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Environmental management and technologies – Call for Papers
The challenge of creating and maintaining a sustainable environment is probably one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Finite energy supplies, environmental pollution, increasing energy consumption, inappropriate production methods, water scarcities, soil degradation, declining land productivity and dwindling resources are resulting in major environmental crises in many parts of the world. These globally critical challenges have made the sensible management of the world's dwindling resources an issue of utmost importance. This ICEMT Conference, which will take place from 1st to 3rd November 2010, will bring together an international and interdisciplinary audience to address many of the issues connected with environmental management, zero emissions, pollution, waste management, and sustainable development. Of particular interest for the conference is environmental management in the Arab world. The conference welcomes papers that discuss the latest developments in environmental management research and application. Papers are invited from participants from different backgrounds, disciplines and countries, and papers may reflect on a wide spectrum of issues and explore a diversity of solutions. The conference has four theme tracks: waste management; natural resources management; environmental policy, auditing and risk assessment; and environmental pollution and control. Abstracts are invited of up to 500 words. More…
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Research
EcoCluP – Eco innovative cluster partnership for growth and internationalisation
UK CEED has won a bid to manage a European Union (EU) funded project entitled the ‘Eco innovative cluster partnership for growth and internationalisation’ (EcoCluP). EcoCluP is the first pan-European partnership of cluster organisations focusing on eco-innovative industries encompassing waste, water, remediation, pollution control, environmental services, energy, sustainable transport and construction. Globally this sector is estimated to be worth £3,046bn with Europe’s share at 27% in 2009. EcoCluP aims to provide cluster support tools and services to create better opportunities for the cluster companies to grow and internationalise and take full advantage of the global opportunity. The project aspires to be hands-on and very practical thus creating real business impact. It will reach out to over 3,500 cluster companies (mostly SMEs) and 430 research institutions of the participating clusters through training courses, match-making events, the use of self-assessment tools, voucher schemes and tailor-made innovation advice. Cluster managers will be trained and will have the opportunity to share experience through cluster manager days and cluster study visits. More…
ClimSave – Climate change integrated assessment methodology for cross-sectoral adaptation and vulnerability in Europe
A new project, CLIMSAVE, will develop and apply an integrated methodology for stakeholder-led, climate change impact and vulnerability assessment that explicitly evaluates regional and continental scale adaptation options, and cross-sectoral interactions between the key sectors driving landscape change in Europe (agriculture, forests, biodiversity, coasts/floodplains, water resources, urban development and transport). A range of sectoral meta-models will be linked within a common assessment platform that is user-friendly, interactive and web-based to allow the rapid reproduction of climate change impacts by stakeholders themselves. Indicator metrics, which translate the outputs from the integrated models into ecosystem services outcomes, will create a standardised approach across sectors ensuring comparability in quantifying impacts and vulnerability. The integrated assessment platform will use these metrics to identify hotspots of climate change vulnerability and provide the ability to assess adaptation strategies for reducing these vulnerabilities, in terms of their cost-effectiveness and cross-sectoral benefits and conflicts. Methods for reducing uncertainties and increasing the transparency of model and scenario assumptions will be implemented to inform the development of robust policy responses. More…
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Events
Conference – ‘UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference’
7th – 9th April 2010: Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford.
This three-day conference seeks to explore the challenging and changing context of contemporary planning through a stimulating programme in modern and lively surroundings. Thematic tracks include: cities and international development; governance, policy and planning; equality, inclusion and environmental justice; urban and rural regeneration; urban design, heritage and conservation; climate change, sustainability and ecology; mobility, transport and accessibility; planning education, professional development and practice. Special sessions have been organised by: Planners’ Network UK (the challenges of academic engagement with the politics of planning); Prof. Janice Morphet, UCL (spatial planning and delivery); Geraint Ellis, Queen’s University Belfast (the future of the planning academy); and Andrea Frank, Cardiff University, and Richard Kingston, University of Manchester (spatial skills and GIS in planning education). Online bookings will be accepted until Monday 29th March 2010, subject to availability. More…
Informal Meeting – ‘Selling to the bottom of the pyramid: Lessons from marketing compost in developing countries’
25th March 2010: The Carpenters Arms, Marylebone, London.
