Centre for Responsible Societies (CRiSis)

Today's societies are subject to unprecedented change: human population growth, climate change and biodiversity loss. This puts pressure on the Earth's finite resources, which in turn impacts humanities ability to sustain livelihoods and welfare. As a global society, we urgently need to take responsibility for our joint futures, and in doing so we need to be smarter in terms of our everyday decisions and actions.

The topic of responsible societies is high on the political, business and research agendas, and given environmental change, this theme is likely to continue to be a priority into the future. Our research explores the contribution that all agents can make to achieve this vision: from international policy makers, to businesses and individual citizens. We will work with stakeholders from these groups developing tools, to deliver change.

The Centre for Responsible Societies (CRiSis) aims to explore innovative solutions for society to act responsibly to deliver a sustainable future for our planet and people.

Although CRiSis aims to be holistic in terms of our coverage of approaches to exploring responsible societies, CRiSis aims to focus its research around the Ecosystem Services assessment conceptual model. This links changes to natural resources to change in provisioning, regulating and cultural ecosystem services, and then to value these services in economic and socio-cultural terms and our research is focused on two core themes:

• Valuing Nature
• Corporate Social Responsibility

Relating to these core themes we are currently working on the following projects: 

• Ecosystem services in Malaysia
• 
• The Ivory Coast Natures Gift
• 

To find out more about current research topics visit the weekly Seminar Series for further details.

We will also collaborate with researchers from other departments including IBERS and Geography and Earth Sciences in order to work towards a sustainable future. Further, expertise from the Law School and International Politics staff will help ensure that our research is embedded into regulatory frameworks with the ultimate goal of delivering a sustainable path to prosperity. Key sources of funding include the AU IRC fund and the GCRF Global Challenges Research Fund. 

CRiSis will also work locally in collaboration with the Welsh Government to help to deliver it's "A Living Wales' framework", as well as working alongside The Centre for Local and Regional Enterprise (CLaRE) to deliver world class research. Internationally, we will contribute to initiatives such as IPBES, TEEB, Convention of Biological Diversity, Millennium Development Goals, and Environmental accounting standards.

Centre Director

Professor Michael Christie

Centre Members

Dr Ian Birchmore

Professor Michael Christie

Dr Sarah Clarke

Dr Aloysius Igboekwu

Dr Kyriaki Remoundou

Dr Mandy Talbot  

Research projects

Professor Mike Christie has been involved in the following projects:

Co-chair – IPBES ‘Assessment of the diverse conceptualization of multiple values of nature and its benefits, including biodiversity and ecosystem services assessment. (2018 – 2021)

Co_PI    AHRC. Cross-pollination: Re-valuing pollination through Arts and Science collaboration. (2016-17)

Co-PI    Global Innovation Initiative. Global innovation for sustainable forest management: Indonesia (2014 – 16)

PI         BBSRC. Value for money of BBSRC research institutes and campuses. 2014.

Co-PI    NERC ESPA. Can capturing global ecosystem services reduce poverty (P4GES). 2013-2016.

Kyriaki Remoundou has participated in the following research projects on the valuation of ecosystem services:

Global Innovation Initiative (GII) for Sustainable Forest Management (2014)

Duress (Diversity of Upland Rivers for Ecosystem Service Sustainability) (2014)

Assessing the value of “Nature’s Gifts” from tropical forest to reduce poverty in Côte d'Ivoire.  Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), Seed Grant (2019)

Publications:

2019

• Christie, M., Martin-Lopez, B., Church, A., Siwicka, E., Szymonczyk, P., Keune, H., Sauterel, J.M., Kretsch, C. (2019 accepted for publication). Beyond ecosystem services: IPBES and valuing nature’s contribution to people. Sustainable Societies. 

• Conrad, L., Fazey, I., Christie, M. and Galdies, C. (2019 Accepted for publication). Do landscape designations reflect public perception? Land Use Planning. 

