Working together to add value: Enhancing landscapes for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Sch of Agriculture Policy and Dev
Abstract
Managing landscapes for biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services is a current priority for researchers, policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders. Several initiatives exist that encourage cooperative management at the landscape level such as "Catchment sensitive farming" and the Countryside Stewardship's "Facilitation funds" that focus on biodiversity conservation as well as enhancing soil and water quality and flood mitigation. There are multiple 'clusters' of farmers, land managers, and conservation organisations, that fall under these initiatives whereby several stakeholders come together to cooperatively manage land parcels at landscape scales to deliver enhanced benefits. There also exist communities such as the "Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF)" and the "Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG)" that share information and enhance good practice amongst multiple stakeholder communities, all of which are critically important if the aspirations of the 25 year environment plan are to be met.
There are benefits to a cooperative management approach for different sectors including, farming (food production, pollination, soil), conservation NGOs (wildlife), utility companies (water quality), general public (public goods) and policy makers (effective use of public money, environmental protection and food security). There are however, inevitable trade-offs and also possible multiple solutions depending on the priorities of the stakeholders. There is therefore need for transparent, evidence-led processes to help optimise land use choices to best meet the needs of the different communities involved.
Scientific research can provide independent transparent information forming a linchpin in the sphere of available evidence. While single research projects focused on particular aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services are important in exploring specific hypotheses, these are rarely useful in isolation. Particularly useful for policy makers, practitioner communities and advisory groups is pertinent information from multiple research projects that can be collated, consolidated and delivered in a relevant and easily accessible manner. Most research projects focus on finding the solution to pertinent issues but there is still a need to collate and translate these findings into accessible formats which is where a knowledge exchange fellowship can build capacity and add immense value. This fellowship aims to bring together information from several NERC funded projects across the University of Reading that assess landscape level interventions and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services to aid cooperative management decisions at the landscape scale.
The fellowship will create a knowledge hub comprising of stakeholders from different communities coming together to (a) gain information from existing projects, (b) inform researchers of evidence needs and (c) share real-world experience and good practices. Representatives from the policy sector, conservation NGOs, independent land advisers, land managers and owners as well as researchers will share information via this knowledge hub which will also enable transfer of knowledge to wider networks that the stakeholders are part of. Through a serious of workshops and consultations, methods and tools will be developed to enable multi-actor multiple scenario decision making to find management options that are relevant and pertinent to specific contexts. The scenarios will include both environment (future climate and land -use) as well as future policy (post-Brexit) options that the stakeholder will help formulate to best suit their needs. The outputs from research projects translated into accessible formats, as well as the decision making tools and information podcasts will be hosted on a website set up as part of the Fellowship and will be available beyond the tenure of the project.
There are benefits to a cooperative management approach for different sectors including, farming (food production, pollination, soil), conservation NGOs (wildlife), utility companies (water quality), general public (public goods) and policy makers (effective use of public money, environmental protection and food security). There are however, inevitable trade-offs and also possible multiple solutions depending on the priorities of the stakeholders. There is therefore need for transparent, evidence-led processes to help optimise land use choices to best meet the needs of the different communities involved.
Scientific research can provide independent transparent information forming a linchpin in the sphere of available evidence. While single research projects focused on particular aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services are important in exploring specific hypotheses, these are rarely useful in isolation. Particularly useful for policy makers, practitioner communities and advisory groups is pertinent information from multiple research projects that can be collated, consolidated and delivered in a relevant and easily accessible manner. Most research projects focus on finding the solution to pertinent issues but there is still a need to collate and translate these findings into accessible formats which is where a knowledge exchange fellowship can build capacity and add immense value. This fellowship aims to bring together information from several NERC funded projects across the University of Reading that assess landscape level interventions and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services to aid cooperative management decisions at the landscape scale.
The fellowship will create a knowledge hub comprising of stakeholders from different communities coming together to (a) gain information from existing projects, (b) inform researchers of evidence needs and (c) share real-world experience and good practices. Representatives from the policy sector, conservation NGOs, independent land advisers, land managers and owners as well as researchers will share information via this knowledge hub which will also enable transfer of knowledge to wider networks that the stakeholders are part of. Through a serious of workshops and consultations, methods and tools will be developed to enable multi-actor multiple scenario decision making to find management options that are relevant and pertinent to specific contexts. The scenarios will include both environment (future climate and land -use) as well as future policy (post-Brexit) options that the stakeholder will help formulate to best suit their needs. The outputs from research projects translated into accessible formats, as well as the decision making tools and information podcasts will be hosted on a website set up as part of the Fellowship and will be available beyond the tenure of the project.