The HEDON Household Energy Network (www.hedon.info) holds a monthly informal meeting in London, UK, where practitioners, policy-makers, funders, and business-owners actively pursuing a cleaner, affordable and more efficient household energy sector unite to share their experiences, learn from one another, and create new knowledge. This meeting reflects the increasing recognition of commercial approaches as a way of achieving greater scale diffusion of products for the implementation of development projects. Jonathan Rouse of Household Energy and Development Counsulting will be presenting some of the key marketing principles (such as market analysis, product pricing, market positioning and promotion) from the publication "Marketing Compost", of which he is the principal author, and discussing how these may be applied for the development of viable projects and businesses based on valued products. This seeks to be a stimulating, highly participatory discussion on the benefits, methods and difficulties of applying commercial marketing techniques to the dissemination of stoves and other household energy technologies. More…
Conference – ‘Sustainability: Where are we going?’
24th March 2010: Human Impact Building, The Living Rainforest.
This one-day conference is targeted at directors and senior managers of sustainability and environment-related public engagement organisations in the UK and further afield. These include science and discovery centres, zoos, aquariums, botanic gardens and museums which together engage over 45 million visitors each year in the UK alone. The day will allow participants to take a wider strategic view of climate change, environment and sustainability issues, and question how their organisational vision and operations fit with these priorities. With contributions from leading thinkers and champions in the field, this event looks aims to help give valuable food for thought to all who attend. The conference includes contributions and/or presentations from Shadow Chancellor Vince Cable MP, Zero Carbon Britain / Centre for Alternative Technology, International Institute for Environment and Development, Global Footprint Network, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, BIAZA and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. There will also be an interactive debate on ‘Carbon Offsets – Green promise or Green wash?’ in collaboration with the new economics foundation (nef). More…
Seminar – ‘Sustainable Building Materials – Health, carbon, life’
20th April 2010: Great Bow Wharf, Langport.
What makes building materials sustainable? How can they enable sustainable design? What qualities do they have to help protect and enhance historic buildings? This seminar aims to increase the understanding of sustainable building materials with function, cost and sustainability in mind. The necessity to consider sustainable materials is driven by a variety of factors including the need to gain additional credits as part of a Code for Sustainable Homes or Building research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) assessment. Increasingly, some designers are seeking to use more sustainable materials to reduce end of life disposal problems. Some clients just want to build with natural materials to disengage from the high energy and highly polluting industrial production of mainstream products. Whatever the driver, it is predicted that more sustainable materials will be in demand in the future. This seminar will provide the opportunity to learn more from the leading researchers and practitioners involved in the development and application of sustainable building materials. The seminar will be chaired by Stuart Black, Chairman of Ecos Trust. More…
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Online
Life²
Life² was launched in June 2009 as a pioneering new organisation that seeks to help people to ‘live well’ – to live happy, wise and meaningful lives within the complexity and pressure of the modern world. More specifically, Life² aims to: keep people better informed about key ideas and aspects of the world around them, so that they can make better decisions in life and live with greater wisdom; provide people with ideas, skills and guidance to help them live lives that are more values-driven, featuring more compassion, empathy and sustainability (amongst other qualities); provide people with ideas, skills and guidance to help them live happier and more meaningful lives – including helping them to identify the lives they really want, learn the ‘art of living’ and have a greater appreciation and enjoyment of the experience of life. Their new website (www.lifesquared.org.uk) provides more information about the various outputs they produce, including publications, courses and a knowledge base. Visit the site…
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New Publications
SDC Publication – ‘Sustainable development: The key to tackling health inequalities’
The Sustainable Development Commission’s (SDC) contribution to ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives (2010) The Marmot Review’ finds measures such as active travel, promoting green spaces and healthy eating will yield co-benefits for both health and carbon emissions and warns opportunities for healthy, low-carbon living should be distributed in ways that favour people with low incomes and so help to reduce their vulnerability to ill-health. The SDC’s report calls upon policy-makers and practitioners in central and local government – whether or not they have ‘health’ or ‘sustainable development’ in their job title – to start thinking about how their work can reduce health inequalities and promote sustainable development. More…
WAG Report – ‘Land Use Climate Change Report’
