A paper published yesterday by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) criticises policy-makers for failing to take a joined up approach to tackling the globe’s environmental problems. Senior researchers argue that there has been a focus on climate change mitigation in policy-making, to the detriment of biodiversity and the livlihoods and interests of the world’s poorest people. One example given is the conversion of large tracts of biodiverse forest for the growth of biofuels, with the consequent loss of local resources.

The interactions between climate change, biodiversity loss and poverty alleviation must be examined more stringently by policy makers. To be effective, policies must also have greater input from local communities, who must be involved in decisions about how biodiversity is used. The researchers give the example of ‘farmer-researcher’ collaborations as being especially valuable in generating measures to adapt to climate change and fight poverty, such as seed exchanges and field experimentation built on local knowledge.

The researchers warn that unless “pro-poor, biodiversity friendly” means of adapting to and mitigating climate change are found, involving local communities in decision-making, Governments risk failing to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

A team of researchers from 15 European countries has generated a model which can evaluate the effect of policy change on agriculture. Unlike previous models, this can evaluate impacts at multiple levels; from farming in a specific region to the whole European and global food market. Previous studies have also tended to focus on either the economic or the environmental impacts of change: the new model is able to evaluate both.

The model is designed to evolve, with new components added at later stages as necessary, for example, the effect of agricultural policy on biodiversity. The geographical scope of the model can also expand as the number of EU Member States increases.

The development of the model, named the ‘System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling; Linking Science and Society’ (SEAMLESS), has been funded under the EU Framework Programme 6 (Global Change and Ecosystems) and was commissioned by the University of Wageningan (Netherlands).

Tuesday 12th February marks ‘Darwin Day’, the anniversary of the birth of the naturalist Charles Darwin. The first event took place in 2000, with ‘Darwin Day’ since developing into a global celebration of science and humanity, with lectures and events taking place at many universities tomorrow. 2009 will see the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. Find out more at http://www.darwinday.org/.

The Government has today published a new strategy for water management in England. “Future Water” aims to tackle the pollution of rivers, lakes and streams, alongside ensuring the sustainable use of England’s water supply.

The strategy includes proposals on how to tackle surface water drainage and reduce water pollution by tackling contaminants at their source. The launch of the strategy is accompanied by the launch of consultations on both the reduction of phosphates in the water supply and on the management of surface water. The Government hopes that phosphates can be phased out of use in domestic laundry products by 2015.

Other aspects of the strategy include:

• Bringing water companies within the scope of the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme. The water sector has committed to a 20% target for renewable energy by 2020 and is investigating ways to mitigate the non-carbon emissions produced during water processing.
• Plans to consult later this year on proposals to make the abstraction licensing system better able to cope with climate change, balancing the demand for essential water supplies with damage to aquatic ecosystems and wildlife. This will precede a National Policy Statement in 2009.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee has announced that it will receive oral evidence on climate change from the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn.

Areas of questioning will include the Government’s response to the Committee’s Eighth Report, Session 2006-07: Climate Change: the “citizen’s agenda” and the outcome of the Bali Summit.

The session will take place on 20 February at 4.00pm. Evidence sessions are open to interested members of the public. Find out more from the Committee’s website.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week, and featured today in the Guardian, has identified the nine most fragile and vulnerable regions of the planet and warned that many are in danger of sudden and irreversible collapse before the end of the 21st Century.

The Arctic and Greenland ice sheets are identified as being the most vulnerable to passing irreversible “tipping points”, with the Amazon rainforest coming a close second. The scientists calculate that the Arctic sea ice will go into irreversible decline once temperatures increase between 0.5 – 2C on temperatures at the start of the century. Warming of 3-5C could reduce rainfall in the Amazon by 30%.

The team behind the paper includes scientists from the University of Eact Anglia, Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany. The opinions of environmental experts were combined with the results of discussions amongst climate researchers at a workshop to generate the results.

The British Ecological Society has a volunteer oportunity to assist the Science Policy Team for two days a week for up to three months at the Society’s office in Putney, London.

The BES will cover the volunteer’s travel within London and lunch expenses.
To apply, please send a CV and covering letter (including details of when you would be able to start and days available to volunteer) to the Science Policy Team .

The deadline for applications is: 29 February 2008
Interviews will be held on: 17 March 2008

For more information see the Public Affairs pages on the Society’s website.

This week is Scottish Environment Week, with numerous events in the Scottish Parliament focussing around the theme of the event, ‘A Climate for Change: Ensuring Sustainable Livlihoods’. Now in its third year, Scottish Environment Week provides an opportunity to focus on the environment and the value it brings to the society and economy of Scotland. Scottish MSPs will take part in, amongst other events, site visits to environmental initiatives across their constituencies and have the opportunity to see the first showing of a three-minute film on the Scottish marine environment, as part of a discussion on the Scottish Marine Bill.

Wednesday night, 30 January, saw the launch of six ‘Beacons of Public Engagement’, a scheme to encourage researchers and the public towards greater interaction and understanding. The £9.2M initiative, funded by the UK higher education research councils, Research Councils UK and the Wellcome Trust, is one of the biggest of its kind ever launched in the UK. Through a series of collaborative initiatives, researchers will be encouraged to see the social implications of their research, to reach out to the public to communicate their work and make their research more accessible to external audiences.

Writing in the Times Higher yesterday, Jack Stilgoe, a senior reseacher at the think tank DEMOS, called for those scientists who do take the time to enage with the public, to be rewarded for their efforts. Proposals for the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the successor to the RAE, do not as they stand reward scientists’ activities in such areas, a situation which many scientific organisations, including the BES, would like to see altered.

Respond to the HEFCE consultation on the REF at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_34/ by 14 February 2008.