📅 Wednesday 18th March 2025 | 🕐 13:00–14:00
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In this talk, Susan and Natasha will explore the role of tree planting as a mechanism for achieving net‑zero policy objectives in Wales. Treescapes policy is situated within a complex web of post‑Brexit agricultural reform, biodiversity protection, and ecosystem restoration objectives, which increases the space for competing demands and social contestation. This complexity is further compounded by governance arrangements and organisational structures that inadequately support integrated decision‑making, weakly recognise trade‑offs, and struggle to deliver prioritised benefits from land‑use change. Susan and Natasha will draw upon stakeholder perspectives captured during participatory workshops held in Elenydd in Wales to highlight how these challenges intersect with the diverse values that stakeholders attach to treescapes, as well as the barriers they perceive within the Welsh policy context, regulatory landscape, and funding mechanisms. The session concludes with a series of recommendations to support more effective policy implementation and treescape expansion that align with both environmental goals and stakeholder priorities.
About the Speakers
Professor Susan Baker, BA (Hons.), MA, PhD (EUI, Florence, Italy), PhD (h.c. Umea, Sweden), KSLA, FSA, has a background in PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economic). She is Research Professor, Cardiff University; co-founder and Co-Director, Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff University (2012-2021); and Visiting Professor, Luleå University, Sweden (2023+). Her research examines the governance of complex, adaptative social-environment relations in pursuit of sustainable development, as is currently working on epistemic justice in the Arctic region in the context of land use changes. She has over 200 scientific publications and her work has been translated into several languages. In 2024, she was awarded the Frances Hogan Medal by the Learned Society of Wales for her outstanding contribution to STEMM research.
Dr. Natasha Constant (RSPB), BSc (Hons), MRes, PhD (Durham University) is a Principal Social Scientist within the People section of the Centre for Conservation Science. Natasha is an Anthropologist dedicated to exploring people-nature relationships. She is interested in participatory ways of working with stakeholders to better understand the social dimensions of forest management. Her research at the RSPB focuses on how people value and interact with nature, how natural resources are governed, and how conservation initiatives affect local livelihoods, and community wellbeing. She employs participatory social science methodologies, such as scenario, visioning, and mapping approaches, to foster inclusive knowledge sharing and co-production with communities and stakeholders.