• Forbes, W. P., Igboekwu, A. & Mousavi, S., (2019), A Fast and Frugal Finance: Bridging Contemporary Behavioural Finance and Ecological Rationality. (Accepted/In press) Elsevier US. 

• Van der Schatte, O. A., Jones, L., Christie M, Malham, S., Wilson, J., Le Vay, L .(2019 In Press). A global review of the ecosystem services provided by bivalve aquaculture. Reviews in Aquaculture. 

2018

• Christie, M. and Orford, K. (2018). Outcomes-based land management schemes: a case study analysis. National Assembly for Wales: Cardiff.

• Christie M, Martin-Lopez B, Church A, Siwicka E, Szymonczyk P, Keune H, Sauterel JM, Kretsch C (forth coming 2018). Beyond ecosystem services: IPBES and valuing nature’s contribution to people. Sustainable Societies

• Fischer, M., Rounsevell, M., Torre-Marin Rando, A., Mader, A.A., Church, A., Elbakidze, M., Elias, V., Hahn, T., Harrison, P.A., Hauck, J., Martín-López,B., Ring,I., Sandström, C., Sousa Pinto,I., Visconti,P., Zimmermann, N.E. and Christie, M. (eds.) (2018) IPBES 2018: Summary for policymakers of the regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Europe and Central Asia of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 

• Gkartzios, M. & Remoundou, K., (2018), Language struggles: Representations of the countryside and the city in an era of mobilities. In: Geoforum.93, p. 1-1010 p. 

• Hallouin, T., Bruen, M.,  Christie, M., Bullock, C., and Kelly-Quinn, M. (2018). Challenges in Using Hydrology and Water Quality Models for Assessing Freshwater Ecosystem Services: A Review. Geosciences. 8 (45), 1 -19. 

• Harvey, C.A., Rambeloson, A., Andrianjohaninarivo, T., Andriamaro, L., Rasolohery, A., Randrianarisoa, J., Ramanahadray, S., Christie, M., Siwicka, E., Remoundou, K., Vílchez-Mendoza, S. & MacKinnon, J., (2018) Local perceptions of the livelihood and conservation benefits of small-scale livelihood projects in rural Madagascar., In : Society & Natural Resources.31, 9, p. 1045-106319 DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2018.1484974 

• Jones, L., Milne, A., Hall, J., Mills, G., Provins, A. and Christie, M. (2018). Valuing improvements in biodiversity due to controls on atmospheric nitrogen pollution. Ecological Economics, 152, 358-366. 

• Kim, Y-S., Latifah, S., Afifi, M., Mulligan, M., Burk, S., Fisher, L., Siwicka, E., Remoundou, K., Christie, M., Masek Lopez, S. & Jenness, J., (2018) , Managing forests for global and local ecosystem services: A case study of carbon, water and livelihoods from eastern Indonesia In : Ecosystem Services.31, Part A, p. 153-168. 

• Martín-López, B., Church, A., Başak Dessane, E., Berry, P., Chenu, C., Christie, M., Gerino, M., Keune, H., Osipova, E., Oteros-Rozas, E., Paillard, S., Rossberg, A. G., Schröter, M. and van Oudenhoven, A. P. E. (2018) Chapter 2: Nature’s contributions to people and quality of life. In IPBES (2018): The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Europe and Central Asia. Rounsevell, M., Fischer, M., Torre-Marin Rando, A. and Mader, A. (eds.). Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem services, Bonn, Germany. 

2017

• Gkartzios, M., Remoundou, K. & Garrod, G., (2017), Emerging geographies of mobility: The role of regional towns in Greece's 'counterurbanisation story' In: Journal of Rural Studies.55, p. 22-3211 p. 

