Celebrating International Biodiversity Day: Acting Locally for Global Impact

In the spirit of the #BiodiversityDay 2026 theme – acting locally for global impact – RENEW joined up with the Environment & Sustainability Institute to host an event on Penryn Campus to celebrate local actions, including Cornwall Council’s Making Space for Nature programme, and the work of researchers involved in the RENEW project.

The work of renewing biodiversity begins with connecting people and nature. We started with a foraging walk around Penryn Campus, led by Jon Bennie, who inspired us with tales of mushroomy stock made from ribwort plantain, salads containing meadowsweet and red campion, and tastings of pungent wild garlic seeds.

The ESI’s guest speaker, Melissa Ralph, brought a team from Cormac and Cornwall Council to meet and mingle with our visitors and academics. As programme manager for ‘Making Space for Nature’ in Cornish towns, Melissa talked about the reasons nature recovery matters, including climate resistance and health and wellbeing, and how the programme fits into the Local Nature Recovery Strategy. 101.1 hectares are managed for nature in 16 towns across Cornwall at present, with 65 hectares of urban verges under improved management, and Melissa demonstrated why community engagement is at the heart of nature recovery by inviting two ‘urban rangers’ to speak about the valuable work of volunteers in every community – we even had some gardening group volunteers who work on dedicated sites in the room as well.

As part of the celebrations, we heard from the University of Exeter’s Director of Sustainability, Jo Chamberlain, who talked about how sustainability commitments are being transformed into meaningful, real-world impact. A revised sustainability strategy for the university is in development, and comprises a nature positive strategy as well as a climate strategy; the university has pledged to become a Nature Positive University. A footpath red lighting trial is taking place on Streatham campus, as some bat roosts of bat species are known to be light sensitive; more trees are being planted; and sustainability projects are taking place across campuses, including practical conservation activities. RENEW researchers Maria Eugenia Correa-Cano and Xiaoyu Yan are using a Life Cycle Assessment approach to quantify biodiversity impacts for large organisations, and have undertaken a study, including a biodiversity footprint assessment of the university, so that their impact can be understood – and action taken. Results of that study are due in June 2026.

Throughout the week of 18th May until 22nd May, visitors can visit the RENEW exhibition in the ESI. It demonstrates just some of the ways RENEW, its partners and communities are working to protect and renew biodiversity.

RENEW PhD students Em Squire, Sophie Stenson, Zdenek Plesek, Devmini Bandara, Rebecca Edgerley and Jo Furtado exhibited research posters as well as ephemera from their work over the course of their studies, from ceramics to photographs to zines. Sophie Stenson’s poster, Learning From Best Practice In Sustainable Governance Performance, was awarded third place in this month’s poster competition at the university’s Festival of PGR Research.

RENEW’s X3 team created a listening booth fostering conversations across academic disciplines, alongside agriculture and conservation, past and present, and working to shape future policy and practice. Visitors were able to listen and respond to oral history clips sharing life experiences of environmental collaboration.

In the film booth, people were invited to view the collection of six short films on YouTube entitled Wild West Country Odyssey, produced by RENEW partner Natural England and Simon Willis Films, focusing on sites of special scientific interest with RENEW poet and researcher Professor John Wedgwood Clarke. Through his poetry, John celebrates the diversity of nature and the conservation efforts of Natural England, the National Trust, and local farmers, to preserve this precious landscape.

A touchscreen provided access to Cornwall Council’s Nature Recovery Network mapping, enabled by Ebrel. Ebrel is a tool developed by RENEW’s land manager theme researchers which focuses on spatial prioritisation, identifying where and what types of habitat should be created or restored to support viable species populations across a landscape. It is one of the tools developed to help support decision-makers in moving from high-level strategy to practical implementation, grounded in ecological data and designed for use in real-world conservation. Cornwall Council’s Nature Recovery team worked with researchers as they developed Ebrel and used the tool to help develop the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS). It was a pleasure to see the Cornwall team using the ESI café during our event to hold one of their nature recovery team meetings!

One of the joys of working on this project is the sheer enthusiasm for nature that we share with others. We were delighted to literally enjoy the space for nature created by friend of RENEW, ESI Artist-in-Residence Rachel Lambert entitled “Welcoming Mat (Mat Welcoming)” with her beautiful woven mat in the ESI’s creative space. Using traditional techniques, Rachel engages in new creative ways to remind us of our rich ancestry and symbiotic relationship with plants – the perfect backdrop to biodiversity week.