Museums - UK: MLA to be abolished
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced its plan to abolish MLA (the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) by April 2012
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced its plan to abolish MLA (the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council) by April 2012
Straightforward overview of the use of GM insects for disease control, pest management from POST at http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn360-gm-insects.pdf
One element of additional interest is a reference to public engagment - with obvious implications for citizen science in the sense of public interaction on the direction and use of research:
"Engagement with communities and local scientists in Asian and African countries is being led by bodies such as the WHO‟s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and those that fund research into GM mosquitoes, including the Grand Challenges in Global Health and the Wellcome Trust. It is hoped that this early engagement, combined with the potential benefits of GM insect technologies, will lead to their social acceptance. "
Overview from the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology on Science in the new Parliament at
http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/science-in-the-new-parliament.pdf
Following the June meeting on IPBES in Korea, an outcome document was produced. See
see the following paper for interesting use of historical collections data
http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1000385
Just as a reminder of the ongoing National Ecosystem Assessment.
This has arisen in part from the example of the Millennium ecosystem
assessment, but with obviously a strong emphasis on the UK and on the
values associated with this country in particular.
I've recently been to a stakeholder consultation, giving feedback to authors
- one of my interests was of how the assessment might help the NHM to
think about its scientific priorities. So if the UK were interested in
developing the ecosystem approach and using ecosystem services in policy
and regulation, what science would be needed.
Huge amount of material is being generated, for publication Feb 2011.
Considerable differences in approach from the ecologists and social
scientists at present that will need resolution.
Charting Progress 2, an assessment of the state of UK seas, was published by
the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment Strategy community on 21 July. It
reports progress towards achieving the UK vision of clean, healthy, safe,
productive and biologically diverse oceans and seas.
You can read Charting Progress 2, its Overview, four technical feeder
reports, and the Government Commentary on Charting Progress 2 at http://chartingprogress.defra.gov.uk