The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Scotland’s Biodiversity: It’s in Your Hands‘ is currently undergoing a review and a pre-consultation draft of the new strategy was published on the 15th February.

The Scottish Government published the first Biodiversity Strategy in 2004 with the aim of conserving biodiversity ‘for the health, enjoyment and wellbeing of the people of Scotland now and in the future’. It fulfilled Scotland’s obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the UK BAP, and is intended to cover the period up to 2030.

The current review will update the Strategy to meet the new challeneges and targets for 2020 as set out in the UN ‘Aichi’ targets and the European Biodiversity Strategy. Consultation on the proposed changes will be ongoing over the summer.

The draft strategy review is available from the Scottish Natural Heritage website, and updates on the consultation will be published by The Scottish Government.

SAC & SEPA BIENNIAL CONFERENCE (in association with Forest Research, the James Hutton Institute and Scottish Natural Heritage)
3-4 April 2012, Edinburgh
Integrated management of our agricultural and forestry landscapes is essential to the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. However, current understanding of the linkages between different ecosystems and the services they provide is incomplete. The management implemented therefore needs to be flexible to adapt to these uncertainties. The need for implementation at the landscape scale also means integrating management practices across different land-managers.

This conference will seek to present not only the best possible scientific understanding of the complexities associated with the delivery of multiple ecosystem services but also provide a forum to raise and discuss what still needs to be done to have an ecosystem approach recognised and supported by land managers, researchers and policy makers. The conference will be relevant to members of all three of these target audiences.

A range of platform presentations will be made under the four conference themes:
1. How are the linkages between ecosystems and the services they provide currently understood, viewed and valued?

2. What does the delivery of multiple ecosystem services mean at a practical level in terms of management and scale of implementation?

3. How does the governance of landscape-scale management affect the delivery of multiple ecosystem services?

4. How does our thinking, management practices and policies need to adapt?

The keynotes for each of the four themes will be given by Jonathan Pryce from the Scottish Government (Theme 1), Brian Chambers from ADAS (Theme 2), Heidi Wittmer from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Theme 3) and Tom Crompton from WWF (Theme 4).

Venue, Costs and Accommodation

The Conference will take place in the John McIntyre Conference Centre of the University of Edinburgh on 3-4 April 2012. Details of Costs and Accommodation can be found at www.sac.ac.uk/sacsepaconf.

Interested in discussing the challenges facing Scotland’s biodiversity to 2020 and helping to inform the development of Scotland’s draft Biodiversity Strategy? Come along to a meeting in Edinburgh on 8th – 9th March 2012. BES members can attend for FREE (but must register in advance).

The BES is working with the British Society of Soil Science and the Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Science Group to organise a one-day conference (9th March), an evening lecture, reception and dinner (8th March) at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The meeting will:

•Introduce the science community in Scotland to the revision of Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy;
•Explore the scale of the challenges facing the implementation of an ecosystem approach in Scotland;
•Provide an opportunity for the science community to find out about the needs of policy-makers;
•Provide an opportunity for networking between the science and policy communities.

The evening reception will celebrate the launch of the BES Scotland Policy Group, a new initiative from the Society that aims to link members of the Society in Scotland who are interested in informing policy development and through this to assist the Society’s policy team in doing the same.

Confirmed speakers for the 9th of March include: Colin Moffatt, Head of Science at Marine Scotland; Ken Norris, biodiversity theme leader at NERC and biodiversity chapter lead in the National Ecosystem Assessment; Helaina Black, James Hutton Institute; and Chris Quine, Forest Research.

Poster abstracts are invited upon registration. We particularly welcome registration by students to this meeting and will be offering a prize for the best poster.

Full details of the programme and how to register are available from the BES website.

The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) is calling for the appointment of a Science Minister at the Scottish Government.

Outlining the rationale for this post, CaSE state that “Science and engineering has an impact, and is affected by a huge range of government activities – so a failure to adequately represent them could lead to Scotland falling behind in the global high-tech race.”

CaSE has written a letter to First Minister Alex Salmond MSP, asking that the SNP Government create a Science Minister role, which, importantly, is not tokenistic but has real power to influence decision-making.

