controls the seabed, Part 2

Honolulu,HAWAII — In order for their sovereignty to be recognized internationally, Indigenous Pacific peoples had to adopt the nation-state structure created by imperial powers, conf

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United by Nature

United by Nature is a collaborative effort to understand how nature shapes our lives, and how we can shape nature's future.

weareunitedbynature.org

How behavioral science can help conservation

Leveraging cognitive biases and social influence can make conservation efforts more effective

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