Interesting AAAS blog post on Tacit Diplomacy in Life Sciences: A Foundation for Science Diplomacy from David Benson and Roger Kjelgren. Refers to values and ways of working in science that support international collaboration and consensus.
The UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has produced a 2014 Strategy - a refreshed version of its 2010 strategy. There is modified emphasis on agriculture, biomedical sciences and other areas, particularly in terms of economic context and benefits and well-being.
Also of interest in this context is the late 2011 UK Life Sciences Strategy from the BIS Office for Life sciences: primarily biomedical research and development. A healthcare industry consortium (LifeSciencesUK) has recently reviewed progress in implementation.
Report of a European Parliament workshop on Invasive Alien Species held in December 2013 - provides a summary of presentations, expert profiles and discussions, covering some of the issues of interest as the EU develops new regulations in early 2014.
The UK Parliament's Environmental Audit Committee has published a report on Sustainability in the UK Overseas Territories. The report argues for better and more consistent policy focus on the part of the UK government, clarity on the respective responsibilities of the UK government and UKOT governments, and various actions with respect to international law and with respect to CBD and other conventions.
It also recommends that Defra should convene UKOT governments with NGOs and research organisations to develop and agree a research programme to catalogue the full extent of biodiversity in the UKOTs. Better planning regimes to value and protect natural capital and promote sustainable tourism industries and economies are also recommended. Marine Protected Areas for the Pitcairn Islands, Tristan da Cunha and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are proposed (there is already a MPA in place for the British Indian Ocean Territory - the Chagos archipelago).
The UKOTs are: Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; Cayman Islands; Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands; St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands; and British Virgin Islands.
Future Earth is a 10-year initiative on earth system research involving various ICSU programmes (Diversitas, IGBP, WCRP, ESSP and IHDP) and partners and the funding agencies represented in the Belmont Forum. ICSU initially developed a strategic framework for earth system research in the context of the 2010 ICSU Grand Challenges for research and the Belmont Challenge. Future Earth has emerged from this and was launched at Rio +20.
The Future Earth Initial Design was published in late 2013, providing an overview; research framework; organisational design; initial strategic views of communication, engagement, education, capacity building and funding; and a roadmap to implementation. Annexes give more detailed analysis and rationales for the different elements.
The initial research themes are:
OECD has published Environment at a Glance 2013 giving a wide range of comparative country by country environment statistics.
The report of the second plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has been published, summarizing discussion and decisions on governance, funding organization, assessment methodologies, conceptual model, capacity building and priorities in the initial workplan. /...
.../Fast track assessments on pollination and pollinators associated with food production and scenario analysis and modelling of biodiversity and ecosystem services were initiated. Thematic assessments on land degradation and restoration; invasive alien species; and sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity and strengthening capacities and tools were agreed for scoping.
