Supporting ecosystem services on commercial farms: using evidence to inform land management decisions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Zoology
Abstract
This research aims to make recommendations for how to manage commercial farms to support biodiversity and ecosystem services whilst maintaining or increasing yields and profits. Sets of recommendations will be specific to different farm types or landscape types, and will build upon detailed scientific understanding of underlying ecological processes.
In the last ten years, scientists have described how ecosystems provide services that are essential for food production, such as clean water, a healthy soil and good climate, pollination and pest control. They are measuring these services and how much they are worth to society, and beginning to understand how important a variety of species and habitats is for providing the services. The big gap is translating all this knowledge into practical advice for commercial farmers.
The research takes two approaches. The first approach will develop a sophisticated decision support tool that incorporates a wide range of scientific knowledge, some of it very uncertain, into the cost-sensitive decisions that farm managers have to make about how to manage land. This will compare the effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services of a range of different land management options, including possible crop rotations, interventions to support biodiversity and interventions to increase yield. It will consider the costs (or the available profits) of the alternative options, and produce an optimal strategy that maximises biodiversity and ecosystem value whilst retaining viable profit. When the science is uncertain, the software tool will allow the researcher to find out whether this matters to the ultimate decision or not. For example, if we can't be sure exactly how much pollination of oilseed rape is enhanced by providing nectar and pollen margins, does this make a difference to whether or not farmers should incorporate pollen and nectar margins, given that these margins have a range of other known benefits but involve a loss of yield due to reduced cropping area? Of course, the solutions will be sensitive to the costs built into the model, but these will be developed in partnership with commercial agronomists and will be as realistic as possible.
The second approach will develop a package of agri-environment measures to support beneficial insects in a range of different farm types. Beneficial insects provide two ecosystem services - pollination for insect-pollinated crops and some pest control service on all crops. Supporting these services in farmland is complex. Both are delivered by a variety of free-living mobile organisms. The actual insect species involved varies from place to place and from year to year, and the different species need different resources, such as adult food, food for their young, overwintering sites or hunting grounds. The researcher will devise a set of indicator species for delivering these services in orchards, soft fruit farms, arable farms and horticulture. The indicator set will cover all major resource needs and incorporate any specialised reliance on particular resources. For the indicator species set in each farming type, the research will then pool relevant ecological knowledge, including population modelling where available, and expert assessment to produce a set of agri-environment options that provide the appropriate amount and arrangement of resources to support delivery of pollination and pest control from the natural ecosystem.
In the last ten years, scientists have described how ecosystems provide services that are essential for food production, such as clean water, a healthy soil and good climate, pollination and pest control. They are measuring these services and how much they are worth to society, and beginning to understand how important a variety of species and habitats is for providing the services. The big gap is translating all this knowledge into practical advice for commercial farmers.
The research takes two approaches. The first approach will develop a sophisticated decision support tool that incorporates a wide range of scientific knowledge, some of it very uncertain, into the cost-sensitive decisions that farm managers have to make about how to manage land. This will compare the effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services of a range of different land management options, including possible crop rotations, interventions to support biodiversity and interventions to increase yield. It will consider the costs (or the available profits) of the alternative options, and produce an optimal strategy that maximises biodiversity and ecosystem value whilst retaining viable profit. When the science is uncertain, the software tool will allow the researcher to find out whether this matters to the ultimate decision or not. For example, if we can't be sure exactly how much pollination of oilseed rape is enhanced by providing nectar and pollen margins, does this make a difference to whether or not farmers should incorporate pollen and nectar margins, given that these margins have a range of other known benefits but involve a loss of yield due to reduced cropping area? Of course, the solutions will be sensitive to the costs built into the model, but these will be developed in partnership with commercial agronomists and will be as realistic as possible.
The second approach will develop a package of agri-environment measures to support beneficial insects in a range of different farm types. Beneficial insects provide two ecosystem services - pollination for insect-pollinated crops and some pest control service on all crops. Supporting these services in farmland is complex. Both are delivered by a variety of free-living mobile organisms. The actual insect species involved varies from place to place and from year to year, and the different species need different resources, such as adult food, food for their young, overwintering sites or hunting grounds. The researcher will devise a set of indicator species for delivering these services in orchards, soft fruit farms, arable farms and horticulture. The indicator set will cover all major resource needs and incorporate any specialised reliance on particular resources. For the indicator species set in each farming type, the research will then pool relevant ecological knowledge, including population modelling where available, and expert assessment to produce a set of agri-environment options that provide the appropriate amount and arrangement of resources to support delivery of pollination and pest control from the natural ecosystem.
Planned Impact
This Research Fellowship has been designed from the outset to meet two clearly defined business and policy evidence needs, identified by NERC-funded knowledge exchange activities. These are:
1 - How can commercial farmers improve management of biodiversity and ecosystem services on their land? This has been identified independently during bilateral discussions with Waitrose Ltd and AB Sustain.
2 - What do farmers have to do to be sure they are supporting pollinators and natural pest control services? This was identified during a knowledge exchange workshop by a number of farmer-focussed organisations and has since been strongly supported as a need in policy development by Natural England.
