Meet the team: Amelia Holmes, Rewilding Economist

Welcome to our Meet the team series, where we introduce the people behind The Lifescape Project, giving you an insight into who we are, how we work, and why we’re passionate about Lifescape’s mission.

In this post we meet Amelia Holmes, Lifescape’s Rewilding Economist.

What do you do at Lifescape?

As a Rewilding Economist I use economic tools and language to help show that rewilding and nature are the essential foundation of any thriving, sustainable economy. My role also involves getting involved with concepts such as natural capital, biodiversity credits and payments for ecosystem services and applying them to projects like species re-introductions and community led restoration.

What did you do before?

I’d been working with the UN Environment Programme for a few years in Kenya and took a break to study a masters’ degree in ecological economics in Edinburgh. The degree was very interdisciplinary and I loved that we were trained to combine lots of different methods and ways of solving problems. The role with Lifescape came up shortly after I graduated, and it offered a way to keep using these interdisciplinary skills within a smaller but growing team, on a topic I adored.

What’s your favourite thing about working at Lifescape?

The team! Everyone I get to work with is so brilliant, ambitious and kind. And we all get to work on cool projects that require out-of-the-box thinking.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I love doing creative things. I’m especially loving water colour painting at the moment and playing guitar. Even better if its outdoors in the sun with friends.

Tell us about your favourite encounter with nature

I think my favourite experiences are the ones that are unexpected. I remember a special moment sitting on the side of a deafening and powerful waterfall in the headwaters of the Nile. A rainbow kept appearing and disappearing with the sprays of water, and like a fairytale two butterflies were flittering in and out of it. It was utter magic.

If you could be any animal, which would you be and why?

A male lion: they just get to nap and look handsome all day while their girlfriends fetch dinner.