Dave Hole, Ph.D.

Dave Hole leads Conservation International’s Global Solutions Team within the Betty and Gordon Moore Center for Science. His team focuses on conducting novel analyses that identify and evaluate nature’s contributions to human wellbeing, with a particular focus on mitigating and adapting to climate change, through natural climate solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation. The team turns scientific insights into public and private sector solutions, targeting both policy recommendations and on-the-ground implementation.

Much of Hole’s research has focused on climate change impacts on species and ecosystems, and the role of protected areas in supporting species persistence in an uncertain, dynamic future. More recently he has begun exploring the ways in which nature underpins the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and pathways to global sustainability that maintain a ‘safe-operating-space’ for Earth’s ecosystems.

A native of the UK, Hole joined Conservation International in 2008, after completing a Ph.D. at the University of Oxford and post-doctoral work at both Oxford and Durham Universities. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications and book chapters on subjects ranging from lipid metabolism, to house sparrow genetics, to climate change and its potential impacts on biodiversity and people.

Selected Publications

• Hole, D.G., Collins, P., Tesfaw, A., Barrera, L., Mascia, M.B., and Turner, W.R. (2022) Make nature’s role visible to achieve the SDGs. Global Sustainability, e8. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2022.5
• Noon, M.L., Goldstein, A.G., Ledezma, J.C., Roehrdanz, P.R., Cook-Patton, S., Spawn, S.A., Wright, T. M., Gonzalez-Roglich, M., Hole, D.G., Rockström, J. and Turner, W.R. (2021) Mapping the irrecoverable carbon in Earth’s ecosystems. Nature Sustainability, 5, 37-46. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00803-6 
• Fedele G., Donatti C.I., Bornacelly I.D.O, Hole D.G. (2021) Nature-dependent people: mapping human direct use of nature for basic needs across the tropics. Global Environmental Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102368
• Rockstrom, J., Beringer, T., Hole, D., Griscom, B., Mascia, M.B., Folke, C. and Creutzig, F. (2021) We need biosphere stewardship that protects carbon sinks and builds resilience. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, 38, e2115218118.
• Fedele, G., Donatti, C.I., Harvey, C.A., Hannah, L. and Hole, D.G. (2019) Transformative adaptation to climate change for sustainable social-ecological systems. Environmental Science and Policy, 101, 116-125.
• Naidoo, R., Gerkey, D., Hole, D.G., Pfaff, A., Ellis, A.M., Golden, C.D., Herrera, D., Johnson, K., Mulligan, M., Ricketts, T.H. and Fisher, B. (2019) Evaluating the impacts of protected areas on human well-being across the developing world. Science Advances, 5, eaav3006.
• Goldstein, A., Turner, W.R., Gladstone, J. and Hole, D.G. (2018) The private sector’s blind spots on climate change risk and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, 9, 18-25.
• Selig, E.R., Hole, D.G., Allison, E.H., Arkema, K., Chu, J., de Sherbinin, A., Fisher, B., Glew, L., Holland, M.B., Ingram, J.C., McKinnon, M., Rao, N., Russell, R.B., Srebotnjak, T., Teh, L.C.L., Troeng, S., Zvoleff, A. and Turner, W.R. (2018) Mapping global human dependence on marine ecosystems. Conservation Letters. e12617.
• Jones, H.J., Hole, D.G. and Zavaleta, E. (2012) Harnessing nature to help people adapt to climate change. Nature Climate Change, 2, 504-509.
• Hole, D.G., Willis, S.G., Pain, D.J., Fishpool, L.D., Butchart, S.H.M., Collingham, Y.C., Rahbeck, C. and Huntley, B. (2009) Projected impacts of climate change on a continent-wide protected area network. Ecology Letters, 12, 420-431.
• Hole, D.G., Perkins, A.J., Wilson, J.D. Alexander I.H., Grice, P.V. and Evans A.D. (2005) Does organic farming benefit biodiversity? Biological Conservation, 122, 113-130.
• Hole, D.G., Whittingham, M.J., Bradbury, R.B., Anderson, G.Q.A., Lee, P.L.M., Wilson, J.D. & Krebs, J.R. (2002) Widespread local extinctions of house sparrows are caused by agricultural intensification. Nature, 418, 931-932.