As the applicant will work directly with the organisations making these demands throughout the period of the Fellowship, the project is expected to generate substantial impact, both for the methods it develops and for the research projects and databases it uses.
For example, the project contributes to the development of a modelling tool being built by AB Sustain (a division of AB Agri), to measure and enhance ecosystem services on farms. This tool is likely to be rolled out to growers widely, through relationships with one or more large retailers. AB Sustain's farm carbon management tool is used exclusively by Sainsbury's to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on 300 UK farms. The new tool for ecosystem services will take a similar approach to management, using benchmarking and year on year improvements to value. The product can be expected to make a substantial contribution to improving the sustainability of agriculture in the UK and potentially in other parts of the world serving the UK food market. This project will ensure that BESS science on the importance of biodiversity to ecosystem service delivery, and the measurement and management of ecosystem services will feed directly into this new modelling tool.
The Beneficial Insects Package developed as part of the project already has the involvement of a number of organisations that work directly with growers to enhance agricultural sustainability. These include the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and Conservation Grade. All these organisation speak enthusiastically about the effectiveness of the farmland bird package as a tool for encouraging farmers to implement available schemes. They are entirely behind the Beneficial Insects Package and can offer a number of possible routes for publicising it and rolling it out on a large scale. The direct involvement of Natural England in the project means not only that the package itself could be endorsed by them, but also that a similar approach could be used as the basis for other ecosystem-service focussed packages in a newly designed policy set.
The real impact, in both these examples, will be changes in the management of commercial farms to take greater account of maintaining ecosystem services that directly add value to food production. This could be increased uptake of certain crop rotations in response to demonstration of benefits in a commercial context by RobOff, for example. It could be enhanced uptake of certain combinations of agri-environment measures with appropriate spatial arrangements and scale. Currently, the main pollinator measure, nectar and pollen mix, has low uptake rates and its implementation is scattered. The work could also lead to increased uptake of agri-environment measures amongst some farm types. Agri-environment schemes are reported by industry to be unpopular amongst commercial fruit growers, for example.
Throughout the research, the Fellow will be explaining the research processes to non-scientists, thus retaining a transparent link between the farm management solutions that emerge and the underlying biodiversity science that supports them.
1 - How can commercial farmers improve management of biodiversity and ecosystem services on their land? This has been identified independently during bilateral discussions with Waitrose Ltd and AB Sustain.
2 - What do farmers have to do to be sure they are supporting pollinators and natural pest control services? This was identified during a knowledge exchange workshop by a number of farmer-focussed organisations and has since been strongly supported as a need in policy development by Natural England.
As the applicant will work directly with the organisations making these demands throughout the period of the Fellowship, the project is expected to generate substantial impact, both for the methods it develops and for the research projects and databases it uses.
For example, the project contributes to the development of a modelling tool being built by AB Sustain (a division of AB Agri), to measure and enhance ecosystem services on farms. This tool is likely to be rolled out to growers widely, through relationships with one or more large retailers. AB Sustain's farm carbon management tool is used exclusively by Sainsbury's to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on 300 UK farms. The new tool for ecosystem services will take a similar approach to management, using benchmarking and year on year improvements to value. The product can be expected to make a substantial contribution to improving the sustainability of agriculture in the UK and potentially in other parts of the world serving the UK food market. This project will ensure that BESS science on the importance of biodiversity to ecosystem service delivery, and the measurement and management of ecosystem services will feed directly into this new modelling tool.
The Beneficial Insects Package developed as part of the project already has the involvement of a number of organisations that work directly with growers to enhance agricultural sustainability. These include the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and Conservation Grade. All these organisation speak enthusiastically about the effectiveness of the farmland bird package as a tool for encouraging farmers to implement available schemes. They are entirely behind the Beneficial Insects Package and can offer a number of possible routes for publicising it and rolling it out on a large scale. The direct involvement of Natural England in the project means not only that the package itself could be endorsed by them, but also that a similar approach could be used as the basis for other ecosystem-service focussed packages in a newly designed policy set.
The real impact, in both these examples, will be changes in the management of commercial farms to take greater account of maintaining ecosystem services that directly add value to food production. This could be increased uptake of certain crop rotations in response to demonstration of benefits in a commercial context by RobOff, for example. It could be enhanced uptake of certain combinations of agri-environment measures with appropriate spatial arrangements and scale. Currently, the main pollinator measure, nectar and pollen mix, has low uptake rates and its implementation is scattered. The work could also lead to increased uptake of agri-environment measures amongst some farm types. Agri-environment schemes are reported by industry to be unpopular amongst commercial fruit growers, for example.
Throughout the research, the Fellow will be explaining the research processes to non-scientists, thus retaining a transparent link between the farm management solutions that emerge and the underlying biodiversity science that supports them.