The Land Use Climate Change Group was set up in January 2009 by the Welsh Minister for Rural Affairs. It is an independent group chaired by Professor Gareth Wyn Jones formerly of Bangor University, with representatives from farming, forestry, research and environmental sectors. The Group was asked to consider how agriculture and rural land use can reduce climate change and adapt to it. It was also was asked to look at the opportunities for farming and forestry businesses. This report presents the Group’s findings, and recommends a set of initiatives by which Wales can maintain its food production potential while at the same time cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. Key elements suggested for reducing emissions are: the introduction of anaerobic digestion to reduce methane emissions; improving farm productivity, including more efficient use of manure, fertilisers and energy; expansion of woodlands; and, the development of renewable energy sources. The report’s emphasis is on maintaining intensive dairy, sheep and beef sectors while diversifying and increasing vegetable crops. In the longer term, the report recommends development of a more radical approach where much of the cattle herd is housed and methane emissions are captured. It is suggested that by 2040, agriculture and land use sectors could make substantial progress to carbon neutrality. More…
FSA Report – ‘Food technologies: findings from the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey’
The Food Standards Agency has published new research looking at people’s attitudes to emerging food technologies, including genetically modified (GM) food, high pressure treatment, gas filled packaging and hypothetical foods that have health benefits. The research found that people’s knowledge of, and attitudes to, food technologies vary considerably. Certain characteristics were found to be in common with people who are more concerned about food technologies, including being older, female, having a low income or generally having a high level of concern about food safety. The more familiar people are with the names of food technologies the less concerned they are about them. For example, 31% of people were concerned about eating food cooked in a microwave, whereas 57% were concerned about eating food from a magnetron (another name for a microwave). Compared with 1999, when the same questions were asked, fewer people now said they have a strong attitude to GM food, and there has been a gradual increase in public support for GM food (from 10% in 1999 to 19% in 2008). These findings come from FSA-funded questions in the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey. The survey is designed to chart continuity and change in British social, economic, political and moral values and provides important data for many government departments. More…
EEA Report – ‘Distribution and targeting of the CAP budget from a biodiversity perspective’
In this report by the European Environment Agency, the EU highlights the importance of using the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to prevent the abandonment of high nature value farmland and its intensification as a key action to halt biodiversity decline. The report aims to assess whether the current distribution of CAP funds is likely to favour the maintenance of farmland with high nature value (HNV), and to explore the extent to which CAP funds are likely to support the long-term economic and ecological sustainability of these HNV farming systems. More…
ENPAA Statement – ‘English National Parks Authorities Association statement on climate change’
The ENPAA climate change statement was launched by Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment, at the National Parks All Party Parliamentary Group reception held on Wednesday 9th December. The statement celebrates the wide range of climate change related work that is already happening in National Parks and sets out the English National Park Authorities’ vision for future action. Key aims include: conserving and, where needed, restoring peatlands and woodlands to lock up these large carbon stores; developing low carbon rural communities, where renewable energy generation appropriate for protected landscapes is the norm; leading on adapting to climate change at a landscape scale; and communicating the issues about, and solutions to, climate change to National Park residents and visitors. More…
EEA Report – ‘10 Messages for 2010: Freshwater Ecosystems’
The third of the EEA’s 10 messages for 2010 focuses on freshwater ecosystems. The aim of this initiative is to highlight one theme per month until the tenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October. Freshwater ecosystems in Europe are rich in biodiversity but at risk. They provide essential ecosystem services to humans, such as cleaning water, preventing floods, producing food, providing energy and regulating freshwater resources. More…
EEA Report – ‘10 Messages for 2010: Marine Ecosystems’
The fourth of the EEA’s 10 messages for 2010 focuses on marine ecosystems. Marine ecosystems provide key services both globally and locally, which are essential for maintaining life on our planet. However, marine biodiversity faces an unprecedented range of pressures, including eutrophication, pollution, climate change and invasive alien species. European marine biodiversity is primarily protected by establishing Natura 2000 sites under the Habitats and Birds Directives but there are serious delays in identifying areas and even longer delays in assessing their status. Evidence suggests that marine protected areas support marine biodiversity and fisheries, and that the extent of recovery increases with the age and size of the protected area. More…
Relu Policy and Practice Note – ‘Integrated management of flood plains’
