An incredibly diverse and busy programme of sessions at the BES Annual Meeting this year means that I am only now able to find the time to report on Prof. Bill Sutherland’s Monday afternoon plenary; ‘Twelve months in Ecology’. Since Bill’s talk, we have also seen a fantastic plenary from Professor Jules Pretty, University of Essex – discussing the importance of social capital in ensuring ’sustainable intensification’ of agriculture – which you can now read about on the BES Annual Meeting blog. We have also had a fantastic, and packed, session on ‘What next for the UK National Ecosystem Assessment and IPBES?’, which I hope to find the time to report on tomorrow.

But for now, back to Prof. Sutherland’s review of the past year and some of the major changes which have taken place in policy impinging upon – or informed by – ecological science. One recurring theme which has come across in the sessions I have attended this year (apart from soil, which seems to have been a hot topic at this meeting) is that the past few months have seen a ‘paradigm’ shift in how the UK Government considers biodiversity and ecosystem services. First the Lawton Review of England’s protected area network, then the National Ecosystem Assessment, and latterly the Natural Environment White Paper: late 2010 and 2011 to date have seen the publication of some potentially highly significant reports and policy papers likely to have a major effect on the direction of environment policy for some time to come. But, Prof. Sutherland highlighted, the most important test – implementation – is still to come and there are some signs that the good intentions propounded in the White Paper will not be carried through easily into other areas of Government policy.

Bill’s talk was inspired by a visit to a conservation biology conference, where despite the blanket coverage of the ‘deepwater horizon’ oil spill in newsagents outside the conference centre, very little mention was made of the significance of this news within the meeting sessions. The BES, and other learned societies, Bill argued, must consider issues of importance and signficance within wider society. Hence his whistlestop tour through the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Nagoya conference in October 2010, and subsequent ‘Aichi Targets’ and strategic plan for tackling biodiversity loss worldwide; his examination of the Copenhagen climate change summit in 2010 – a cause for pessimism, Bill suggested, not to mention the policy documents which have come out of the UK this year. Badger culling and the sale of national nature reserves and the Government’s U-turn over the sale of the Forestry Commission estate were also mentioned.

Bill urged members of the BES to engage with policy-makers as these and other issues are taken forward. Sound science is needed in policy debate and Bill urged the Society to engage even more clearly and in an even more relevant fashion with policy development. Issues which members should be aware of in the future, rising up the agenda, Bill suggested, are Arctic exploration for oil – and what the opening up of the Arctic may mean for biodiversity – reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (suggesting a possible shift back to a focus on food production, away from recent rhetoric on the incorporation of ecosystem services), REDD+, an increase in the use of biodiversity offsetting in the UK and the formation of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Bill started on a note of pessimism, but finished optimistically, highlighting good news around recent species recovery, with peregrines breeding in London, salmon returning to many rivers, otters now found in every county in England and the near eradication of the ruddy duck as examples. Bill also suggested that there has been a shift in recent months towards policy-makers using evidence as a basis for a decisions to a greater extent.

Whilst I agree with much of what Bill had to say, and don’t think that his optimism is misplaced, I would say that the recent National Planning Policy Framework and Red Tape Challenge suggest that there is much more that ecologists and those who care about the environment must do before we can consider Government really ‘get’ the importance and significance of biodiversity. The NPPF was an opportunity for the Government to demonstrate that it had really taken the sentiments within the White Paper on board, and were prepared to integrate environmental concerns across all areas of decision making. There is little evidence that this is in fact the case, with a presumption in favour of sustainable development (economic growth is the major driver) throughout the document. The Red Tape Challenge too could pose a serious threat to environmental protection and should not simply be dismissed, as discussed elsewhere on this blog.

Prof. Sutherland’s talk was a useful clarion call for action on the part of the the BES and I for one hope that this will galvanise interest and engagement with policy issues amongst the membership.

The BES Annual Meeting is underway in Sheffield, with a packed day of presentations and sessions so far. The meeting began with the BES Tansley Lecture, this year delivered by Dr Diana Wall from Colorado State University. Dr Wall discussed the significance of soil biota to the delivery of ecosystem services and stressed that the study of this aspect of biodiversity has been largely neglected to date by ecologists. Dr Wall’s salutary message, as expressed by Roosevelt in 1935, was that ‘A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself’; it is vital that ecologists study this heretofore neglected component of ecosystems in order to better understand how soils sustain the capacity to provide critical services, including food, and how soils can be managed in this context.

The BES Policy Team has so far attended a fascinating range of talks – on everything from the delivery of ecosystem services, to the effectiveness of protected areas under climate change, to an examination of whether ecological networks – as propounded by the Lawton Review - are effective. This latter talk was perhaps the most interesting, as Prof. Adrian Newton from Bournemouth University discussed his team’s use of a Google application to identify what the public of Dorset valued about their natural environment. In analysing the market and non-market ecosystem services delivered by the Frome river catchment in South West England, Prof. Newton and his team built up a composite map illustrating carbon storage, crop production, livestock, timber, cultural services and recreational opportunities. His conclusion? That ecological networks can work for biodiversity – increasing the connectivity of habitat and species richness – and for the delivery of some ecosystem services, but may not work economically, as the opportunity costs for network creation are likely to be higher than the market value of the services delivered.