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Worldwide Fruit plc (Collaboration)
- National Association of Cider Makers (Collaboration)
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) (Collaboration)
- Sainsbury's (Collaboration)
- Cool Farm Alliance (Collaboration)
- Suntory Holdings Limited (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Lynn Dicks (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Batáry P
(2015)
The role of agri-environment schemes in conservation and environmental management.
in Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
Breeze T
(2019)
Linking farmer and beekeeper preferences with ecological knowledge to improve crop pollination
in People and Nature
Brown MJ
(2016)
A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination.
in PeerJ
Carvalheiro LG
(2014)
The potential for indirect effects between co-flowering plants via shared pollinators depends on resource abundance, accessibility and relatedness.
in Ecology letters
Dicks L
(2018)
What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver "sustainable intensification" in the UK ?
in Food and Energy Security
Dicks L
(2014)
A Transparent Process for "Evidence-Informed" Policy Making A process for evidence-informed policy making
in Conservation Letters
Dicks LV
(2016)
Ten policies for pollinators.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Dicks LV
(2015)
How much flower-rich habitat is enough for wild pollinators? Answering a key policy question with incomplete knowledge.
in Ecological entomology
Dicks LV
(2014)
Organising evidence for environmental management decisions: a '4S' hierarchy.
in Trends in ecology & evolution
| Description | I developed a method to synthesize and assess scientific information about the effectiveness of different farm management actions for supporting wildlife or ecosystem services. The method involves assessing collated evidence using a panel of experts and stakeholders, who follow a formal consensus method with several rounds of independent scoring known as the Delphi process. We used the method to assess evidence for the effects on farm wildlife of compulsory greening measures in the new European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We found they were largely unlikely to be effective, although some specific Ecological Focus Area measures could benefit wildlife. This assessment was used as part of a wider analysis of the biodiversity effects of the new CAP, published in Science and entitled 'EU Agricultural Policy Reform Fails on Biodiversity'. Along with other collaborators, we tested the method for actions to enhance natural pest regulation (predation of pests by spiders for example). This work identified the 'push-pull' system of using trap and repellent plants to manage crop pests as the most effective action from a set of 20. We have also used the evidence assessment method to translate evidence on managing farms for biodiversity into a commercial farmer-focused decision support system called the Cool Farm Tool. I estimated costs of different farm management or conservation actions, with collaborators at the University of Helsinki, and identified a set of sixteen actions that are low cost and could be promoted as voluntary actions for farmers and the public (Santangeli et al. 2016). This work implies that the voluntary, non-monetary approach to conversation could be widely applicable. In 2013 and 2014, I worked with Natural England to help develop the Wild Pollinators and Farm Wildlife Package, part of the new agri-environment schemes (Dicks et al. 2015). The work assessed which key bee species the scheme should concentrate on, what was limiting populations of these species and what agri-environment schemes could do that would be sufficient to support them. I devised a novel approach to estimate areas of flower-rich habitat required by crop pollinators, using a 'flower demand model' based on empirically measured pollen demands of individual bee larvae. The analysis showed that providing flower-rich habitat on 2 % of farmed land and 1 km of flowering hedgerow per 100 ha can supply six key pollinator species with enough pollen to feed their larvae (at low estimates of pollen demand). The underlying concept of designing conservation actions to deliver quantified resource needs of target species had not been applied in pollinator conservation before. The same approach could be used for other insect groups, including declining species, for example, or natural enemies. The calculations have already been used to identify potential shortfalls in pollen supply using a set of farms in southern England. |
| Exploitation Route | The evidence assessment approach, especially when combined with cost information, could be used by agronomists, other farm advisers, conservation organisations and policy makers to inform their decisions. As an example, in 2017 it was used by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC Ispra, Food Security Unit) to assess evidence for the effectiveness of Ecological Focus Areas. It will form part of ongoing development of a software tool designed to evaluate the impact of one compulsory greening element Common Agriculture Policy - The Ecological Focus Areas Calculator. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| URL | http://sustainableagriculturewaitrose.org/research/waitrose-sponsored-research/university-of-cambridge/ |
| Description | POLICY IMPACT European agriculture policy The analysis of the biodiversity impacts of the new European CAP (Dicks et al. 2014; Pe'er et al. 2014) was widely publicised and was cited in a European policy briefing note (Altmayer 2016). Lynn Dicks presented the work at a series of three workshops about the Common Agricultural Policy in 2016 and 2017, organised by the European Commission Directorates DG Agriculture and Rural Development and the Joint Research Centre. These workshops are attended by European Commission officials and influence decision-making about the future changes to Common Agricultural Policy after 2020. The method of evidence assessment developed in this project has been of strong interest to the Joint Research Centre's Food Security Unit (JRC Ispra). The method is being incorporated into a software tool, the Ecological Focus Areas Calculator (http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/efa/) previously developed by JRC with the University of Hertfordshire. The EFA calculator is used by the JRC to evaluate whether the Ecological Focus Areas element in compulsory greening of the Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020, has been effective at delivering intended environmental benefits at European scale. It can also be used by individual farmers or supply companies, to assess, manage and maximise benefits they can gain from adhering to the Ecological Focus Areas requirement. The work on the costs of farmland conservation actions was described in a regular environmental science briefing for European policymakers (Science for Environment Policy 2016) National and international policy on