Tuesday 13th March 2012
The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) 1 Carlton House Terrace, London

Business has been put at the centre of the stage to deliver the sustainable economy that the Government pledges to provide in the Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP).This creates real opportunities for businesses, in terms of new markets (e.g. via Payment for Ecosystem Services/Offsets/Restoration) and new collaborations with delivery agencies and other institutions (e.g. via Nature Improvement Areas).

This one-day event, supported by professional and business bodies, will provide a forum for businesses to engage directly with some of the key researchers working in this area.

With top speakers including Prof. Ian Bateman (Co-Leader of the Valuing Nature Network), Prof. Rosie Hails, MBE, (Leader of the Natural Capital Initiative), Prof. Dave Rafaelli (Leader of NERC’s Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Programme) and Dr Rob Bradburne of Defra, as well as key business leaders, the day will provide a mix of speakers, discussion and project-development breakout sessions.

Outcomes of the day will include:
 Identification of specific areas where there are already tools that could be used or developed further by industry in collaboration with academia
 Identification of common themes of interest and actions that would address these
 Initiation of project developments for internship funding

To register for this free event and for full details of the day and directions to IOM please go to http://natural-capital.eventbrite.com.

Applications can now be made to attend the ‘Workshop for Economists and Ecologists’ run by the Natural Capital Initiative. The workshop is aimed at encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation and knowledge exchange between economists and ecologists, with the goal of informing public policy. Sustainable agriculture will be used as the case study theme.

The workshop will take place on Tuesday 8th May 2012 at Charles Darwin House, London.

The day will begin with presentations outlining current ecological and economic perspectives on sustainable agriculture after which there will be a panel discussion, followed by group sessions to identify possible opportunities for interdisciplinary work.

If you would like to participate, please register by sending a summary of up to 150 words of how you would benefit from attending the event, as well as your position in any organisation you are affiliated with, and send to secretariat@naturalcapitalinitiative.org.uk by the 31st January 2012.

A healthy natural environment is the foundation of a sustainable future with prospering communities. In the UK and elsewhere, pioneering projects are exploring new ways of managing land and sea environments and the benefits people derive from them. In particular, they are reflecting an ‘ecosystems approach’: a holistic and inclusive approach to promoting the sustainable use of natural resources and taking better account of the values people hold for the environment. A new network has been sponsored by Defra with the aim of sharing experience from projects taking an ecosystems approach. Entitled the Ecosystems Knowledge Network, it will stimulate knowledge exchange and practical learning across the country. It will assist organisations and groups to understand how an ecosystems approach can help build sustainable communities. The Natural Capital Initiative, one of the Society of Biology’s Special Interest Groups, is developing the network in an independent partnership involving the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Fabis Consulting, the University of Exeter (Centre for Rural Policy Research) and Countryscape.

The Ecosystems Knowledge Network is free to join and open to anyone with an interest in an ecosystems approach.

(Text from the Society of Biology website)

The value of ecosystem services provided by the UK’s wildlife and habitats has been estimated in two research reports published by Defra today. These two primary valuation research studies examine benefits people obtain from the natural environment in the UK.

Using expert judgement and participatory valuation approaches, the study ‘Economic valuation of the benefits of ecosystem services delivered by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan’ estimated the value of seven ecosystem services delivered by different UK BAP habitats and the changes in provision of these services through biodiversity conservation measures over the next 20 years.

The report on ‘The Benefits of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England and Wales’ assessed the economic value of changes in biodiversity and associated ecosystem services which will result from future policy scenarios for Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

The reports estimate the wildlife covered by the UK BAP and Sites of Special Scientific Interest is worth approximately £1.5 billion per year to the UK.

Story taken from the Natural Capital Initiative website.

The NERC Valuing Nature Network (VNN) will release a call for proposals next week with a deadline of 16th September.

The VNN is an interdisciplinary network of natural, social and economic scientists. The proposals being sought through this initial phase will be for year-long projects, expected to report in the October 2012. It is anticipated that the initial projects will lay the ground for a more substantive phase two, with the results of the initial projects informing the second research call.

The announcements follows a series of discipinary scoping workshops which have taken place in London over the past six weeks, culminating in an interdisciplinary town hall meeting at the end of June. The workshop series brought together researchers to consider the challenges to putting a value on natural capital and the research questions which the network should seek to address. As a result, two major themes have emerged in the work of the VNN:

‘1. Developing a trans-disciplinary framework for the valuation of stocks of natural capital and flows of ecosystem services’.
Natural and social scientists to work together to develop integrated methods for monetary and non-monetary valuation of natural capital and ecosystem services. Teams also to work to identify how natural capital and ecosystem services can be managed sustainably.

‘2. Characterising the socio-ecological system knowledge required to properly capture the value of biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural resources’.
Evaluate the information available in relation to the valuation of natural resource stocks and ecosystem service flows, recognising the limitations and uncertainties in the current knowledge base. Identify ways to improve the accessibility and the integration of this existing data, including socioeconomic data sets. Develop integrated models of natural capital and ecosystem services at relevant spatial and temporal scales.

Further information is available from the VNN website.

