Deep Dive Masterclass: ES & Law
Ecosystem Services and Law: Connecting Science, Law and Decisions for Nature
A 7-Session Interdisciplinary Masterclass for Legal, Policy, and Scientific Professionals
Course Lead: Francesca Leucci
Schedule: 7 Live Bi-Weekly Sessions (Fridays 12:00–13:30 CET, 20 Nov 2026 – 12 Mar 2027)
Tuition: €299.50 (Includes FULL annual access to the We Value Nature general platform, €149.50 value)
Early Bird: 25% discount until 30 November 2026 (€240.00). Reductions available for students and low-income countries.
Why This Masterclass Matters
Traditional environmental law frequently treats nature through fragmented regulatory categories, while scientific findings often fail to translate into effective legal decisions or court remedies. The Masterclass on Ecosystem Services and Law bridges this gap.
Led by environmental legal scholar Francesca Leucci alongside guest scientists and legal experts, this intensive 7-session lunchtime course trains participants to ‘think like ecosystem services lawyers’—transforming ecological functions and natural capital indicators into persuasive arguments, sound planning decisions, and proactive governance.
Practical, Interactive Learning
Moving far beyond traditional lecture webinars, every 90-minute session centers on active interdisciplinary problem-solving:
- Ecological Fundamentals: Understand ecological thresholds, functions, and service flows directly from scientific researchers.
- Legal Frameworks: Examine relevant EU directives, national planning statutes, liability rules, and corporate disclosure mandates.
- Translation Labs: Co-create a shared vocabulary translating ecological realities into actionable legal concepts (injury, causation, remedies).
- Breakout Case Studies: Work in multidisciplinary teams on realistic permitting challenges, supply chain risks, and litigation scenarios.
Who Should Attend & Key Benefits
This course is designed for cross-sector professionals who need to turn ecological science into defensible legal and administrative outcomes:
- Environmental Lawyers & Legal Advisers: Translate ecological data into robust arguments regarding environmental damage, liability, permitting, and compliance under emerging EU restoration laws.
- Litigators, Public-Interest Lawyers & NGOs: Enforce environmental standards, prove causation using ecosystem services data, and secure preventive judicial remedies before harm occurs.
- Judges, Prosecutors & Judicial Institutions: Evaluate scientific baseline data, expert testimony, and proportionality in complex environmental disputes without needing advanced biological training.
- Regulators, Spatial Planners & Public Authorities: Issue defensible planning and EIA/SEA permits that account for cumulative impacts, ecosystem trade-offs, and enforceable mitigation.
- Corporate Sustainability & Risk Teams: Connect biodiversity dependencies to material business risks, comply with CSRD/CSDDD and TNFD standards, and mitigate litigation exposure.
- Environmental Consultants & Advisers: Deliver impact assessments (EIA/SEA) that clearly translate technical ecological data into findings clients and legal counsel can act on.
- Ecologists & Restoration Specialists: Learn how scientific evidence travels through legal and policy processes to formulate findings for maximum regulatory and judicial impact.
- Policymakers & Governance Specialists: Align domestic policies with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and EU Nature Restoration Regulation with transparent trade-off analysis.
Deep Dive: Ecosystem Services and Law Calendar (2026-2027)
Rethinking Biodiversity Law through the Ecosystem Services Lens
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Date & Time (CET)
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Session Topic
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Lead & Featured Speakers
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20 Nov 2026 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 1: Building a Common Language for Biodiversity Law
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Francesca Leucci, Alexandra Aragão & Arnold van Vliet
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04 Dec 2026 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 2: Preventing Biodiversity Loss: Integrating ES into Decision-Making
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Francesca Leucci & Marianna Dänner
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15 Jan 2027 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 3: Biodiversity Harm through the Ecosystem Services Lens
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Francesca Leucci
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29 Jan 2027 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 4: Restoring Nature: From Ecological Damage to Ecological Recovery
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Francesca Leucci, Aveliina Helm & Elisa Cavallin
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12 Feb 2027 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 5: Business, Finance and Biodiversity Risk
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Francesca Leucci, Shivangi Vashishta & Mieke Siebers
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26 Feb 2027 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 6: Litigating for Nature: Strategic Biodiversity Litigation in Practice
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Francesca Leucci & Hendrik Schoukens
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12 Mar 2027 (12:00–13:30)
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Session 7: Towards Nature-Positive Law
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Francesca Leucci, Maria Alexandra Aragão, Alessandra Longo & M. Susana Orta-Ortiz
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