pollinators Two outputs from this research (Dicks et al. 2015; Dicks, Walsh, and Sutherland 2014) are cited in the IPBES Thematic Assessment on Pollinators and Pollination (IPBES 2016a), an international policy document. The assessment report was formally endorsed by the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) in Mexico (Convention on Biological Diversity 2016). The CBD decision specifically cites the actions listed in a table in the Summary for Policymakers (written by Dr Lynn Dicks), and encourages parties to use these actions to help guide their efforts to improve conservation and management of pollinators, address drivers of pollinator declines, and work towards sustainable food production systems and agriculture. At the 13th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD CoP13) in Cancun, Mexico, December 2017, 13 countries signed a declaration called a "Coalition of the Willing", indicating their willingness to take action nationally and internationally on pollinators. The signatories are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Peru, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Uruguay. Two of these countries already have national pollinator strategies (UK, France), through which many actions are promoted and encouraged that improve conditions for wild and managed pollinators in farmed and urban areas. The other 11 countries are interested and/or actively developing national pollinator strategies. This declaration will help them learn from each other and shape the strategies. The text of the document, provided in this website http://promotepollinators.org/ includes a list of "essentials for national pollinator strategies" which very strongly draw on the ten policies for pollinators suggested by Dicks et al. (2016). The paper (Dicks, Viana, et al. 2016) was circulated in hard copy at CBD CoP15, and was itself developed from the evidence assessed in the IPBES pollinators report (IPBES 2016b), which is directly cited by the Coalition of the Willing. At the CBD CoP14 in Egypt, 2018, the CBD adopted a decision to implement an "Updated Plan of Action 2018-2030 for the International Initiative on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators". The decision and supporting documents (CBD/COP/DEC/14/6) cite the IPBES 2016 report. National agri-environment schemes The research on floral resource needs for common pollinators was used to guide development of a new agri-environment scheme for England, Countryside Stewardship, which has a Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package. Dicks et al. (2015) describes the evidence underlying the package and was co-authored with key Natural England staff developing the Package. Natural England has actively promoted the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package, with funding from Defra as part of the National Pollinator Strategy for England. 40% of all Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship agreements with January 2016 start dates are delivering the Package in full and over 60% of all agreements are putting in land management options expected to benefit wild pollinators directly (Defra 2017). BUSINESS IMPACT Informing farm management with evidence An assessment of the effectiveness of actions to enhance natural pest regulation (Dicks, Wright, et al. 2016) was conducted in association with the Waitrose Agronomy Group. This work identified the 'push-pull' system of using trap and repellent plants to manage crop pests as the most effective action from a set of 20. The findings are presented on the Waitrose Sustainable Agriculture Portal (www.sustainableagriculturewaitrose.org). As an example of influencing practice, one of the first wave of PhD research projects planned for the Waitrose-led BBSRC Collaborative Training Partnership will develop and test a new push-pull system to control leaf miners in field spinach crops in East Anglia. This research was proposed by a Waitrose spinach supplier. The Cool Farm Tool is an industry-led environmental decision-support tool used by members of the Cool Farm Alliance (www.coolfarmtool.org). The current focus is to develop a suite of tools according to the elements of farm-scale sustainability performance assessment identified by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (http://www.saiplatform.org/). With additional support from a NERC BESS Programme Knowledge Exchange grant (NE/M000206/1), this project developed a biodiversity module for the Cool Farm Tool. It uses a scoring system to rapidly assess overall management of biodiversity, based on rigorous, unbiased assessment of evidence for the effectiveness of specific actions (Dicks et al. in prep). The Cool Farm Biodiversity module was integrated into the online Cool Farm Tool, with funding from the Cool Farm Alliance. It has so far been tested by Unilever, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and FarmCare Ltd. Ultimately, Cool Farm Biodiversity will gather data and improve on-farm biodiversity management on thousands of farms in European supply chains. There is strong interest in funding further developments to extend the geographic coverage, for example to New Zealand, the Mediterranean biome and tropical forest areas. REFERENCES Altmayer, A. 2016. "Biodiversity and Agriculture." In Members Research Service Briefing PE 583.842, edited by EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service. Convention on Biological Diversity. 2016. "Implications of the IPBES assessment on pollinators, pollination and food production for the work of the Convention." In. UNEP/CBD/COP/13/L.7, 9 December 2016. Defra. 2017. "National Pollinator Strategy Progress Report February 2017." In. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, London. Dicks, L. V., I. Hodge, N. P. Randall, J. P. W. Scharlemann, G. M. Siriwardena, H. G. Smith, R. K. Smith, and W. J. Sutherland. 2014. 'A Transparent Process for "Evidence-Informed" Policy Making', Conservation Letters, 7: 119-25. Dicks, L. V., B. Viana, R. Bommarco, B. Brosi, M. D. C. Arizmendi, S. A. Cunningham, L. Galetto, R. Hill, A. V. Lopes, C. Pires, H. Taki, and S. G. Potts. 2016. 'Ten policies for pollinators', Science, 354: 975-76. Dicks, L.V., Mathilde Baude, S.P.M. Roberts, J. Phillips, M. Green, and Carvell C. 2015. 'How much flower-rich habitat is enough for wild pollinators? Answering a key policy question with incomplete knowledge', Ecological Entomology, 40 (S1): 22-35. Dicks, L.V., J. Walsh, and W.J. Sutherland. 2014. 'Organising evidence for environmental management decisions: a '4S' hierarchy', Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29: 607-13. Dicks, Lynn V., Hugh L. Wright, Joscelyne E. Ashpole, James Hutchison, Caitlin G. McCormack, Barbara Livoreil, Klaus Peter Zulka, and William J. Sutherland. 2016. 'What works in conservation? Using expert assessment of summarised evidence to identify practices that enhance natural pest control in agriculture', Biodiversity and Conservation, 25: 1383-99. IPBES. 