Organisations
Publications
Dicks LV
(2021)
A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Dicks LV
(2021)
Author Correction: A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline.
in Nature ecology & evolution
Faichnie R
(2021)
The Future of Agricultural Landscapes, Part II
Gardner E
(2021)
Field boundary features can stabilise bee populations and the pollination of mass-flowering crops in rotational systems
in Journal of Applied Ecology
Jowett K
(2019)
Species matter when considering landscape effects on carabid distributions
in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
Senapathi D
(2021)
Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities.
in Proceedings. Biological sciences
Willcox B
(2024)
The benefits of floral border crops in smallholder rice production depends on agronomic inputs and landscape context
in Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Title | Boosting biodiversity, ecosystem services & livelihoods through floral interventions |
Description | A mini documentary exploring the success of ecological interventions including interviews with small farmers sharing their experineces in their own words. A video that is led by and focussed on the practitioner community |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | As this was only produced and released in November 2023, it is too early to be able to quantify impact. It has however had 420 veiws over 4 months on YouTube |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtCtwyFX8DM |
Title | Working with farmers for sustainable land management |
Description | A short film to highlight key lessons learned through the project aimed at informing policy makers about the benefits of co-design and contect specific solutions in smallholder farming systems |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2023 |
Impact | Released in Nov 2023, it is too early to be able to quantify impact. The film has recived 123 views in 4 months on YouTube |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0gVb8RgQCM |
Description | The Knowledge Exchange Fellowships has paved the way for additional collaborations and partnerships with research, industry, policy and practitioner communities and enabled projects translating findings from UK funded projects into an overseas developmental context |
Exploitation Route | The key outcomes of this award are the partnerships and collaborations that have been formed and strengthened. This will lead to more opprtunities in the future to further research but also translate research into policy and practice through the various networks that have formed. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
Description | The synthesis of findings from this Fellowships have been used to engage with policy and practitioners communities in the UK, across Europe and in smallholder farming systems in India to enable them to co-design and implement context specific solutions that work to enhance landscape management for biodiversity and eosystem services particularly pollination and pest regulation. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink,Environment |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Defra - Pollinator Advisory Steering Group |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/7662... |
Description | National pollinator strategy evidence update 2019 |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | MAMBO: Modern Approaches to the Monitoring of BiOdiversity |
Amount | € 5,000,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 08/2022 |
End | 08/2026 |
Description | Safeguarding European Wild Pollinators (Safeguard) |
Amount | € 5,000,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Commission H2020 |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 08/2021 |
End | 08/2025 |
Description | TROPICAL - Translating Research Opportunities to enhance Pollination benefits to economically Important Crops And improve Livelihoods |
Amount | £243,537 (GBP) |
Funding ID | BB/T012323/1 |
Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 04/2022 |
Description | Balancing conservation priorities with food security needs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk delivered as part of the online ecology seminar series organised by the Functional Agrobiodiversity, University of Göttingen, Germany in July 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Biodiversity 2020 evaluation workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Invited member of an expert panel to help evaluate UK government biodiversity 2020 strategy. This work contributed to the biodiversity 2020 strategy evaluation report due in 2020 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Creating space for engagement alongside research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Invited speaker discussing "Creating space for engagement alongside research" at University of Reading REF Showcase event in July 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | ECCB 2022 conference presentation - Translating agro-ecological approaches from one region to another : The importance of context-based solutions and multi-sector knowledge exchange. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Presentation at ECCB conference in August 2022 at Prague, Czechia titled "Translating agro-ecological approaches from one region to another The importance of context-based solutions and multi-sector knowledge exchange." |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.eccb2022.eu/en/scientific-programme-2 |
Description | EU Consultation workshop on "Pollinator Conservation under Climate Change: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Actions" |
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 | Invited expert participant to EU Consultation workshop on "Pollinator Conservation under Climate Change: Challenges, Solutions, and Policy Actions". The workshop aims to examine the latest knowledge and enhance our understanding on climate change related risks for pollinators, gather views and concrete proposals on how to minimise these risks, and try to identify also potential opportunities. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | EU actions for pollinators in agricultural landscapes consultation workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Invited as expert and participated in EU actions for pollinators in agricultural landscapes consultation workshop in Sep 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiTJJ2r_K34&ab_channel=EUPollinatorWeek |