2016

• Durance, I., Bruford, M.W., Chalmers, R., Chappell, N., Christie, M., Cosby, J.B., Noble, D., Ormerod, S.J., Prosser, H., Weightman, A., Woodward, G. (2016) The challenges of linking ecosystem services to biodiversity: lessons from a large-scale freshwater study. Advances in Ecological Research. 54, 87 - 134

• Kenter, J.O., Reed, M. S., Irvine, K.N., O’Brien, E., Bryce, R., Christie, M., Cooper, N., Hockley, N., Fazey, I., Orchard-Webb, J., Ravenscroft, N., Raymond, C.M , Tett, P., Watson, V. (2016). Shared values and deliberative valuation: Future directions. Ecosystem Services, 358 – 371.

• Kenter, J., Jobstvogt, N., Watson, V., Irvine, K., Christie, M. (2016) The impact of information, value-deliberation and group-based decision-making on values for ecosystem services: integrating deliberative monetary valuation and storytelling. Ecosystem Services, 270 – 290.

• Kountouris, Y. and Remoundou, K. (2016) Cultural influence on preferences and attitudes for environmental quality. Kyklos 69 : 369-397.

• Remoundou, K., Gkartzios, M. & Garrod, G., (2016), Conceptualizing Mobility in Times of Crisis: Towards Crisis-Led Counterurbanization? In: Regional Studies.50, 10, p. 1663-1674.

• Talbot, A., (2016), Farm Tourism: A new peasantry perspective 45. 

2015

• Beynon, S, Christie, M, Warwick, W (2015). The economic value of ecosystem services delivered by Dung Beetles. Ecological Entomology. 40, 124-135.

• Christie M, Remoundou, K, Siwicka E and Wainwright W (2015). The valuation of marine ecosystem services: a case study of Marine Protected Areas in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Ecosystem Services 11, 115-127

• Dzanja, J Fazey I and Christie M (2015) The role of social capital in rural household food security: The case study of Dowa and Lilongwe Districts in Central Malawi. Journal of Agricultural Science, Vol. 7, No. 10, 165- 176 

• Forbes, W. & Igboekwu, A., (2015) The explanatory power of representative agent earnings momentum models. , In : Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting.44, 3, p. 473-492.

• Kenter, J.O., O'Brien, L., Hockley, N., Ravenscroft, N., Fazey, I., Irvine, K.N., Reed, M.S., Christie, M., Brady, E., Bryce, R., Church, A., Cooper, N., Davies, A., Evely, A., Everard, M., Fish, R., Fisher, J.A., Jobstvogt, N., Molloy, C., Orchard-Webb, J., Ranger, S., Ryan, M., Watson, V., Williams, S. (2015). What are shared and social values of ecosystems? Ecological Economics 111, 86-99.

• Remoundou, K., Diaz-Simal, P., Koundouri, P., Rulleau, B., (2015). Valuing Climate Change mitigation: a choice experiment on a costal and marine ecosystem. Ecosystem services 11 (special issue): 87-94.

• Remoundou, K , Brennan, M. Sacchettini, G., Panzone, L., Butler-Ellis, M.C., Capri, E, Charistou, E., Chaideftou,E., Gerritsen-Ebben, M.G., Machera, K., Spanoghe, P. Glass, R., Marchis, A., Doanngoc,K., Hart, A., Frewer, L.J. (2015). Perceptions of pesticides exposure risks by operators, workers, residents and bystanders in Greece, Italy and the UK. Science of the Total Environment 505:1082-1092.

2014

• Remoundou, K., Adaman, F., Koundouri,P., Nunes, P.AL.D. (2014). Is the Value of Environmental Goods Sensitive to the Public Funding Scheme? Evidence from a Marine Restoration Programme in the Black Sea. Empirical Economics 47:1173-1192.

• Talbot, A. & Cater, C. I., (2014), Student-led Planning of Tourism and Hospitality Education: The Use of Wikis to Enhance Student Learning. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Hospitality Education. Airey, D., Dredge, D. & Gross, M. J. (eds.). Taylor & Francis.