On Friday, the BES Policy Team attended a ‘Town Meeting’, organised by the NERC Valuing Nature Network, a programme supported by the Natural Capital Initiative. The meeting was a first step to bring together those who might form interdisciplinary teams which will go on to bid for funds from the programme. A series of workshops throughout June brought researchers together in disciplinary groups; this meeting was an opportunity for all participants from these meetings to come together and to discuss potential collaborations.

The aim of the Valuing Nature Network is to improve valuation methods (valuation of stocks and flows of ecosystem services), address knowledge gaps set an agenda for future research. The limited funds available for the initial round of research bids (£50,000) and the limited timescale, means that VNN is not going to be able to generate much new science. Instead it is about developing tools and a framework for future science. Winning bids are however expected to make a contribution to science by providing novel syntheses of existing knowledge.

At Friday’s meeting, the VNN team outlined those major research areas which bids should address (recognising that no one bid can answer all of these questions). These were as follows:

1. Improving valuation (all methods) to incorporate the complexity of socio-ecological systems.
Bids should address the complexity of the real-world environment:
a. Spatial variability
b. Temporal effects
c. Direct and indirect effects
d. Incorporate non-linearities (e.g. thresholds, diminishing marginal values etc.)

2. Stocks, flows and sustainability.
What are the natural science challenges of incorporating stock sustainability within decision analysis?
a. Can flow values be improved?
b. What alternative approaches to flow valuations might ensure stock sustainability?

3. Scale
How do variations in scale affect natural processes, marginal values etc?
a. What are the barriers to decision-making across scales? How can these be overcome?

4. From science, through values to decisions
Clarify concept of shared social values and how they differ from traditional individual economic values. How would these be measured so that they can be used in decision-making?
a. Governance: the transition from values to decisions and onwards to implementation, regulation and incentives.

The characteristics of winning bids are likely to be:
- Genuinely interdisciplinary teams
- Teams integrating decision-makers
- Appropriate and interesting research questions to address the four objectives above
- A clear agenda for future research

The ‘announcement of opportunity‘ is expected in mid July, with a deadline for proposal submissions towards the end of September. Grants will be awarded to working groups in October, with working groups then expected to deliver reports in October 2012.

The Valuing Nature Network (VNN) in partnership with Natural Environment Resource Council (NERC) will be running a series of workshops on biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation in London during May 2011.

The workshops, supported by the Natural Capital Initiative (NCI), will cover a broad range of topics associated with valuing biodiversity, ecosystem services and natural resource use including;

- Abiotic (physical & chemical factors)
- Statistics & modelling
- Marine ecology
- Human dimensions
- Terrestrial & freshwater ecology
- Human health & the environment
- Economics (agriculture, environmental, ecological)
- Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)

The series will bring together researchers from disciplines such as natural science, economics and social science, as well as decision makers from the business and policy sectors. The workshops aim to create a network of people across disciplines who are engaged in the value of the natural environment.

Outputs will then be used to define an agenda for subsequent interdisciplinary actions supported by the VNN, and improve decision making regarding the natural environment in the future.

To register your interest in attending these workshops see the Valuing Nature Network website.

The Natural Capital Initiative has two volunteer opportunities to assist the Secretariat in the planning and running of its activities. Volunteers would need to commit a minimum of three days per week. Each placement would be for a minimum of two months full time equivalent and for a maximum of three months full time equivalent. Volunteers will help:

•Investigate topics related to NCI work themes (volunteers are likely to need to work on multiple work themes)
•Assist with the organisation and running of NCI events
•Assist with the preparation of reports and articles
•Assist with administrative tasks

One volunteering period would be expected to start in summer 2010. The other would be expected to start in the autumn of 2010. NCI partner offices are in Oxfordshire and Central London. Wherever possible, volunteers will have an opportunity to choose their primary work location. Lunch expenses and limited costs for travel between partner offices will be available, subject to prior agreement.

Further details about these opportunities, the knowledge and skills required of applicants and how to apply, are available from the internship advertisement, which you can download from the British Ecological Society’s website.

Closing date: 21st April
Interviews to be held in London on 9th June.

The Natural Capital Initiative has published an article for comment on the ‘Future Countryside’ website. Future Countryside has been established by the Shadow Environment Secretary, Conservative MP Nick Herbert, to debate new ideas in environment policy.

In the article members of the Natural Capital Initiative, a partnership between the Society of Biology, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the British Ecological Society, discuss whether movements towards valuing biodiversity and ecosystem services represent a paradigm shift amongst policy-makers and within the scientific community. Yet, say the NCI, policy is running far ahead of the ability to put an accurate ‘price’ on nature. The article calls for an approach which integrates monetary and other approaches to valuation as a way forward which reflects the true worth of society’s natural capital.

Have your say on the points raised in the article on the Future Countryside website.

The Natural Capital Initiative, of which the BES is a founding member, is currently recruiting for a Science Policy Liaison Officer. The post-holder will be responsible for developing NCI projects, supporting the Steering Group and liaison between scientists and policy-makers.

The starting salary for the post, which will be based in the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, is £26,180 – £29,410. The post will be fixed term for 15 months.

The closing date is 8 December and interviews will take place on 15 December.

For further details, see the Natural Capital Initiative section of the BES website.