Blogs

The major UK research funders have drawn up a concordat on public engagement with science, setting out a set of principles and briefings for research scientists, employers and others. /...

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The principles are:

1. UK research organisations have a strategic commitment to public engagement 
2. Researchers are recognised and valued for their involvement with public engagement
   activities
3. Researchers are enabled to participate in public engagement activities through
   appropriate training, support and opportunities
4. The signatories and supporters of this Concordat will undertake regular reviews of their
   and the wider research sector’s progress in fostering public engagement across the UK

Signatories:

Research Councils UK
Higher Education Funding Council for England
Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), N.
Ireland
Scottish Funding Council
The British Academy
The Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Society
Defra 

Just published, the 2010 integrated assessment report of the UK Countryside Survey 2007, with a huge amount of information on trends in indicators linked explicitly to ecosystem services. /....

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In summary:

Stable or improving: Indicators linked to freshwaters and soils were stable or improving. As they underpin many regulating and supporting services these service categories were also generally stable or improving.

Declining: Plant diversity indicators were declining (an 8% reduction in number of species in 200m2 vegetation plots between 1978 and 2007) as was nectar plant diversity, used here as an indicator of one aspect of the regulating service of pollination. Cultural indicators linked to plant species diversity and landscape had also declined.

Plus a lot of detailed analysis of trends observed for specific services linked to freshwaters, soils, plant diversity, pollinator food plants and an exploration of the use of CS data to assess cultural services and interactions between services.