2016a. "The assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on pollinators, pollination and food production." IPBES, Bonn, Germany. ---. 2016b. "Summary for Policymakers of the Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production." Edited by S.G. Potts, V. L. Imperatriz-Fonseca, H. T. Ngo, J. C. Biesmeijer, T. D. Breeze, L. V. Dicks, L. A. Garibaldi, R. Hill, J. Settele, A. J. Vanbergen, M. A. Aizen, S. A. Cunningham, C. Eardley, B. M. Freitas, N. Gallai, P. G. Kevan, A. Kovács-Hostyánszki, P. K. Kwapong, J. Li, X. Li, D. J. Martins, G. Nates-Parra, J. S. Pettis, R. Rader and B. F. Viana. Bonn, Germany: Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Pe'er, G., L. V. Dicks, P. Visconti, R. Arlettaz, A. Báldi, T. G. Benton, S. Collins, M. Dieterich, R. D. Gregory, F. Hartig, K. Henle, P. R. Hobson, D. Kleijn, R. K. Neumann, T. Robijns, J. Schmidt, A. Shwartz, W. J. Sutherland, A. Turbé, F. Wulf, and A. V. Scott. 2014. 'EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity', Science, 344: 1090-92. Science for Environment Policy. 2016. 'Nudging may be better than shoving: voluntary non-monetary approaches to conservation', Science for Environment Policy, European Commission DG Environment News Alert Service, edited by SCU, The University of the West of England, Bristol., 24 June 2016. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
| Impact Types | Societal |
| Description | Citation in National Pollinators Strategy for England progress report 2016 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The Countryside Stewardship Scheme introduced in 2014 includes a Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package which has attracted significant uptake among Mid-Tier agreements. The package was carefully designed with a range of stakeholders, and was based on the best available evidence, as described in Dicks et al 2015. |
| URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6579... |
| Description | Citation in a decision of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at CoP13 in Mexico |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | This document represents a formal endorsement of the key messages of the IPBES pollinators assessment by the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) at the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) in Mexico. Specifically, it cites the actions listed in a table in the Summary for Policymakers, and encourages parties to use these actions to to help guide their efforts to improve conservation and management of pollinators, address drivers of pollinator declines, and work towards sustainable food production systems and agriculture. |
| URL | https://goo.gl/nP7cdb |
| Description | Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators (11 countries) |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | At the 13th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD CoP13) in Cancun, Mexico, December 2017, 13 countries signed a declaration called a "Coalition of the Willing", indicating their willingness to take action nationally and internationally on pollinators. The signatories are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Peru, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Uruguay. Two of these countries already have national pollinator strategies (UK, France), through which many actions are being promoted and encouraged that improve conditions for wild and managed pollinators in farmed and urban areas. The other 11 countries are interested and/or actively developing national pollinator strategies and this declaration will help them learn from each other, and help shape the strategies. The text of the document, provided in this website http://promotepollinators.org/ includes a list of "essentials for national pollinator strategies" which very strongly draw on the ten policies for pollinators suggested by Dicks et al. (2016). The paper (Dicks et al 2016) was circulated at CBD CoP15, and was itself developed from the evidence assessed in the IPBES pollinators report (IPBES 2016), which is directly cited by the Coalition of the Willing. |
| URL | http://promotepollinators.org/ |
| Description | Conservation Research Matters - Belgian Biodiversity Platform consultation |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://www.biodiversity.be/ |
| Description | Contribution to Natural England workshops on agri-environment scheme packages for invertebrates |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Impact | A series of workshops organised by Natural England to provide guidance from stakeholders and experts in developing the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme. Lynn Dicks (the grant holder) was an invited speaker at the first two events, held in London on Monday 11th February 2013, and at Osterley Park, Middlesex, on 18 June 2104. She presented an approach to devising an evidence-based agri-environment package for beneficial insects, a project proposed and supported by the Pollinator Conservation Delivery Group funded by a Knowledge Exchange grant (NE/J500665/1), and being carried out under another grant (NE/K015419/1). At a third workshop, held at the RSPB, Sandy, Bedfordshire, on 5 September 2014, Lynn Dicks was one of only two academic researchers present. These workshops were organised by Natural England staff directly involved in designing new agri-environment scheme options and packages, for implementation as part of the reformed Common Agricultural Policy for 2015. The discussions and presentations directly informed the design of the new schemes. The Countryside Stewardship Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package was publicly launched on 4th November 2014 as part of the National Pollinator Strategy for England. It is specifically designed to support pollinators, wild birds and rare arable plants, and will be supported by an additional £350,000 from Defra. |
| URL | https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/370199/pb14221-national-po... |
| Description | Defra report to inform pollinators policy for England: Management and Drivers of Change of Pollinating Insects and Pollination Services |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| Impact | The National Pollinators Strategy for England will be refreshed at its mid-term, in 2019, based on evidence statements derived from this document. |
| URL | http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&ProjectID=20277&FromSearc... |
| Description | Input to 7th UK Biodiversity Indicators Forum |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-6495 |
| Description | InterGovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Thematic Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://www.ipbes.net/work-programme/objective-3/45-work-programme/458-deliverable-3a.html |
