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Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity
HomeLeverhulme Centre for Anthropocene BiodiversityResearch programmesMoulding the future

Moulding the future

The Anthropocene perspective that humans are integral to the Earth system releases us from the mind-set that human impacts are wholly negative.

However, humans are unlikely to leave change entirely to chance.

This programme considers whether we can build a future in which humans foster further gains in biodiversity, without compromising human wellbeing or risking historic biodiversity.

This programme has been building as the Centre develops, with the implications of the results and conclusions from the Biodiversification, Philias and phobias, and Utility programmes feeding into Moulding the Future.

Areas of interest

  • Society-biodiversity feedbacks, aiming to analyse and model feedbacks between human attitudes, benefits humans obtain from nature, and biological diversification; seeking ways to facilitate the future growth of beneficial elements of biodiversity.
  • The ideal climate, considering the desirability of returning to pre-industrial temperatures, or would a different temperature trajectory be preferable?
  • Conservation and cultivation, given that some elements of biodiversity are growing in the Anthropocene, what approaches to environmental thinking and management could we adopt if we wish to increase biodiversity further?

News and views

News

YESI and LCAB host Panel on National Parks

29 October 2025

At an event co-hosted by YESI and LCAB, researchers and stakeholders shared experiences in managing and working with diverse National Parks in Brazil and the UK.

News

Humans driving extinctions on scale not seen since dinosaurs, scientists say

16 October 2025

Human activity may be triggering the greatest extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs, according to scientists.

News

Wolf protection downgrade highlights need for adaptive conservation frameworks, say experts

18 September 2025

Following the European Parliament’s historic vote to move wolves from the strictly protected to protected category, experts are calling on policymakers to ensure the change becomes a catalyst for fairer, more adaptive and transparent wildlife management to meet the challenges of successful species recovery.