Research carried out as part of the UK Research Councils’ Rural Economy and Land Use Programme has looked at the effects of the severe summer 2007 floods. Around 42,000 hectares of agricultural land was flooded, at a cost of £50 million. Over 80% of that was caused by crop losses or additional expenditure on items such as animal feed, while the remainder involved damage to property and machinery and the costs of cleaning up after the waters receded. Most agricultural losses were not insured and on average, compensation payments only covered 5% of the costs of damage. Government strategy is increasingly looking at ways of using floodplains and agricultural land to manage water and protect densely populated areas. This means that we are making more demands on land and requiring it to perform multiple functions, including food production, supporting biodiversity and ensuring the quality of our water supply, as well as floodwater storage. The Relu team working on this project, based at Cranfield University and the Open University, has been investigating these competing demands on rural floodplains and what they might mean for land managers, communities and policymakers. They conclude that there is a need for an integrated approach to policy that takes into account all the ecosystem services provided by the floodplain, and the inevitable trade-offs that must be made. This policy and practice note highlights that countryside land management could play an increasingly important role in flood planning in the future. They argue for the need to acknowledge the price rural communities may be paying to protect our towns and cities, and to consider the whole portfolio of services that floodplains provide. More…
nef Report – ‘Good Foundations’
This report by the new economics foundation (nef) offers new insights into the connection between people’s well-being – how people experience their lives – and the built environment which surrounds them. It considers how better account could be given to these linkages through policy development and professional practice. More particularly, it explores why a focus on what ought to be shared outcomes – creating places and spaces where people can enjoy a good life now and in the future – is often abandoned in the face of pursuing short-term financial returns on investment. The report is targeted at those involved in the day-to-day creation of urban neighbourhoods and places – master planners, designers, developers, architects, engineers – as well as at local authorities and their partners who play a strategic leadership role with regard to setting the vision and frameworks which guide local action. nef’s approach has been to use research findings exploring the links between the built environment, regeneration and renewal activity, and people’s well-being, to inform practical suggestions for approaching development projects in a different way. The aim has not been to provide definitive solutions, but to stimulate new thinking and open up debate. More…
WEN Report – ‘Gender and the climate change agenda’
This new report by the Women’s Environment Network examines the gendered impacts of climate change on women in the UK and internationally and why it is crucial to involve women in climate change solutions and policies. The report includes research and interviews from COP15 at Copenhagen and global case studies. The key messages include: globally, women are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to different and unequal social roles and status; women contribute less to climate change, are impacted more by it, and have less say in decisions about the problem; WEN is campaigning for gender and climate justice and believe that women need to be involved equally at all levels in order to achieve climate justice. The report calls for action on three fronts: gender-sensitive strategies to mitigate climate change; addressing gender inequality; and, gender-sensitive strategies for adapting to climate change. More…
Ofgem Report – ‘Project Discovery’
Ofgem has recently published its Project Discovery conclusions after extensive consultation and analysis. They confirm the need to act to deliver both security of energy supply and environmental objectives at affordable prices beyond the middle of this decade. Prompt action will ensure that consumers do not pay more than is necessary and also allows time for a wider range of reforms to be considered. Ofgem has put forward a wide range of options for further consultation, including improved market signals, obligations on suppliers and capacity tenders to give greater confidence to help meet our carbon targets. Other options also include more structural reform ranging from a centralised renewables market through to a central buyer of energy. The need for reform is emphasised as a result of a combination of factors including: the global financial crisis, significant world-wide demand for investment in energy, tough EU emissions targets, the closure of ageing power stations and an increasing dependency on gas imports. The outcome of Copenhagen, in terms of lower carbon prices, reinforces the climate of significant uncertainty just when an unprecedented level of investment is required. More…
New Report – ‘Engineering a low carbon built environment’
A recent report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering argues that the UK will not be able to achieve its target of reducing carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 unless it urgently addresses carbon emissions from the built environment. Buildings currently account for 45 per cent of our carbon emissions but it is estimated that 80 per cent of the buildings we will be occupying in 2050 have already been built. Many 20th century buildings are totally dependent on fossil fuel energy to make them habitable - in the 21st century buildings must be designed to function with much lower levels of energy dependency. The scale of this challenge is vast and will require both effective Government policy and a dramatic increase in skills and awareness in the construction sector. The report introduces a new discipline - Building Engineering Physics - which supports the existing professions of architecture, structural engineering and building services engineering. Building Engineering Physics investigates the areas of natural science that relate to the energy performance of buildings and their indoor and outdoor environments. The understanding and application of Building Engineering Physics allows us to design and construct high performance buildings which are comfortable and functional, yet use natural resources efficiently and minimise the environmental impacts of their construction and operation. More…
CSE Report – ‘Our Big Energy Challenge: a final reckoning?’