An article on the CaSE blog outlines the current state of science and higher education in Scotland, the challenges the country faces in this regard, and how the absence of a Science Minister compares to the situation in other nations.

CaSE is looking for support from individuals and organisations for its call. Contact the CaSE Director for more information.

Scottish government has announched that eight surveys covering 2,200 square miles will be conducted in Scottish waters in order to collect information on its marine biodiversity. The surveys are in collaboration with Marine Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and will utilise video and acoustic recordings to create underwater maps and improve understanding of marine species and habitats found in Scotland.

The findings will be used to inform future plans for the designation of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s), as well as provide further information on fish stocks and potential sites for renewable energy.

Richard Lochhead MSP Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment said of the new study; “Scotland’s seas provide rich marine habitats and a stunning array of biodiversity. Our waters are home to some of the world’s most precious wildlife, therefore it’s critical that we further our knowledge as much as we can”.

Today’s policy lunchbox organised by the Biochemical Society focussed on opportunities for influencing science policy in the devolved nations post election. A brief presentation led by Hilary Leevers from Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE) preceded a discussion about the next steps for science policy work in the devolved nations.
16% of the UK’s population live in the devolved nations. Responsibility for primary, secondary and higher education has been devolved as well as some aspects of health policy and rural affairs policy.

CaSE have campaigned on science and engineering issues, by engaging MP’s, providing information to support policy making, and raising awareness of science as issue which interests voters. In the run up to the election in the devolved nations CaSE campaigned for the political parties in the devolved nations to include measures to promote science and engineering in their manifestoes.
These measures included:
- Appointing/ keeping a chief scientific advisor or science minister
- Increasing the number of Welsh speaking science graduates entering the teaching profession. 25% of schools in Wales teach at least 50% of their lessons in Welsh.
- Improving the science content of devolved nations’ school curricula. In Northern Ireland there is no requirement to teach maths and science post 14.
- Increasing the stability of funding in higher education institutions. Whilst funding for higher education Scotland appears to be fairly stable funding for higher education is increasingly unstable in Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Examining differences in funding for research in science and engineering between England and the devolved nations. Whilst the devolved nations have tended to spend more than England on research through the higher education teaching grant and the quality related research grant both Wales and Northern Ireland lack the critical mass to attract significant amounts of research council funding.

Pre-election CaSE sent out letters to the political parties of the devolved nations to ask them about their science and engineering policies, and analysed their manifestoes. The response to the letters was very good, with only 2 of 14 parties not replying. The Scottish National Party confirmed that the role of Chief Scientific Advisor will be retained after the election, and Welsh labour also pledged to keep their chief scientific advisor, and publish a science strategy for Wales later this year. Scotland is a leader on scientific issues, and many politicians see this as a source of national pride. Allowing the devolved nations to lead could be very productive for science policy.

The discussion that followed focussed on identifying areas of science policy in which success is likely to be achieved, and the lessons that can be learned from the devolved nations.

The devolved nations could act as a source of information for Westminster policy formation. For example the abolition of SATs at KS2 in Wales provides an excellent example of how case studies from the devolved nations could be useful in informing policy in England. A study by the Wellcome Trust showed that when SATs were abolished science subjects were still highly regarded by pupils and teachers several years later, suggesting that abolition of SATs in England is not likely to have a negative effect on science.

Finally the knowledge base built up by CaSE might prove useful if Scotland decide to separate from the union, and will allow us to hypothesise what might happen if this decision is made. It is possible research institutions in Scotland, which are highly reliant on Research Council funding, might loose a large proportion of their finances if the nation decides to leave the union.

Following last week’s elections in the devolved administrations, the Welsh and Scottish Governments have today announced details of their respective cabinets.

Wales

John Griffiths AM becomes the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, taking over from Jane Davidson AM, who stepped down as the Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing prior the election on 5th May. John’s website indicates that:
“John worked as a lecturer in further and higher education before becoming a solicitor. A former Gwent County Councillor and Newport Borough Councillor, John is also a member of UNITE and Community trades unions, and the Co-Operative Party.