As with all the sessions at the Annual Meeting so far, there was limited opportunity to delve into more depth with Prof. Newton about this work; the programme for today is just so busy. However there are plenty of networking opportunities and delegates are sure to have the time to ask about this and the other topics covered over a glass of wine later at the first poster session.

Before that point however, Prof. Bill Sutherland will be giving his perspective on the past 12-months in ecology, touching on everything from the Natural Environment White Paper and Lawton Review to the National Planning Policy Framework, badgers and bovine TB and marine protected areas. More information will follow about this in a blog post tomorrow. For now, you can follow all the latest updates from the Annual Meeting through twitter using #BES2011, and get more in depth analysis of sessions through the BES Annual Meeting blog. The latest post discusses a session which took place at lunchtime – on ‘Research Paper to Press Release’, discussing how ecologists can engage with the media to showcase their work.

The BES Policy Team is now on holiday until 5th September and the blog will return then.

Today the BES has published our report of the Conservation Ecology Special Interest Group’s meeting into ‘Making Space for Nature’, examining the ecological issues raised by the Lawton Review, and other current topics in nature conservation.

Main points raised by the lively discussion and presentations during the day include the need for academic and applied ecologists to communicate with one another in order to develop new tools which can inform conservation planning and practical delivery. Communication between ecologists, policy-makers and the public is also fundamentally important; communicating with decision-makers is an area in which the skills of ecologists is lacking, according to a recent report by the IEEM. The report also highlights discussion at the workshop around possible tensions between a landscape-scale approach to conservation and a species-focused approach. Whilst an emphasis on ecosystem services can engage policy-makers, the public’s interest in the natural world is motivated by species (hence the 8 million-plus members of Wildlife and Countryside Link organisations). Conservationists should not forget this if wishing to engage people beyond those already involved with NGOs, as volunteer recorders and in monitoring for example, and in aiming to empower further those who are engaged, so that they can influence decision-makers.

The report includes summaries of presentations by Prof. Sir John Lawton- discussing the main findings of the Lawton Review; Dr Pete Brotherton- discussing what the Lawton Review’s conclusions might mean for Natural England and others moving forwards; Prof. Chris Thomas – highlighting a new tool he and others have developed to identify those species most at risk, and most in need of direct conservation action, in the face of climate change; Dr Paul Dolman- discussing potential shortcomings in the Biodiversity Action Plan and the need to develop a new approach to conservation based on species’ common functional requirements (so-called ‘guilds’); and Debbie Tann – discussing the work of the Wildlife Trusts in the context of their ‘Living Landscape‘ Approach. All of these presentations are available to download from the BES website.

The meeting on which the report is based was held on the 19th April this year, at the BES’s headquarters, Charles Darwin House.

The full programme is now available for the policy session at the BES Annual Meeting, taking place on Wednesday 13th September, University of Sheffield. Prof. Steve Albon, co-chair of the world-leading UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA), and Dr Andy Stott, UK-representative to the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will join us to discuss what the NEA means for science, policy and practice in this country. The session is organised in partnership with the UK Biodiversity Research Advisory Group (BRAG).

Four short presentations will explore how the results of the UK NEA, the first of its kind at a fully national scale to analyse the value of the UK’s natural environment by taking account of the economic, health and social benefits we get from nature, are being, or could be, taken forward in research and practice.

Dr Stott will discuss how the IPBES will address the gaps in the science policy interface with respect to biodiversity and ecosystem services internationally.

View the full programme and find out more.

Register for the BES Annual Meeting – early-bird booking deadline 1st July and regular booking deadline 14th August.

‘Landscapes of the Future’ the new Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote written by the current BES POST fellow Eleanor Kean was launched today. ‘Landscapes of the Future’ focuses on the benefits that we derive from our landscapes, and the increasing pressures facing continued delivery of these benefits.

It has been widely established, following the release of the National Ecosystem Assessment, that we gain a variety of benefits and services from the environment including food, clean water, recreation and protection from natural disaster. However these benefits are threatened by the way in which we use land, often exploiting landscapes for a single purpose, without considering the wider detrimental effects.

Demographic change is increasing the pressure we place on land to provide the ecosystem services on which we rely. This coupled with environmental and climate change, societal attitudes and the policy environment will change the way in which we use land over the coming years. It is important to manage the challenges facing the natural environment through existing policies, and also through innovation and novel techniques.

Eleanor identifies opportunities for future landscape planning to adapt to these pressures, and provide multifunctional landscapes that ease competition between different land uses. Many opportunities have arisen as a result of proposed reforms of the planning system, abolition of regional spatial strategies, and introduction of a new National Planning Policy Framework. The establishment of Ecological Restoration Zones as recommended by the Lawton review ‘Making Space for Nature’ are also likely to play a key part in securing ecosystem services for future generations.