‘Do the monitoring and the energy saving technology, and engage the people in energy saving. But don’t forget to change the institutions’. This is one of the key lessons learned from a review recently published by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) of ‘Our Big Energy Challenge’, a major public-sector energy saving project. This was a three-year initiative that aimed to slash the gas, electricity and oil bills of public-sector bodies in and around the city of Bath. It began in April 2006 and had a total budget of £1.7m, half of which came from HM Treasury’s ‘Invest to Save’ programme. The project combined technical improvements to energy metering and monitoring, investment in energy saving measures, and a programme of staff engagement through volunteer workplace ‘Energy Champions’ who helped to identify opportunities for action and stimulate energy saving behaviour. The 12-page review lists the technical measures that the project funded or part funded such as lighting refurbishment at Keynsham police station and a portable power monitoring kit for the council. It also describes the innovative role played by Energy Champions, and explains how the target of a 10% cut in energy use was met (resulting in an estimated fuel bill saving of £700,000 per year). The review concludes by detailing the lessons learned during the course of the project. More…
CPRE Report – ‘Green Belts: A greener future’
A new report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) examines to what extent Green Belts are both fulfilling their purposes and positive land use objectives. CPRE has produced a summary document of the key findings, asking how this vast national asset might better connect urban centres to the wider countryside and to food production; how it can help us to tackle the huge challenges posed by a changing climate; and how it can be valued as part of a nationwide ecological network providing breathing places for people and for nature long into the future. More…
WWF/Co-op Report – ‘Opportunity Cost of the Tar Sands’
WWF-UK and The Co-operative have launched a report illustrating how the significant resources currently being poured into environmentally damaging tar sands by the big oil companies (estimated £254 billion) could instead be used to create green energy or to help meet global development goals. It explains how this money could instead be used to kick-start ambitious green energy plans in Europe, or to enable the world to hit half the UN’s Millennium Development Goals in the 49 least-developed countries, which would mean averting four million child deaths annually. It is argued that the money that oil companies want to pump into tar sands would cover the cost of the proposed Desertec Industrial Initiative, linking North African solar plants into a supergrid supplying 15% of Europe’s electricity by 2050, or that it could fund a Europe-wide shift to electric vehicles. WWF’s head of campaigns, Colin Butfield, says: ‘This report has thrown up some quite staggering statistics in terms of how this money could be spent trying to save the planet rather than destroying it. If Canada extracts its probable reserves of oil from tar sands, this will almost single-handedly commit the world to dangerous levels of CO2 in the atmosphere – contributing to dangerous climate change, destroying ecosystems and habitats around the world’. More…
ippr Report – ‘The Long Cold Winter: Beating fuel poverty’
More and more people are being plunged into fuel poverty as energy prices rise and government programmes to tackle this major social problem fail to keep up with the scale of the challenge. This report, by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr), reviews the current policy landscape on fuel poverty and asks where policy should go next, if fuel poverty is to be addressed effectively in the UK. The current fuel poverty strategy was devised at a time when energy prices were falling but the context has now changed significantly – energy prices are projected to rise and new technological developments could offer fresh options for tackling fuel poverty. This report therefore makes a number of recommendations for a radical rethink of the fuel poverty strategy. More…
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Jobs and Training
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