John’s political interests include economic development, social inclusion, education, Europe, sport and sub Saharan Africa. John is currently the Counsel General and Leader of the Legislative Programme in the Welsh Assembly Government and has previously served as Deputy Minister for Education, Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services and Deputy Economic Development Minister.”

Alun Davies AM has been appointed as Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and European Programmes.

Edwina Hart AM becomes Minister for Business, Enterprise and Technology, whilst Leighton Andrews AM becomes Minister for Education and Skills. The post of Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills seems to have disappeared however.

Scotland

In Scotland, Richard Lochead MSP has been re-appointed as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, whilst Roseanna Cunningham MSP joins him once again as Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.

Michael Russell MSP has been reappointed as Cabinet Secretary for Skills and Lifelong Learning, including the science brief.

Northern Ireland

There is as yet no information regarding appointments to the cabinet of the Northern Ireland Executive but information will appear here when it is available.

On the 5th of May last week voters from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland took to the polls to vote in the devolved elections. The results have been announced over the past few days and are as follows:

Scotland
The Scottish National Party (SNP) led by Alex Salmond were elected with a landslide vote in Scotland, gaining their first ever majority. The SNP unseated several Labour Members of Scottish Parliament (MSP’s), picking up five constituency seats in Glasgow, and a further two on the regional list winning an overall total of 23 seats.

Wales
Carwyn Jones led Welsh Labour to power following the votes with the gain of a further 4 seats. The vote however left Labour hanging 1 seat away from the majority, leading to speculation of the formation of a future coalition within the Welsh Assembly between Labour and either the Liberal Democrats or Plaid Cymru.

Northern Ireland
With results still coming in until Tuesday elections have not yet passed in Northern Ireland. However, the Democratic Unionists Party (DUP), led by Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin led by Gerry Adams are well ahead of their rival parties. The DUP and Sinn Féin had of yesterday, won the most seats in Northern Ireland, with 38 and 29 respectively. This result if unchallenged will allow both groups to retain their positions as the two major parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

What these results mean for the environment is indicated in each party’s 2011 manifesto:

• The SNP manifesto features chapters on low carbon ambitions, climate change targets and the rural agenda.
• The Welsh Labour manifesto includes a chapter on the environment and sustainability and another on rural communities.
• The manifesto of the DUP features a section on the environment and another regarding agrifood.

Applications are invited for a new, six month, policy placement secondment opportunity to work with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Science and Strategy Directorate based in Stirling.

This secondment is offered as part of NERC’s policy placement fellowship scheme which allows researchers and other staff involved in environmental science research, to work closely with policy-makers within government and other public and third sector organisations in the UK. Such placements have proved valuable in significantly enhancing links between NERC science and science evidence and policy teams in government and regulatory bodies, enabling improved science evidence for UK policy.

The purpose of this policy placement is, in conjunction with SEPA’s Human Health Working Group, to promote SEPA’s understanding of the Environment and Human Health research ‘landscape’ in the UK, including the dissemination of research outputs and translation of evidence into robust environmental policy & regulatory practice.

Further details are available here.

Please see “fellowship placement current opportunities” PDF for additional information.

The closing date for applications is Monday 15 November 2010.

The BES held a highly successful reception at ‘Our Dynamic Earth’ in Edinburgh on Thursday 8 October to celebrate both the work of the BES’s members in Scotland and the first time the BES Public and Policy Committee has held a meeting north of the border.

The reception also marked the end of a two-day KnowledgeScotland meeting; a partnership event between major Scottish research institutes and the Scottish Government. From 7 – 8 October ecological researchers and policy-makers gathered at Our Dynamic Earth to consider the evolution of three cross-cutting themes: ‘Responding to Climate Change’; ‘Protecting Biodiversity’ and ‘Environmental, Social and Economic Sustainability of Rural Scotland’.

The Minister for the Environment at the Scottish Government, Roseanna Cunningham, joined us at the reception, where short speeches from Professor Charles Godfray, President of the BES, and Professor Maggie Gill, Chief Scientific Adviser for Rural Affairs and Environment to the Scottish Government, informed ecologists and policy-makers alike.

The event provided a fantastic opportunity for networking between BES members in Scotland and policy-makers, and we hope that much progress will be made with newly-established contacts in the near future.