Marine Biodiversity Valuation Assessments

Daryl Burdon is a marine biologist with over 24 years of experience in marine research, teaching and consultancy. Daryl was employed as the Senior Ecological Economist at the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies at the University of Hull (2002-2019) before establishing his own independent consultancy, Daryl Burdon Ltd., in August 2019 (www.darylburdon.co.uk). Daryl is also an Associate of the International Estuarine and Coastal Specialists (IECS) Ltd. (https://www.iecs.ltd/), a Business Associate of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and locally is Chair of the Humber Nature Forum.

Dr. Anita Franco has over 25 years of experience working in the field of estuarine and marine ecology, assessment and management. Her areas of expertise include fish ecology (estuarine and marine fish communities, structure and functioning, status, impacts, indicators and models): ecological monitoring strategies, design and methods; the assessment and streamlining of biodiversity and ecosystem assessments; the statistical analysis and modelling of ecological data. Throughout her career, Franco has provided scientific and technical advice to Governments and their statutory agencies, the industry and developers on the status and condition of marine and estuarine ecological features of interest (incl. fish, benthos, birds, habitats), on the ecological value of marine habitats (including essential fish habitats) in support of marine planning programs, and on the potential risks and impacts to the marine environment of a range of human activities, including those in the marine energy sector.

Some of Franco’s recent projects include: Horizon Europe projects GES4SEAS (Achieving Good Environmental Status for maintaining Ecosystem Services, by assessing integrated impacts of cumulative pressures; 2022-26) and MARBEFES (MARine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning leading to Ecosystem Services; 2022-26); the assessment of UK evidence on inshore fish to support marine natural capital and ecosystem assessments (Natural England, 2024-25); the assessment of EMODnet data products and their suitability to support MSFD indicators (CINEA; 2023-25); the development of Essential Fish Habitat indicators, models and maps for fish and shellfish marine species as evidence-base to support marine planning, offshore project assessments and the management of inshore and offshore marine environment (Natural England, 2021-22; the Scottish Government, 2021-22; MMO, 2014-15); the evidence-based appraisals of marine biodiversity and ecosystem assessments to improve streamlining at both national (JNCC 2019-20) and European level (EC, DG Environment 2020-21).

Tiziana Luisetti is a principal environmental economist at Cefas and honorary associate professor at the University of East Anglia (UEA). She has over fifteen-years of research experience focusing on coastal and marine ecosystem services valuation and management, and coastal and marine natural capital and ecosystem accounting. She is a leading expert on blue carbon valuation and accounting, but her current research focuses also on marine biodiversity and food security within a sustainable development perspective for policy design and decision making. She is particularly interested in inter- and intra-disciplinary research working mostly with marine biogeochemists and ecologists, and environmental social scientists. Tiziana is leading the economic and socio-cultural valuation in WP4 of the Horizon Europe funded project MARBEFES and participates to the UKRI funded project Pyramids of Life. Other recent projects include: the UK Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Program (mNCEA) where Tiziana co-led WP4 of the Seascape project (2022-2025); and the Interreg Atlantic Area funded project Clean Atlantic where she led the socio-economic in WP4.3 (2018-2021).