Your guide to risk, security and opportunity in a global climate and nature emergency.
Dr Julian Caldecott is an ecologist with a background in wildlife research and conservation, whose adventures in the tropics are a rich source of insight and anecdote. In his later consulting work he sought better solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental risk around the world. As lead consultant through his company Creatura Ltd he evaluated over £10 billion in sustainable development and climate change investment. His eye-witness and lesson-learning books have been published by the World Bank, United Nations, Routledge, Virgin, Ellipsis and the California and Cambridge university presses.
Julian started out studying rainforest monkeys, apes and bearded pigs. He later advised many governments on biodiversity, protected areas and wildlife policy across tropical Asia, west Africa and the Americas. After several years with the UN on disasters and environmental security, he evaluated a number of long-term development partnerships between countries, and also the Danish and Swiss global climate portfolios. He uses carefully-prepared speeches and writing to consolidate his knowledge. His latest publications are Surviving Climate Chaos and a key paper on Earth system tipping points and what they mean for climate investment. As one review put it, “despite immensely complex topics, Julian writes in an easily understandable and accessible way [and his] tone reflects the urgency of the situation and the passion of the author.”
Julian brings an eye-witness clarity to transformative world events, from deforestation to restoring peace with nature. He offers ecological expertise, field experience, deep analysis of complex issues, and direct knowledge of threats and solutions. He adds eloquence and clarity in delivering insights that demand an ability to spot where opportunities were missed and why, and how performance can be ramped up. These skills are vital to all institutions in a complex and increasingly risky world. To help meet their needs, Julian tells important stories using examples to convey a sense of direction, risks, opportunities and alternatives. He delivers useful information in an inspiring and accessible way, making him a much sought-after speaker.
Examples of Julian’s speaking roles: Making Peace with Nature; Tipping Points and Climate Investments; Aid Performance and Climate Change; Indonesia and Climate Change; Reducing Indonesian Deforestation.
Examples of Julian’s speaking topics: (a) Why abseil from helicopters? Adventures in rainforests. (b) What ecosystem health means for people and businesses. (c) How climate tipping points shape the investment environment. (d) De-risking investments by increasing resilience of living systems. (e) The consequences and cures of declining environmental security. (f) Assessing transformative change in climate and nature investments. (g) Priorities and success indicators for restoring peace with nature.
Julian’s publication highlights: Implications of Earth system tipping pathways for climate change mitigation investment (Discover Sustainability, 2022); Surviving Climate Chaos by Strengthening Ecological and Social Systems (Cambridge UP, 2021); Water: Life in Every Drop (2nd edition, 2020); Aid Performance and Climate Change (Routledge, 2017); Green Breakthroughs (UN Environment, 2008); The World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation (California UP, 2005); Deep Water (Ellipsis, 1999); Designing Conservation Projects (Cambridge UP, 1996); Decentralization and Biodiversity Conservation (World Bank, 1996); Hunting and Wildlife Management in Sarawak (IUCN, 1988); An Ecological and Behavioural Study of the Pig-tailed Macaque (Karger, 1986).
In short, a topical speaker …
You can’t get more topical than the climate and nature emergency. Julian covered how to improve investments in mitigating and adapting to climate change in his 2017-2022 talks and publications. Building on this, he sees that we are reaching hard ecological boundaries in our use of the living world, and that many societies are responding by adopting values that allow peace with nature to be restored. He is writing a new book, Restoring Peace with Nature, to speed up this transition by learning from both indigenous and progressive modern societies. It explains what to learn, what the shift involves, where it is happening, and what we can all do to accelerate and consolidate it against five key indicators of success: universal teaching of ecology, mainstreaming of precaution, purposeful and informed voting, prohibition of ecocide, and constitutional protection for ecological law. All provide rich themes for influential presentations and discussions as we strive to live in a changing world.
And an inspiring one …
“Dear Julian – the workshop on sustainable investments that we held in Dublin is one of my most happy memories, and I am still grateful for the inspiring lecture you gave.” Stefan Einsiedel, Allianz Global Investors GmbH.
As well as (sometimes) a controversial one …
At the Summit of the World Travel & Tourism Council in Haikou, China, the chair of the WTTC awards panel asked whether the business world is brave enough to go beyond taking profits but letting others bear the environmental costs. In his keynote, Julian Caldecott described “the rapid unplanned development of destinations”, and “developments that ruin landscapes and undermine ecologies through the suffocation of coral reefs by sediments, the crushing of aquifers, the run-off of sewage into local water supplies”. He concluded that “good planning and good regulation are essential to tourism development.” Ian Taylor, Travel Weekly.
But always an authoritative one …
- On his book about Surviving Climate Chaos an anonymous peer reviewer commented that: “This book should be mandatory reading for politicians, city managers and those who design and evaluate climate change adaptation actions.”
- On his book about how we spend US$ 165 billion each year on aid and climate change, John Carstensen, Head of Climate and Environment at the UK’s Department for International Development wrote “This is the most extensive analysis of lessons based on solid evaluations that I have come across – a must-have for sustainability practitioners and evaluators, and a book I wish I had been able to read many years ago.”
- On his book about how to conserve tropical ecosystems, biodiversity expert Professor Daniel H. Janzen wrote “This book should be read and discussed in detail by any course in conservation biology, developing country politics, contemporary anthropology, and national and local tropical economics. THIS is a conservation biology textbook!”.
- On his book about water and the global water crisis, Steven Poole in The Guardian described it as “a brilliant overview of an enormous subject”.
Some speaking engagements:
- Making Peace with Nature (Scottish Wildlife Trust, Edinburgh).
- Earth System Tipping Points and Climate Investments (University of Edinburgh).
- Knowing Our Limits: Ecological Risk and the Climate Emergency (CIMB, Kuala Lumpur).
- Peace with Nature: slogan or constitution? (Schumacher Institute, Bristol).
- Sustainable development in the Indonesian Seas (Bath).
- Water in the Biosphere (Helsinki).
- Travel and tourism: a force for good in a problematic world? (Haikou, China)
- Water, climate change, and ecological integrity (Brasília).
- 1975 – 2035: Earth in the balance (London).
- Indonesia: part of the problem or part of the solution? (Sydney)
- Sustainable investments in times of polar and financial meltdown (Dublin).
- The value of environmental careers (Bath).
- Environment, sustainability, alternative fuels in the transport sector (Bradford).
- Water and climate change ethics (Oxford).