Localism may be expected to affect the way landscapes are managed, and the POSTnote emphasises the importance of allowing communities to access good information about the environment, facilitating local people to make good decisions. Green Infrastructure also has great potential to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. An integrated approach to land use planning is another key message of the POSTnote which recommends that Government departments work together to achieve desirable environmental, social and economic outcomes.

Eleanor Kean, the latest Fellow at POST to be sponsored by the BES, has today published her POSTnote on ‘Landscapes of the Future‘.

The POSTnote will be discussed at a seminar in Portcullis House, Westminster, on 8th June. To register please contact postevents@parliament.uk.

Eleanor Kean, the current BES-sponsored Fellow at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, will be launching her POSTnote on ‘Landscapes of the Future’ on 8th June. This event will take place in Westminster, London from 10.30am – 12pm.

Many pressures, such as population increase and climate change, will exacerbate competition for land in the next few decades. The UK National Ecosystem Assessment, due to be published at the start of June, is the first assessment of the benefits UK society gains from the natural environment, as well as options to secure delivery into the future. Additionally, the government is expected to publish ambitious plans to protect the natural environment at the start of June in the Natural Environment White Paper. Multifunctional landscapes, which balance competing demands for space, can help adaptation and increase resilience to environmental change. This crosses many sectors and policy areas, but in particular land use planning.

Leading experts in the field will contribute to the discussion, chaired by Barry Gardiner MP.

To attend, please email POST events or call 020 7219 8377.

A full programme will be available from the POST website shortly.

The BES Mentoring Scheme for Women in Ecology is now open for applications. This is the third time that the Society has run the scheme, which is open to all women who are members of the BES, but not to PhD, Masters or undergraduate students.

Applications are welcome from both potential mentees and mentors. The closing date is 1st July.

There will be a training day in London on 8th September, which all participants are strongly encouraged to attend.

The commitment required from mentors and mentees is small; all materials and support will be provided by the BES and our partner, the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology, throughout the scheme (with mentoring relationships generally lasting for one year at most).

Further information and an application form is available from the BES website.

The BES policy team yesterday attended a meeting of the All party Parliamentary Conservation and Wildlife Group. The meeting commenced with a talk about future priorities of Natural England from Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, followed by a question and discussion session. The talk focussed on the effects of the budget cuts on the services that natural England provides, and the direction of Natural England’s efforts over the coming years. The recent reform of Natural England has resulted in budget cuts, a ban on lobbying activities, and a keener focus on customer service. However there has been no legislative change and the main purpose of natural England remains the government’s independent advisory body on the natural environment. Dr Phillips explained to the group how Natural England will continue to provide this service despite the funding cuts.

Dr Phillips started by focussing on the successes of Natural England in the past five years, of which there have been many. A survey of farmers enrolled in agri-environment schemes revealed that 84% thought that Natural England gave good or excellent customer service. 70% of agricultural land is now under some sort of environmental management which is up from 45% in 2006. This has made a noticeable difference to protected species and habitats on which agricultural land has an important impact. 96% of (Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are in good or excellent condition compared with only 73% 5 years ago. A slowing of farmland bird decline has occurred with signs of recovery. 30% of the UK landscape is under some form of protection whether that be SSSIs or national parks. There have also been a variety of very successful programmes to connect people with their environment.

However Natural England faces many challenges in protecting the natural environment. England is still experiencing ongoing habitat losses and biotic homogenisation, with many once common species rare and declining. The natural environment is also experiencing increased pressures from an increasing human population demanding more from the same land area. Importantly Lawton’s vision of more, bigger, better, and joined protected areas still has not been realised. There are lots of imminent opportunities to respond to these challenges: the Defra white paper, European biodiversity strategy, the National Ecosystem Assessment. Natural England aims to make sure that people reconnect with nature, our natural assets are protected and we maximise the opportunities offered to society by a green economy. Dr Phillips noted that there is also strong cross party support for these ideas, improving the chances of success.

The talk ended with Dr Phillips outlining the main strategies Natural England will employ to achieve these goals over the coming years:
• Improving protection of priority species and habitats.
• Continuing the success of the agri-environment schemes.
• Establishing a coherent network of Marine Protected Areas.
• Taking a landscape scale approach to conservation.
• Creating “ecological restoration zones” led and funded by a wide variety of organisations.
• Forming partnerships with businesses, local authorities, and NGOs.

One of the main themes to the questions was the effect of budget cuts on the ability of Natural England to provide sound advice to local people, who have become more involved in local decision making because of the Government’s “Big Society” initiative. Natural England have collaborated with the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, and Wildlife Trusts to share information and identify priority areas in which to act. Defra is also developing an evidence portal for local people to enable access to sound scientific evidence to empower local communities to make more decisions.
Dr Phillips suggested that the BES could also have an important role to play in ensuring good decisions are made at the local level, by providing accreditation for learning and education programmes. This could be particularly useful when training members of local authorities tasked with making decisions about protected species and habitats in planning applications. She also suggested that the BES could support and contribute to research work done by Natural England, by providing quality assurance or peer review.