| Description | Waitrose Farm Assessment training |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The Waitrose Farm Assessment is used to monitor progress towards sustainability in the Waitrose fresh produce supply chain. Waitrose provides training for its suppliers in how to use and interpret the results of the farm assesment. Waitrose and the Waitrose Agronomy Group will hold a 3 day training meeting at the beginning of May (8th -10th) 2017, in preparation for the delivery of the 4th iteration of the Waitrose Farm Assessment. The intended audience includes senior agronomists / technologists responsible for performing the Waitrose Farm Assessment Version 4 (WFA4). Waitrose suppliers and the Waitrose Technical Team are also invited. As part of this, Dr Lynn Dicks will give a presentation and participate in discussions on Ecosystem Management. The session will be introduced by a member of the supply chain, who will introduce the relevance of the topic under discussion to different segments of the industry. The talks will be filmed and used as part of an on-line WFA training package for the future. |
| URL | http://www.sustainableagriculturewaitrose.org/research/waitrose-farm-assessment/wfa-version-2 |
| Description | Cambridge Conservation Initiative Projects |
| Amount | £54,564 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | CCI-06-16-005 |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Cambridge Conservation Initiative |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2016 |
| End | 09/2017 |
| Description | Defra Sustainable Intensification Platform Project 1 |
| Amount | £168,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2014 |
| End | 07/2017 |
| Description | Eklipse: Establishing a Knowledge and Learning Mechanism to Improve the Policy-Science-Society Interface on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services |
| Amount | £2,997,272 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 690474 |
| Organisation | European Commission H2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 02/2016 |
| End | 01/2020 |
| Description | ReNature: Promoting Research Excellence in NAture-based soluTions for innovation, sUstainable economic GRowth and human wEll-being in Malta |
| Amount | £995,905 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 809988 |
| Organisation | European Commission H2020 |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | Belgium |
| Start | 09/2018 |
| End | 08/2021 |
| Description | Sustainable Fruit farming In the CAatinga: managing ecosystem service trade-offs as agriculture intensifies (SUFICA) |
| Amount | £438,102 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | BB/R016429/1 |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2018 |
| End | 04/2021 |
| Description | The Nature Conservancy Catalyst Fund Science |
| Amount | $120,000 (USD) |
| Funding ID | P116381 Catalyst Fund Science |
| Organisation | The Nature Conservancy |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 06/2017 |
| Description | Waitrose Agronomy Group |
| Amount | £24,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Waitrose Limited |
| Department | Waitrose Agronomy Group |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2014 |
| End | 12/2016 |
| Description | Cool Farm Alliance |
| Organisation | Cool Farm Alliance |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We are developing the Cool Farm Biodiversity tool, a improvement and assessment tool for farm management, linked to the Conservation evidence database. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Cool Farm Alliance co-owns and manages the Cool Farm Biodiveristy Tool software that we have developed. It promotes use of the software internationally, through its membership and beyond, and provides technical support and development through partnership with Anthesis Group (a software development company) |
| Impact | Cool Farm Biodiversity tool online software. New Zealand Sustainability Dashboard/ |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Sainsbury's workshop on biodiversity |
| Organisation | Sainsbury's |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | A one-day workshop hosted by Sainsbury's and delivered by the University of Cambridge in May 2014. The workshop involved discussions with a group of Sainsbury's fresh produce growers and suppliers about their experiences of managing for wildlife, habitats and ecosystems on their farms. They shared details of their efforts so far including progress, successes, advantages and best practice, as well as disadvantages and challenges. They also identified ways in which Sainsbury's could better support them in managing for biodiversity. The outcome of these discussions is intended to inform a reformulation of Sainsbury's Biodiversity Strategy. It captures the views of the growers and suppliers who will be responsible for delivering the strategy on the ground; incorporating their thoughts and suggestions into the Strategy should ensure its effective delivery. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sainsbury's fresh produce team provided the venue, the catering and invited all the delegates to the workshop. |
| Impact | Sainsbury's are in the process of developing a new biodiversity strategy, informed by the outcomes from the workshop. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | SuperB COST Action FA1307 |
| Organisation | European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) |
| Country | Belgium |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I am a Management Committee Member and Co-lead the Dissemination Work Package of SuperB. This provides the opportunity to hold a policy workshop, identifying opportunities for pollinator science to be incorporated in forthcoming European Policy. It also provides funding to test our approach to developing evidence-based guidelines on pollinator management. |
| Collaborator Contribution | There are participants from 31 countries, led by Naturalis, in the Netherlands. |
| Impact | Multi-disciplinary. Involves ecology, agronomy, economics, bee health and pathology, taxonomy. Outputs: one paper published - doi 10.7717/peerj.2249. One paper submitted to Journal of Applied Ecology. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | National Association of Cider Makers |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | National Association of Cider Makers |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | Suntory Holdings Limited |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | Suntory Holdings Limited |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | Worldwide Fruit plc |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Understanding the uptake of Government-funded pollinator conservation measures on UK fruit farms |