Description | Ecological Monitoring Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Workshop organised by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire wildlife trust bringing together practioners across organisations working on enhancing landscape management and ecological monitoring. Met several contacts through whom a survey for the KE fellowship was distributed in the latter half of 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Farmer workshop to identify best floral interventions for focal crops |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | A workshop for 50 local farmers was organised by the Reddiarchatram Seed Grower's Association and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Kannivadi, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu India on 29th Sep 2020. The PI and PDRA from University of Reading and the Co-Is from MSSRF attended via zoom. The workshp was an opportunity for the researchers to engage with the farmers, set out the project objectives and get farmers' feedback on best practice and ideal floral interventions to be sown alongside the focal crops of Mango and Moringa. The farmers' opinion formed the basis for subsequent fieldwork planning. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust organised Farmer's group meetings |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A small group of innovative farmers exchange best practices on ecological intensification meeting two-three times a year organised by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. his network also enabled dissemination of the survey for the KE fellowship that was run in 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019,2020 |
Description | IUCN workshop on Natura 2000 and pollinators |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited participant and facilitator for breakout groups for the IUCN organised workshop on "Conservation measures that benefit pollinators applied under the Nature Directives in Natura 2000 sites" The workshop report and follow on activities will be available in Spring 2020 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://viapontica.org/en/workshop-on-conservation-measures-that-benefit-pollinators-applied-under-t... |
Description | Interviewed on BBC World service "Unexpected Elements" podcast |
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 | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | BBC World service podcast titled "Unexpected Elements" - an opportunity to discuss climate and land use change impacts on pollinators, phenological mismatches and using ecological interventions to boost biodiversity and ecosystem services in smallholder farming systems. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4wkg |
Description | Invited panel member on careers in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited and participated in online panel on careers in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation for students on NSF funded COMPASS 2 scholarship programme at University of North Carolina, Pembroke, USA. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | LANDWISE - NFM annual meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | >50 people attended this event and the particpants were a mix of researchers, land managers, industry representatives and members of the NGO community including wildlife trust and FWAG. The discussions centred around land management for natural flood mitigation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://landwise-nfm.org/ |
Description | LEAF SURGERY SPECIAL: Sustainable Intensification |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | LEAF organised online event event bringing together some of the key players in the Sustainable Intensification Research Platform (SIP) to reflect on lessons learnt, successes achieved and looking to accelerate the rate of change. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Loddon observatory showcase 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | I was an invited member of the expert panel contributing to the debate entitled "Do we need to change what we eat or how food is produced to save the planet?" The vent showcased the on going research projects at the Loddon Observatory and the audience were a mix of researchers and stakeholder communities that have direct relevance to the KE activities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://loddonobservatory.org/tag/showcase/ |
Description | SBS Lunctime seminar series - Can biodiversity conservation & food security needs be balanced? Lessons from smallholder farming systems |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | University of Reading School of Biological Sciences' lunchtime seminar series titled "Can biodiversity conservation & food security needs be balanced? Lessons from smallholder farming systems" Audience were academic staff and students across different schools and interested members of the general public |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | UNFCCC COP25 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Participated in COP25 as a non-party observer as part of the University of Reading Walker institute delegation. The event took place over two week and had in excess of 30000 attendees. Significant interactions included participation in several side events including tjose organised by UK gov, Met office and Defra |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.walker.ac.uk/about-walker/news-events/reflections-of-a-researcher-at-cop25-deepa-senapath... |
Description | Winchester beekeepers association |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited speaker to the Winchester beekeeper association's apiary meeting. Around 50-60 people attended the event and requests for further information from research projects were made as well as beekeepers volunteering for future projects and surveys. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.winchesterbeekeepers.org.uk/index.php/meetings/calendar |