Conservation for Our World of Nine Billion People: The End of Nostalgia and Apocaholism

Synopsis of Video

The expanding world human population, with its demands for food and energy is undeniably placing severe stress on the planet’s ecology and nature. While there are data to support warnings of impending doom, there are also data that suggest that smart decisions and choices could make a big difference. The right decisions and choices could help us get through the critical period of the next thirty years with a planet rich in nature, albeit, transformed nature.

Dr. Karieva gave us some warnings about the scope of new mining and energy projects and their footprint on the planet. He introduced the strategies that the Nature Conservancy is using worldwide, working with companies and with nations to allow development to occur while conserving vast swaths of the planet. He also talked about the Conservancy’s evolving role in restoration of ocean resources, like the oyster reefs of the Gulf of Mexico, that also protect coastal communities from rising seas and extreme weather. He discussed what he thinks both conservation practitioners and scientists need to do to implement a positive future for the planet, including focusing on bringing nature to people in cities, where most of the world lives.

About the Lecture

The expanding world human population, with its demands for food and energy is undeniably placing severe stress on the planet’s ecology and nature. While there are data to support warnings of impending doom, there are also data that suggest that smart decisions and choices could make a big difference. The right decisions and choices could help us get through the critical period of the next thirty years with a planet rich in nature, albeit, transformed nature.

Dr. Karieva shared with us what he thinks needs to happen for this optimistic vision for the planet to become reality. Some of these ideas included expanding the tent to include those affected by conservation, strong alliances with the corporate sector and attention to our diverse and increasingly urban population.

About the Speaker

Peter Kareiva is the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, where he is responsible for developing and helping to implement science-based conservation throughout this worldwide conservation organization and for forging new linkages with partners.

Dr. Karieva joined The Nature Conservancy’s staff in 2002 after more than 20 years in academics and work at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he directed the Northwest Fisheries Science Center Conservation Biology Division. In addition to his duties as the Conservancy’s chief scientist, his current projects emphasize the interplay of human land-use and biodiversity, resilience in the face of global change, and marine conservation.

He publishes prolifically, having authored over 100 scientific articles in such diverse fields as mathematical biology, fisheries science, insect ecology, risk analysis, genetically engineered organisms, agricultural ecology, population viability analysis, behavioral ecology, landscape ecology and global climate change. In 2007, Peter was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a member of the Ecological Society of America and the Society for Conservation Biology.

Dr. Karieva also cofounded (with Gretchen Daily and Taylor Ricketts) the Natural Capital Project, a pioneering partnership among The Nature Conservancy, Stanford University and WWF to develop credible tools that allow routine consideration of nature’s assets (or ecosystem services) in a way that informs the choices we make every day at the scale of local communities and regions, all the way up to nations and global agreements


The Oppenheim Lecture Series has been established at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability through a generous gift by Patricia Oppenheim and her family in memory of Rudi Oppenheim. This evening lecture series presents world class speakers to educate, inform and build community discourse about the diverse environmental problems of our time.