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Blogs
Filtered on Author (John Jackson), Taxonomy term (Science policy newsletter), Date (Aug 2014).
Environment Policy: UNEP Mapping Natural Capital
UNEP-WCMC produced in July 2014 a report Towards a Global Map of Natural Capital. It gives an overview of the global perspective and maps for:
- water;
- terrestrial carbon;
- soil quality for plant growth using maize as a reference crop;
- terrestrial biodiversity (species richness adjusted by intactness);
- marine biodiversity (species richness across 13 taxa); and
- marine global fish catch
together with a composite map that integrates these elements. Looking forward, the ambition is to increase the number of measures of natural capital, and to attempt to analyse changes over time.
Reference:
Dickson, B., Blaney, R. Miles, L., Regan, E., van Soesbergen, A.,Väänänen, E., Blyth, S., Harfoot, M. Martin, C.S., McOwen, C., Newbold, T., van Bochove, J. (2014). Towards a global map of natural capital: key ecosystem assets. UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya.
Culture Policy UK: initiatives on cultural value 2014
The Arts Council (ACE) published a report in July 2014 on Understanding the value and impacts of cultural experiences, commissioned from WolfBrown. This report is a broad international literature review that deals with language and concepts; measuring individual impacts; valuing arts and culture from the marketing perspective; and creative capacity of an organization. Value is discussed in terms of economic, social and public value, with a primary emphasis on the arts - the broader interest of the humanities and sciences don't seem to be part of scope.
This follows the ACE review earlier in 2014 of The value of arts and culture to people and society. This was an evidence review, looking at economy; health and wellbeing; society; and education, together with gaps in evidence and needs for future research.
Also interesting is the current work of the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value which has developed discussion and evidence to ask "what kinds of investment do we need to ensure the future of culture and how can we work to ensure that all forms of culture are inclusive and accessible for all?"
Museums Policy UK: Taking Part statistical releases
The UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport produces periodic statistical releases - Taking Part - giving information on demographics of participation in arts, culture, heritage, museums and sport.
Climate Science UK: Inquiry on IPCC 5th assessment WG1 contribution
The UK House of Commons Energy and Climate Change committee has produced a report on its inquiry on the IPCC 5th Assessment WG1 contribution (physical science).
The inquiry concluded that WG1's message - that greenhouse gas release from deforestation and fossil fuel use has caused much of the climate change of the late 20th Century and will continue to drive warming if unabated - was "the best available summary of the prevailing scientific opinion on climate change currently available to policy-makers. Its conclusions have been reached with high statistical confidence by a working group made up of many of the world’s leading climate scientists drawing on areas of well-understood science. The overall thrust and conclusions of the report are widely supported in the scientific community and its summaries are presented in a way that is persuasive to the lay reader. As in all areas of science that involve highly complex dynamic systems, there are uncertainties. But these uncertainties do not blur the overwhelmingly clear picture of a climate system changing as a result of human influence."
The inquiry said that IPCC had responded well to criticism and had tightened its review processes to make AR5 "the most exhaustive and heavily scrutinised Assessment Report to date". However, the committee suggested an increase in the level of transparency by involving non-climate scientists as observers through the whole process. The committee said that "the thousands of peer-reviewed academic papers ...together form a clear and unambiguous picture of a climate that is being dangerously destabilised".
Environment Policy UK: National Pollinator Strategy inquiry reports
The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee produced a report in July 2014 on DEFRA's National Pollinator Strategy. The National Pollinator Strategy has been in draft and a consultation has recently been completed - finalization is planned for later in the year. The EAC conducted an earlier 2013 inquiry on Pollinators and Pesticides - part of a series of UK policy activities looking at pollinator impacts.
The inquiry on the National Pollinator Strategy makes the following key points:
- Defra's plans for research on the role and value of pollinators, and the impacts of pesticides, are welcome. A national monitoring framework is a good idea - a clear baseline will be an important first step.
- The involvement of industry funding for critical research is a possible difficulty. Independence of research is essential - with peer review and publication of results.
- Schemes within UK implementation of the EU Common Agricultural policy must support and protect pollinators - this must be included in forthcoming review.
- The final National Pollinator Strategy must give a clear view of what Integrated Pest Management involves, and ensure that interpretation of IPM reflects
- best practice elsewhere
- Public engagement in protecting pollinators is a good thing, including pollinator-friendly
- gardening
- There is disagreement with the UK government of interpreting and possibly weakening the "precautionary principle" by including economic considerations.
- The UK should, in the strategy, accept the European risk assessments underpinning the neonicotinoid ban and will "neither seek to end it when a European review is conducted in 2015 nor otherwise circumvent it".
Science policy UK: Government Office for Science report 2013-2014
The UK Government Office for Science, headed by Sir Mark Walport, has published its 2014 annual report. It covers the functions of the office, including the key workstreams for 2013-14:
- science, big data, analytics and the City [of London] - creating a new alignment [use of big data in finance]
- opening up scientific research data [G8 and open data]
- Alan Turing Institute [UK research capabilities in data science]
- Climate change; science and communication [there was also a House of Commons committee report on this in 2013]
- Chief Scientific Adviser's forthcoming report on innovation, risk and regulation
- security
- flooding
- horizon scanning [there was another parliamentary committee report on this as well]
- foresight - manufacturing, city futures, demographic change, ageing society, computer trading in financial markets, and migration and global environmental change.