Naturally Speaking… A Public Dialogue on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment

What do publics make of the idea of ecosystem services? How well does this concept resonate with societal aspirations and concerns for the natural environment? What are the key opportunities and challenges in taking the Ecosystem Approach forward in policy and practice? Drawing on the work of the National Ecosystem Assessment the ‘Naturally Speaking…’ public dialogue was commissioned by government to provide authoritative insight into these questions. The dialogue was delivered by the University of Exeter and run in partnership with Defra, NERC and Sciencewise, the UK’s national centre for public dialogue in policy making involving science and technology issues.