NERC’s future research in Sustainable Agriculture

SSAP meeting 15/16 January 2007

Faith Culshaw

• Current/ ongoing research examples

• NERC’s developing strategy

• Living with Environmental Change initiative

Sustainable agriculture research

Science for a Sustainable Future, 2002-07

Sustainable economies: energy, land use and hazard mitigation

Examples:

•impacts of alternative land management scenarios on biodiversity

•development of integrated models of environmental, economic and land use change

•sustainability of new farming systems, eg GM and non-food crops

•land management strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change

Sustainable Agriculture: Current and ongoing research examples

• Responsive mode grants – 35 (~£4.6m); e.g. impacts of pesticides; diffuse pollution from agriculture

• RELU (cross-Council programme) themes:

-integration of land and water use

-environmental basis of rural development

-sustainable food chains

-economic and social interactions with the rural environment

• Towards a Sustainable Energy Economy – UK Energy Research Centre

-biomass supply chains; environmental factors eg water dependency

• QUEST – new funding announcement:

-sustainable forestry & bio-energy

• Countryside Survey

• BUZZ/BIG BEE project

Sustainable agriculture research:

CEH examples

What is Countryside Survey?• World standard audit of the UK’s rural environment, repeated every 8-10

years.

• Robust estimates of ‘stock’ and change of:– Land Cover, landscape features – Habitats– Vegetation– Freshwater quality – Soils

• Enables understanding of causes of change

• Policy and science driven:– Defra, SEERAD, EN(NE), CCW, SNH, FC, JNCC, NAW, DoE(NI), EC– NERC

• Core of CEH Theme on “Monitoring sustainability and management of land resources”

Countryside Survey

Why are we doing it?To find out how the countryside has changed, and why, since the surveys began in 1978 and especially since the last survey in 2000.

How will it help the countryside?

Countryside Survey tells us about the ‘stock’ and condition of habitats in the countryside today - how much there is and where it is found. The information is used to help plan the management of the countryside for the future and protect the biodiversity or variety of plants and animals within our landscape.

What does the survey consist of?

a detailed Field Survey of habitats and features

a Land Cover Map of the UK, on a field-by-field scale using satellite information.

Distribution of GB survey sites for Countryside Survey.

• Prescriptions for sustainable rural land management under CAP reform

• Monitoring for Priority Habitat Action Plans for arable field margins, hedgerows and some upland habitats

• Data management of agro-environment work and associated temporal and spatial modelling

• Update of the Government’s indicators on landscape features and plant diversity

• Determining the impacts of nitrogen and acid deposition

• Determining the quality of freshwater and soil resources

• Development of hedgerow legislation, to encourage management, planting and protection

• Capacity for renewable energy production

Countryside Survey data are used for:

BUZZ: Five Year Research and Technology Transfer Project – Current Project BIGBEE (on bumblebees)

1. Examine impacts of environmental enhancement on a wide range of taxa

2. Test the reproducibility of effects at several locations (government and industry support on arable farms)

3. Formulate and test new Agri-environment Scheme options (now part of official schemes)

4. Transfer scientific knowledge to the user-community (training via Farmed Environment Company)

5. BIGBEE looking at how landscape type affects pollinator population dynamics – principles useful for designing more sustainable agriculture across UK at field to landscape scales

#

# #

##

#

1

2345 6

Science themes

• Forecasting and mitigation of natural hazards• Environment, pollution and human health• Biodiversity• Climate systems • Sustainable use of natural resources

and two cross-cutting themes:• Earth System Science• Technologies

NERC’s next Strategy

NERC’s next Strategy

Biodiversity• Whole ecosystem approach identified

as unifying concept for this theme.• Key high level challenge covering:

– Biodiversity functions and resilience The role of biodiversity in key ecosystem functions.

– Influence of environmental change The effects of environmental change on genes, populations, species and communities.

• Integrated tools for valuing the environment

NERC’s next Strategy

Sustainable Use of Natural Resources• Energy

– Focus on clean energy.– Environmental impacts of new technology.

• Soil and water research

NERC’s next Strategy

Environment Pollution and Human Health• Measurement and distribution of pollutants and

pathogens at all time and space scales.– Development of sensors > Capacity to monitor in real time to

understand the exposure of humans to contaminants.– Examples would be developing

methods for monitoring:- air quality at high resolution- soil, sediment and water quality remotely in real time

Next steps• Development of the public facing document• Consultation on this draft strategy Feb ’07• Approval by Council Jun ’07• Launch the strategy Sep ’07.

NERC’s next Strategy

Living With Environmental Change

Ecosystem Services Food and FibreWater supply

Energy and MineralsDisease & climate regulation

Amenity

Human well-being

ShelterTransportSecurity

ChemicalsHealth

Education

Natural Resources

WaterSoil

OceansAir

RocksBiodiversity

New Science Securing Resilient Ecosystem Services for the Future

Major national/international policy drivers:

HMT Public Policy Challenge 5

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Stern Review of Economics of Climate Change

Unsustainable consumption of resources

Need evidence to plan now for inevitable changes

Increasing pressures on our natural resources and global climate from rapid economic and population growth in the developing world and sustained demand for fossil fuels in advanced economies

Living With Environmental Change

Living With Environmental Change will meet TC5 by providing the required predictive science, solutions and business opportunities to increase resilience to, and reduce the economic costs of, environmental changes such as more severe weather and reduced biodiversity.

HOW:It will do so through whole-system (natural, engineering, social & economic) predictions and analyses of environmental changes and their impacts:

on local and seasonal–decadal scales; on natural resources, life-quality & infrastructuresto inform choices of mitigation and adaptation responses

PARTNERSHIP: The whole system approach demands a 10-year strategic research partnership between Research Councils, Govt and other users.

Agreed partners: NERC,ESRC, EPSRC, BBSRC, MRC, Defra, DfID, Met Office, SEERAD (others in discussion: EA, DCLG, DfT, Microsoft)