| Organisation | Worldwide Fruit plc |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The project employs a structured interview of fruit growers, using the theory of planned behaviour to understand determinants of grower behaviour relating to pollinator conservation. I have designed both pilot questionnaire and a full research questionnaire, and trained four interviewers to deliver it. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Worldwide Fruit has supplied contact details for a random sample of top fruit growers. They have also provided the paid time and travel and subsistence costs for two agricultural student interns to gather data by conducting interviews. The National Association of Cider Makers have provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day planning meeting, and plan to support a dissemination event when the project is complete. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRZ) provided in kind support through staff time to attend a full day training meeting, and a member of their staff has conducted three grower interviewers. |
| Impact | The partnership has not generated any outcomes yet. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Title | Cool Farm Tool Biodiversity Metric |
| Description | The Cool Farm Tool is an industry-led environmental decision-support tool used by members of the Cool Farm Alliance (www.coolfarmtool.org). The current focus is to develop a suite of tools according to the elements of farm-scale sustainability performance assessment identified by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform (http://www.saiplatform.org/). With additional support from a BESS Programme Knowledge Exchange grant (NE/M000206/1), we have developed a biodiversity module for the Cool Farm Tool. It uses a scoring system for farms to rapidly assess their overall management of biodiversity, based on rigorous, unbiased assessment of evidence for the effectiveness of specific actions (Crowther et al. (in prep for Environmental Modelling and Software). The tool has been integrated into the online Cool Farm Tool by the software company Anthesis Group, funded directly by the Cool Farm Alliance. As part of the SUFICA project (BB/R016429/1) a new module in the Biodiversity metric was created, for farms in the Mediterranean and Semi-Arid environments. This was designed and tested in partnership with farmers from Spain and Chile. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2016 |
| Impact | The Cool Farm Biodiversity module has so far been tested by Unilever, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust and FarmCare. Ultimately, this software tool will gather data and potentially improve on-farm biodiversity management on thousands of farms in European supply chains. A New Zealand Government-funded project called 'The Sustainability Dashboard' is developing a New Zealand version of the tool. In 2021, the Mediterrean and Semi-Arid version of the Cool Farm Biodiveristy metric it will be used by citrus suppliers to Tesco, to report their biodiversity management. This step is being overseen by AM Fresh Ltd. |
| URL | http://www.coolfarmtool.org/biodiversity |
| Description | "The 'greening' of Europe's farms has been a failure" - article in The Conversation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | An article commissioned by 'The Conversation', written jointly with Tim Benton. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://theconversation.com/the-greening-of-europes-farms-has-been-a-failure-27762 |
| Description | Agri-Tech East Pollinators Event |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | I presented work on the flower-rich habitat requirements of dominant crop pollinators at an Agri-Tech East event on pollinators: http://www.agritech-east.co.uk/how-to-boost-pollination/. At this event, a film was made for Cambridge TV: http://www.cambridge-tv.co.uk/pollinator-pollinator/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.agritech-east.co.uk/how-to-boost-pollination/ |
| Description | Agritech East seminar, Cereals 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | There was an interesting discussion about the use of decision support systems in agriculture, and what is meant by sustainable intensification. Made contact with a number of potential collaborators for the future. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.agritech-east.co.uk/sustainable-intensification-2/ |
| Description | Cool Farm Alliance Open Meeting 2016 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | The Cool Farm Biodiveristy module (see software outputs) was launched at this open meeting organised by the Cool Farm Alliance, held in New College, Oxford on 18 March 2016. The meeting was attended by a wide network of small, medium and large agri-food businesses, both members and non-members of the Cool Farm Alliance. The intended purpose was to interest companies in using the new Biodiversity Tool. Interest was strong and feedback was overwhelmingly positive. We expect the Cool Farm Biodiversity Tool to be tested by several large companies and NGOs as soon as it becomes available online. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Defra Arable Sector workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of our work on what makes an effective decision support system in farming sparked discussion. I met a number of useful contacts working in agronomy or decision support. Possible source of commercial contacts for a sample of farm advisers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Growing ecosystem services around farming |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | My talk sparked questions and discussion, including a discussion with farmers about the difficulties of managing hedges for pollinators. I began a conservation with a commercial consultant about developing a decision support system based on resources for pollinators. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://www.innovationfarm.co.uk/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1470 |
| Description | InterGovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Thematic Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The report is still being prepared. No impacts generated yet. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.ipbes.net/work-programme/objective-3/45-work-programme/458-deliverable-3a.html |
| Description | LWEC Policy and Practice Note no. 9: What is causing the decline in pollinating insects? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Policy and Practice Note has been distributed to over 600 policy makers and practitioners, included in at least three electronic newsletters and published on two websites. Waitrose offered to put it on their Sustainable Agricultural Portal, although it is not there yet. I am not aware of any specific impacts yet. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.lwec.org.uk/publications/what-causing-decline-pollinating-insects |
| Description | LWEC Policy and Practice Note number 27: Managing farmed landscapes for pollinators. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Part of a series of policy briefs produced by the Living With Environmental Change programme. Co-authors: Claire Carvell, Matt Heard, Adam Vanbergen, Andrew Bourke, Lynn Dicks |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/partnerships/lwec/products/ppn/ppn27/ |
