Millie Chapman

Great presentation today by Melissa Chapman on 'Designing equitable strategies to meet global conservation and restoration targets' in the IED Seminar at ETH Zürich @milliechapman.bsky.social @usyseth.bsky.social

Homepage Environmental Policy Lab: epl.ethz.ch

Launching AI for Public Goods Fast Grants!

We'll distribute $150k to advance critical work connecting AI and public goods.

💰 $10k per project
💰 $800 reviewer compensation

PUBLIC GOODS := open source, ecosystem services, climate, urban infrastructure, communication, education, science, and more.

After engaging presentations from Michael Anthony, S. Karthik Mukkavilli and @milliechapman.bsky.social, we are now discussing the pipeline from AI to Impact, moderated by Sarah Tariq. Take home message: the fairness and trustworthiness of models are key for supporting society as a whole.

How does stakeholder participation in natural resource management change when conservation rules are grounded in near real-time data? Recent technological advances have increased the feasibility of the ‘dynamic management’ of natural resources, which promises to align the spatiotemporal scales of management with ecological variability and resource use. Drawing on Kelty's (2020) concept of ‘contributory autonomy’, this article offers a critical comparison of how participation is conceived of in the more established context of static conservation areas and planning versus the emergent field of dynamic management. A systematic review of the dynamic ocean management literature reveals a varied, but shallow engagement with the topic of stakeholder participation in that context. Whereas static management regimes are governed by relatively intuitive and contestable maps, dynamic management is governed by models and data flows. Overall, the decision-making stakeholder of participatory mapping processes under static management is displaced by the stakeholder conceived as an ‘end-user’ of a dynamic management product and consultant in its design. Yet, these shifts also open up potential points of contestation, which may pattern the future theory and practice of participation in dynamic management: counterdata, countermodelling and data chokepoints. Beyond the empirical focus on oceans, this article contributes to broader conversations about the political stakes of environmental data, and algorithmic and artificial intelligence-driven natural resource conservation by considering how possibilities for participation are foreclosed, enabled and reconstituted by new spatiotemporal and technological conditions.

New article out in Geo: Geography and Environment with an interdisciplinary dream team of coauthors: “From maps to models: Participation and contestability in the dynamic management of natural resources.”
doi.org/10.1002/geo2... (open access)

Collective Science to Inform Global Ocean Protections Signatories are poised to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty, providing a legal mechanism to create protected areas in our greatest global commons. Robust, publicly accessible biodiversity data is needed...

The High Seas Treaty is poised to be ratified, creating a legal instrument for protected areas in the high seas. We see a crucial role for "Collective Science" to provide robust biodiversity data and to help inform protection of this vast 3D space. Read more in Ecology Letters: tinyurl.com/33637jax

Open Positions We are currently hiring for multiple PhD and postdoc positions (see below)!  If you are interested in applying to independent fellowships (e.g. SNSF Ambizione, MSCA Postdoc Fellowship, ETH4D graduate ...

The Environmental Policy Lab at @ethz.ch is hiring!

🌱 A Postdoc broadly interested in resilient data infrastructure & policy for biodiversity governance
🌱 Two PhD students interested in biodiversity policy and spatial planning

more info here: epl.ethz.ch/the-group/op...

Please share widely! 🌍

📢 New research out today! Led by Justin Johnson from the @umn-econ.bsky.social our article presents 🌏 Earth-Economy (EE) modelling as a general approach for decision support for sustainability through a review of progress in Earth-Economy models linking Earth system and economic modelling.

"We suggest that the scientific community needs to think carefully about where we find worth in what we do. LLMs are eroding that space. Let’s not lose sight of the depth and complexity inherent in the human activity of science."

@milliechapman.bsky.social is getting into film... to me, these images really encapsulate the feeling of a cold Monterey Peninsula surf in rhythm with the kelp, waves, and wildlife

Balancing restoration targets and production demands in the EU Nature Ecology & Evolution - The European Union (EU) Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) outlines ambitious targets for habitat restoration by 2030. An integrated spatial planning approach...

Read the Research Briefing on this article here: rdcu.be/ek0ty

Meeting European Union biodiversity targets under future land-use demands - Nature Ecology & Evolution Integrated spatial planning of the European Union Nature Restoration Regulation under multiple implementation scenarios is used to identify where restoration, conservation and production across Europe...

Integrated spatial planning is used to identify where restoration, conservation and production across Europe could maximize benefits to species conservation and climate mitigation under changing needs for food, bioenergy and timber to 2030 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meeting European Union biodiversity targets under future land-use demands - Nature Ecology & Evolution Integrated spatial planning of the European Union Nature Restoration Regulation under multiple implementation scenarios is used to identify where restoration, conservation and production across Europe...

Our new work led by @milliechapman.bsky.social on the NRR is out in @natureecoevo.bsky.social 🎉
Integrated spatial planning can identify opportunities for restoration, while considering future land demand and burden sharing.
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@iiasa.ac.at @naturaconnect.bsky.social

Look what came in the mail today 👀

Sumatra's mind-bending reef breaks and landscapes @milliechapman.bsky.social

With the 2025 UN Ocean Conference approaching & the High Seas Treaty poised for ratification, there is a need & opportunity for collective science action to inform global ocean protections. Our preprint explores collective science for ocean biodiversity data & conservation: tinyurl.com/4cu987ea

Tofino, British Columbia, Nov 2024
@milliechapman.bsky.social

More Than Words A veteran writing teacher makes a “moving” (Rick Wormeli) argument that writing is a form of thinking and feeling and shows why it can’t be replaced by...

I know for a fact that should AGI come about, it will not be able to do the cognitive task that most matters to me: engage with the world, figure out what I think and believe and then express those things to others as part of a community. Who's with me? www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-...

Big Sur, CA. March 1, 2025. with @milliechapman.bsky.social , photos by/of one-another

We're excited to announce the next edition of our workshop "Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning" at #ICLR2025 in Singapore!

▶️ Mentorship program deadline: Dec 27, 2024
▶️ Paper submission deadline: Jan 31, 2025

Learn more & submit: climatechange.ai/events/iclr2...

check out our new preprint on participation and contestibility in the dynamic management of natural resources!

Exciting opportunity for multiple postdoctoral scholars to join our growing UC Berkeley team at DSE! Focus areas in Climate resilience in our National Parks, Indigenous Environmental Stewardship, Applied hydrology, + Tools for Working Lands. ~ $87K - $95K + plus benefits

dse.berkeley.edu/postdocs

Biodiversity monitoring for a just planetary future Data that influence policy and major investment decisions risk entrenching social and political inequities

Thrilled to see "Biodiversity monitoring for a just planetary future" now out in Science! Led by @milliechapman.bsky.social in collaboration with 14 coauthors from ecology, sociology, geography, computer science and other disciplines. 🌏 🦋 doi.org/10.1126/scie...

I'm stoked to see that "Biodiversity monitoring for a just planetary future" is now out in Science! This effort was led by
@milliechapman.bsky.social in collaboration with 14 coauthors including myself spanning many disciplines. Preview below. DM for PDF. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Environment, Society, and Machine Learning" is now live! I had the privilege of coauthoring this piece with 9 brilliant colleagues. Thanks, Christian Borch & @pardoguerra.bsky.social for including our chapter in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of ML! doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...