Dr Mario Balzan

Profile

I am an ecologist working on social-ecological systems. My work focuses on how biodiversity changes across time and space, how human activities shape these changes, and how biodiversity is valued and integrated into environmental assessment, policy and decision-making.

I hold a PhD and a Master’s degree in agroecology and environmental management, with and academic background in biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate resilience, and nature-based solutions. I am a Director at Ecostack Innovations and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Applied Science, MCAST. 

My current work focuses on the biodiversity–climate nexus. I use environmental data, digital tools, Earth observation, geospatial modelling and remote sensing to support biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem assessment and climate-related risk analysis. This work aims to turn complex environmental data into practical information to support planning, policy, and management.

I have secured funding from the European Space Agency to develop and apply these approaches, including high-resolution land-use and habitat mapping, satellite-based environmental monitoring, and digital tools for nature-based tourism, restoration planning, and biodiversity and climate risk assessment. 

My work is also strongly linked to nature-based solutions, biodiversity values and transformative change. I coordinate the Horizon Europe project RELATE4NATURE, with a budget of approximately €7 million, which focuses on biodiversity values and relational approaches to nature across eight pilots in Europe, New Zealand and Ecuador. I also coordinate GREEN TALENT, a €3 million Horizon Europe project that builds research and innovation capacity to address the linked biodiversity and climate crises, with demonstration activities in Malta, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece. I have also coordinated the RENATURE Horizon 2020 project, supporting capacity building and collaboration to advance the uptake and mainstreaming of nature-based solutions. 

Across these projects and through my research, I use data, digital tools, and collaborative research to support better decisions for biodiversity, climate resilience, and social-ecological transformation.

Professional Interests

Advancing scientific, business and policy solutions for local and global sustainability, particularly through the management of green infrastructure and the mainstreaming of nature-based solutions; climate mitigation and impacts on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems; understanding interactions between human and environmental systems; using context-based learning and problem-solving teaching and mentoring approaches; widening access to excellent science. 

Research Interests

Spatio-temporal modelling of biodiversity and ecosystem services; advancing the application of ecological and environmental sciences for the sustainable intensification of management in cultural landscapes, with a focus on agricultural and urban ecosystems; nature-based solutions to societal challenges including climate change.