| Description | LWEC Policy and Practice note no. 28: Spatial targeting brings new opportunities for agri-environment schemes. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Produced and disseminated by the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) Programme. Co-authors: Chloe Hardmann, Simon Potts, Lynn Dicks and Nicola Randall. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/partnerships/lwec/products/ppn/ppn28/ |
| Description | Making a Difference in Conservation: BES/CCI Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This symposium brought together 250 delegates to tackle the challenges of improving the processes and techniques through which ecology and conservation science interacts with policy and practice. Lynn Dicks was an invited speaker. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/blog/2016/04/21/making-a-difference-in-conservation-the-besc... |
| Description | Measuring Farmland Ecosystem Services workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | This workshop aimed to identify the elements of biodiversity that represent measurable natural capital stocks, from which important ecosystem services generate value for commercial farmers. It used a rigorous process for gathering expert judgement, with input from all the conference delegates before and during the workshop. The outcome was a ranked list of measurable biodiversity stocks for each class of regulating and cultural service. These will form the basis of ongoing research. One possible future collaboration arose from this workshop, although it has not gone beyond discussion at this stage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://futureagriculture.wordpress.com/workshops/measuring-biodiversity/ |
| Description | NERC BESS Science in Practice workshop (London) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | BESS is a 6-year, £15M research programme (2012-2017) comprising >150 researchers across the UK working on the linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem services, and how these linkages might change under uncertain futures. This meeting at the Royal Society is an opportunity for stakeholders and practitioners to: hear the latest evidence and progress on tool development give feedback and suggestions on how to take our findings forward for practical application |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.nerc-bess.net/index.php/news-and-events/277-event-bess-science-into-practice-royal-societ... |
| Description | Pollinator Conservation Blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The grant holder, Lynn Dicks, has started a regular blog on the Valuing Nature Network website (http://www.valuing-nature.net/blogs/lynn-dicks). She posts articles about current issues in pollinator conservation. Individual blog posts have so far been read by between 1000 and almost 7000 people. The blog has been directly quoted in the Farmer's Guardian (http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/arable/battle-over-neonicotinoids-intensifies-in-wake-of-defra-research/54544.article). Links to it have been posted on other websites including the Insect Pollinators Initiative website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013,2014 |
| URL | http://www.valuing-nature.net/blogs/lynn-dicks |
| Description | Pollinators in Agriculture conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | paper presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | I talked about the evidence needed to develop a package of agri-environment measures for pollinators, based on resource needs. There was some discussion afterwards. Being at the conference was useful, for meeting and networking with a wide range of European pollinator and pollination scientists. Many are also involved in the SuperB COST Action network. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.aab.org.uk/contentok.php?id=166&basket=wwsshowconfdets |
| Description | Press interviews about pollinator decline |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interview about farming and pollinators, broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Farming Today, 5:45 am Tuesday 29 November 2016, 6th October 2017 The Guardian newspaper (National), interview about insect biomass decline, 18 October 2017; Interview for BBC World Service Business Daily, 16 August 2017 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cstwvz) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |
| URL | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-... |
| Description | Radio 4 interview, World at One |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following our Science publication about the biodiversity effects of EU agricultural policy reform, I debated the benefits of the new compulsory greening measures with the UK Agriculture Minister, George Eustice, live on the World at One. Following this I wrote a blog post about whether flowering pea and bean crops benefit bees. This post has been read almost 4,000 times. No clear impacts. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Soil Association scientific briefing on impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A scientific briefing event held in Westminster, London on 28 April 2016, organised by the Soil Association. Speakers were Professor Dave Goulson (Unviersity of Sussex), Dr Lynn Dicks (Cambridge Unviersity) and Dr Penelope Whitehorn (Stirling Unviersity). Peter Campbell from Syngenta responded to the presentations from the three scientists. Attended by a wide range of business, government and media representatives and reported in the online press (for example in Horticulture Week: http://www.hortweek.com/soil-association-scientific-briefing-reveals-new-data-impact-neonicotinoids-pollinators/plant-health/article/1393139#disqus_thread) Lynn Dicks presented the findings of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services pollinators report. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.soilassociation.org/resource-centre/press-releases/soil-association-scientific-briefing-... |
| Description | Visit to European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Lynn Dicks was invited to visit JRC as an expert, to present work on the Cool Farm Biodiversity tool, and evidence-based assessments of the Common Agricultural Policy. She received a series of briefings from JRC staff, mostly in the Monitoring Agricultural Resources team over two days, and discussed future collaborations under Horizon 2020 calls. She was then invited to present as part of a training workshop on farm scale tools for staff at DG Agriculture (Brussels). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Workshop 'Best practices addressing environmental needs' (DG Agri, Brussels) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A two day workshop entitled 'Best practices addressing environmental needs', organised and funded by the European COmmission's Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, held in Brussels 23-24 March 2017. I was an invited speaker, asked to present my ideas for effective agri-environment options that could be used in the Common Agricultural Policy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |