More natural means of managing flooding are desirable and should be brought foward by the Government in a new White Paper on water. So commented Anne McIntosh MP, Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Select Commmittee and of the All Party Group on Flood Protection, at a parliamentary event attended by the BES Policy Team yesterday evening. The well-attended meeting was organised by Oliver Pescott, the most recent BES-funded Fellow at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), to launch the POSTnote he authored on ‘Natural Flood Management’.

Natural flood management (NFM) is defined in the POSTnote as ‘the alteration, restoration or use of landscape features’. One of the four speakers, Dr Paul Quinn, Newcastle University, made it clear that NFM is not about taking a system back to a natural state but working with and engineering natural processes. Dr Quinn presented work in which he had been involved within the town of Belford, in which residents have faced six major flooding events within the course of seven years. During extreme events, huge amounts of rainfall can be observed running off farmland; this can be tackled effectively, Dr Quinn suggested, by ‘catchment systems engineering’, which seeks to ’slow, store and filter’ water. Farm tracks, specially engineered to store water behind them; dams which ‘leak’ slowly to control water flow; and the use of woody debris (’beaver dams’) to perform a similar function can all help to attenuate run-off.

Dr Wendy Kenyon, James Hutton Institute, highlighted the importance of working with land-managers if those wishing to control flooding wished to work with natural processes as stated. Dr Kenyon’s team have conducted a number of semi-structured interviews with farmers, revealing that first and foremost, farmers are concerned with the viability of their businesses. Dr Quinn had presented results showing that 10 – 20 storage ponds could make a significant difference to the peak water flow; Dr Kenyon argued that the presence of this number of ponds on agricultural land could begin to have a significant effect on the farmer’s bottom line and so the viability of this proposal would need to be considered carefully.

It is important to ensure too that farmers are able to access funding to support their efforts to implement NFM. Fifty eight percent of farmers questioned by Dr Kenyon said that they would be encouraged to introduce NFM measures if there was more funding available to do so and if it could be applied for easily. This is significant as under the Common Agricultural Policy, money is already available to support NFM but, according to Dr Kenyon, farmers have not been accessing this as a source of funds. We need, Dr Kenyon suggested, to work with farmers to find out why.

The issue of the scale at which experiments are undertaken and from which conclusions can be drawn is a highly significant one. It became clear through the presentations that there is a great deal of uncertainty concerning the robustness of conclusions which can be drawn about flood attenuation at the catchment-scale through NFM, based on small-scale experiments. Dr Neil McIntrye, Imperial College London, suggested that although strategic tree-planting can have an affect on ameliorating flooding at a local scale, this beneficial effect is likely to be marginal at regional to larger scales. The true benefits of such interventions are only likely to become apparent, Dr McIntyre suggested, once further research has been undertaken to understand catchment-scale interactions.

The case was therefore made for greater investment in field experiments and better modelling to understand the benefits of NFM. Anne McIntosh MP questioned why the science had not yet revealed these benefits, to which the scientists responded that the high cost of studying natural processes over time and the uncertainty created by extrapolating the results from one study site to another, where geomorphology and hydrology may be very different, constrain the ability to draw robust conclusions. Dr Quinn suggested that scientists would do best to measure at an appropriate scale and then build confidence in extrapolating conclusions, for example through better models.

Funding the necessary experiments and modelling approaches, alongside funding NFM interventions will be a challenge. Anne McIntosh suggested that there was little appetite in Government to pass the cost of NFM projects, including efforts to monitor the efficacy of these projects, onto the consumer through higher water bills. Ms McIntosh, and others, suggested that Payments for Ecosystem Services could be one mechanism of paying for NFM, although here the beneficiaries (presumably the consumers) would still need to pay for the NFM interventions implemented by land-managers (the providers of the ecosystem service of flood alleviation).

There should be scope to deliver NFM alongside other services as part of a framework of multi-functional land-use. Speakers did not touch on this to a great extent and it would have been interesting to have heard more from this perspective. Dr Quinn mentioned that buffer strips planted at the sides of agricultural land can slow the flow of run-off, indicating both a biodiversity and a NFM benefit. Dr Quinn also mentioned the need for multiple stakeholders to come together (eg as in Belford), including ecologists, land-managers and residents, to discuss and agree a shared vision for a catchment. South West Water is investing a great deal of money in NFM measures but for water quality reasons (eg reducing sediment load in the watercourse), with consequent benefits for river ecology. However, overall there was little discussion of the ecological benefits, or disbenefits, of NFM approaches.

In opening the meeting, Anne McIntosh informed attendees that in a meeting of the Liaison Committee (involving all Chairs of Parliamentary Select Committees), members had extracted from the Prime Minister an undertaking that a Water Bill would be published early in the next Parliamentary session. The BES will watch with interest to see whether NFM is incorporated into the Bill when drafted.

Applications for the next BES Fellowship at POST are now open and close on Thursday 5th April. If you are in the second or third year of your PhD in ecology at a UK institution, consider applying. Find out more from the BES website.

Applications are now invited for the 2012 BES Fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). All second and third year PhD students of an ecological subject, based in a UK institution, are invited to apply.

The deadline for applications is Thursday 5th April and interviews will be held in London on Monday 23rd April.

Full details are available from the Grants Pages of the BES website.

Oliver Pescott, current BES Fellow at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, has published a POSTnote on ‘Natural Flood Management’. This will be available shortly on the BES website.

Flood risk management today uses a range of approaches to reduce risk, including structural works, such as hard flood defences, and non-structural approaches, such as improving flood warning systems and land-use planning. The restoration, alteration and use of natural landscape features are also receiving attention as potentially cost-effective ways of reducing flood risk that can provide other environmental benefits, such as water quality improvements or carbon storage.

The POSTnote will be launched formally in Parliament on Tuesday 17th January, from 4 – 6pm. The event will be chaired by Anne Macintosh MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Flood Protection and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. Presentations from a number of speakers will discuss key issues in Natural Flood Management:

– Martin Whiting, Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management, Rivers & Coastal Group Chair
- Dr Neil McIntyre, Reader in Surface Water Hydrology, Imperial College London
- Dr Paul Quinn, Senior Lecturer in Catchment Hydrology, Newcastle University
- Dr Wendy Kenyon, Senior Researcher, James Hutton Institute (Land and Natural Resource Use Research)

To register your interest in attending, please email postevents@parliament.uk or call 020 7219 8377.

The launch of the next POSTNote authored by a BES POST Fellow will take place on Tuesday 17th January. The topic of the POSTNote is ‘Natural Flood Management’. The launch will be held at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, from 16.00 – 18.00. Further details about how to register for a place will be available shortly and will be posted on the blog.

Our current BES Fellow at POST (the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology) is PhD student Oliver Pescott. The Fellowship scheme is open to all second and third year PhD students of ecology based at a UK university. The next round of applications, for a Fellowship to begin in the autumn of 2012, will open in the New Year. If you are interested in applying, please visit the BES website to find out more about this fantastic opportunity.

‘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.

Apply for the 2010 Fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). Spend three-months in Westminster researching and writing a POSTnote for MPs and Peers or contribute to a parliamentary inquiry. The BES will provide a £5,000 bursary to support your living costs in London. This is open to all second and third year PhD students at a UK university, studying for an ecologically-relevant PhD.

To find out more and for details of how to apply, see the Public Policy section of the British Ecological Society’s website, under ‘Getting Involved‘.

Yesterday afternoon saw the official launch of POSTnote 348, on ‘Insect Pollination’, written by the 2009 BES POST Fellow Rebecca Ross. The note summarises the causes and consequences of the declines in UK insect pollinators: a subject that has received growing attention in recent years, as demonstrated by the large audience crowding the seminar room in Westminster.

Chaired by John Penrose MP, the seminar began with a presentation from Dr Liz McIntosh of the Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera), promoting BeeBase, the Government initiative to register all beekeepers. The ex-President of the British Beekeepers Association Ivor Davis then spoke, pointing at the lack of professional teaching available to beekeepers for the decline in the number of honey bees in the UK – a view echoed by comments from other beekeepers in the room. Whilst welcoming the Government’s pledge to invest £10.5 million into bee research, he expressed concern that it would all be spent on high level research rather than achieving practical, immediate goals.

Dr Simon Potts of the University of Reading then discussed the consequences of pollinator decline. Pollinator services in the UK are valued at around £440 million, or 13 % of the total value of agriculture. As only 10% of this is provided by domestic honey bees, Dr Potts highlighted the economic sense of protecting wild pollinators, at a fraction of the cost that would be incurred trying to replace them. This was theme continued by Dr Claire Carvel of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in her presentation on research into using field margin strips in Countryside Stewardship agri-environment measures to support pollinators. Comments from the floor questioned the practicalities of planting such pollinator friendly margins, for example whether regional eco-types would be considered, and challenged researchers and policy-makers to improve the implementation of these schemes amongst farmers.

Find out more about the BES POST Fellowship: applications for the 2010 scheme will open in February.

On 20 January a joint BES, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) seminar will explore the causes and consequences of declines in insect pollinators. The event will see the formal launch of POSTnote 348 on ‘Insect Pollination’, authored by the 2009 BES POST Fellow, Rebecca Ross.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen from one flower to another, enabling plant reproduction. Pollination by insects is therefore vital for the maintenance of biodiversity and agricultural production. 80% of British wildflowers and 84% of EU crops depend on insect pollinators, mainly bees. Loss of pollinators would cost UK agriculture an estimated £400m per annum, representing 12% of agricultural revenue. Evidence is mounting that British bee species, such as honeybees and bumblebees, are in decline, which could threaten future agricultural productivity and cause further biodiversity loss. What is causing this decline, and is further action needed to restore our pollinators?

We will hear from expert speakers on the scientific and practical aspects of maintaining a healthy pollinator population and there will be a chance to discuss such topics as:

• Does pollinator decline pose a significant threat to the UK?
• What research do we need to understand pollinator decline and mitigate
its effects?
• What can we do to improve the health of managed honeybees?
• What policies do we need to maintain wild pollinators in the landscape
despite increasing demands on land for housing, fuel and food?

For further information and details on how to register for a place at this event, see the ‘Forthcoming Policy Meetings’ section of the BES website.