CEP to provide further support for participatory planning in the Pentlands

Photo credit: 'A sunny day in the Pentland hills' by John Mason on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP awarded contract extension to support participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills Regional Park

In 2016, CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Paula Orr undertook a successful project for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) supporting ecosystems approach based participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills Regional Park. The report from this project will be published shortly. SNH have now awarded CEP a contract extension to develop this work further by translating the strategic Park-wide results and recommendations into more detailed management plans for two of the ecosystem service 'hotspot' areas identified in the 2016 work. As part of this extension work, CEP will design a further participative planning workshop. This will be delivered with key land managers and other stakeholders in February 2017.    

CEP runs training courses for EKN in 2017

CEP TRAINING COURSES FOR ECOSYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE NETWORK IN 2017

Dr Bill Sheate and Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a series of training courses for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN) during 2017, following the success of our one-day training course on Incorporating ecosystem services into environmental assessment run in London and Manchester during 2016.

The Ecosystem Service and Environmental Assessment course will be run again in Scotland and in Birmingham in May and June 2017 respectively.  In addition, a new one-day training course in Participatory Land Use Planning will run back-to-back with that course:-

INCORPORATING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES AND NATURAL CAPITAL INTO ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth, Central Scotland, 10th May 2017. With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
• Austin Court, Central Birmingham B1 2NP, 8th June 2017.

PARTICIPATORY LAND USE PLANNING AND THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH: WHAT, WHEN AND HOW

• Battleby Conference Centre, Perth PH1 3EW, 9th May 2017.  With kind support from Scottish Natural Heritage.
• Austin Court, Central Birmingham B1 2NP, 7th June 2017.

For further information and links for booking see below:

CEP to evaluate Big Lottery Fund's Our Bright Future Programme

Photo credit: 'Blazin Sun' by Stephen Bowler on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP and partners ERS to evaluate Big Lottery Fund's Our Bright Future Programme

CEP, with partners Economic Research Services (ERS), are undertaking the evaluation of the Our Bright Future Programme. The Our Bright Future Programme aims to empower young people to lead progressive change in their communities and local environment, through a portfolio of 31 projects across the UK, each with a duration of three to five years. The Programme is supported by £33 million of funding from the Big Lottery Fund, and is managed by a consortium of eight organisations led by The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts. 

The supported projects range in scale from those with a local focus to national level delivering in multiple areas. All the projects are based around key themes including: environmental action, environmental campaigning, leadership and influencing, and sustainable enterprises and vocational training.

CEP and ERS have been commissioned by the Royal Society of  Wildlife Trusts to undertake the Programme level evaluation. The evaluation aims to:

• Test whether the Our Bright Future Programme has achieved its long term ambitions
• Provide better evidence on how young people can improve their local environment
• Test and evidence whether a partnership way of working that invests in human, social and natural capital, is an effective means by which to deliver greater impact
• Identify good practice and ongoing improvements

Owen White is CEP’s lead for this project.

CEP commissioned to explore the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans

Photo credit: Lakes and woodland in Montenegro (201408_balcani_714) by Franco Pecchio on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP IS PART OF A TEAM DEVELOPING WATER USE SCENARIOS AND ASSESSING THE IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBAL MEGATRENDS FOR THE WESTERN BALKANS REGION

CEP is a part of a team commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to undertake a study: Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends*. The team is led by the European Topic Center on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM), which is managed by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

The project has two main tasks: developing regional water-use scenarios; and identifying and assessing the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans region. CEP is leading the work related to global megatrends, which will involve adapting and implementing a methodology and toolkit previously developed by CEP.

CEP's work will involve: undertaking desk-based research and assessment of how global megatrends might impact on the Western Balkans, focussing in particular on the nexus of water, energy and food; organising and facilitating regional expert workshops to discuss potential impacts and assess risks and opportunities for the environment and environmental policy in the region; and, preparing outputs to be published by the EEA.

Owen White is CEP’s lead for this project.

* For more information on megatrends see here

CEP's Dr Bill Sheate gave a lecture at LSE

Dr Bill Sheate gave a lecture to LSE Master's students on EIA

CEP's Dr Bill Sheate gave a lecture titled Environmental Impact Assessment: EIA and SEA to students of the Executive MSc in Cities programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 15 December 2016.

Environmental Psychology conference presentations available

Photo credit: 'Two trees' by Jan Tik on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Environmental Psychology conference presentations available

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross gave a keynote lecture at the British Environmental Psychology conference hosted by the University of Surrey, Sept 21 – 22nd 2016.  The theme of the conference was Healthy and sustainable places: Providing evidence based solutions to real world problems and it was attended by a mixture of researchers, academics and practitioners from a range of disciplines.  The conference shows that the field of environmental psychology in the UK is vibrant, energetic and has much to offer in relation to current real world issues of sustainability and place-making.

A reflection on the conference, presented by Sara Grenni of SUSPLACE, can be found in her blog post here.

A link to all the presentations can be found here.

CEP running a brainstorming event for the European Commission

Photo credit: 'European Commission' by Sébastien Bertrand on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP to run a brainstorming event on the development of a methodological framework for the identification of emerging environmental risks

As part of our work on the ongoing project to develop a methodological framework for the systematic identification of emerging risks to the environment for DG Environment of the European Commission, CEP together with our consortium partner Milieu Ltd are organising and facilitating a one-day brainstorming event.  The event will take place on Thursday 1st December 2016, in Brussels, and will bring together experts from across the European Commission.

The brainstorming will be a participatory event in which the CEP and Milieu team actively facilitate working sessions with experts, to discuss and explore topics including: the scope and characteristics of a potential European system for the identification of emerging environmental risks; and existing methods that could contribute to a systematic framework for identifying emerging environmental risks.

For more information on this event and the project please contact the CEP project manager Owen White.

CEP at Scottish Government stakeholder meeting

CEP at Scottish Government Ecosystems and Land Use Stakeholders Engagement Group meeting

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips was invited to attend a meeting to discuss the Ecosystems and Land Use related components of the Scottish Government's new Strategic Research Programme (SRP) 2016-2021. The event, that took place on 14 November, was hosted by the Main Research Providers (James Hutton Institute and SRUC) and provided an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss and influence the forthcoming research programme. 

CEP's papers at the FloodRisk 2016 conference published

Photo credit: 'Avon Meadows Community Wetlands' by Geoff Moore UK on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP's papers on community engagement in flooding published

Two papers submitted by CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Paula Orr at the FloodRisk2016 conference are now available online via the following links:

• Citizen involvement in flood risk management: flood groups and networks by Clare Twigger-Ross, Paula Orr, Katya Brooks and Rolands Sadauskis.  The paper discusses the nature and structure of flood groups, the process of their development, and the extent of their linkages with formal institutions, drawing out the barriers and facilitators to developing institutional resilience at the local level.
• 'Pieces of kit' are not enough: the role of infrastructure in community resilience by Paula Orr, Clare Twigger-Ross, Katya Brooks and Rolands Sadauskis. The paper explores the way that ‘infrastructure resilience capacities’ were developed and examines how physical infrastructure contributed to community flood resilience. It finds that the development of infrastructure resilience depends on strong relations between community members (‘community capital’) as well as relationships between community organisations and flood management institutions (‘institutional resilience’). 

Both papers draw on  research carried out by CEP for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to evaluate the Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder (FRCP) scheme in England.

CEP's review of Flood Awareness Wales published

Photo credit: 'Flooded Esplanade' by Ben Salter on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Natural Resources Wales published CEP's review of Flood Awareness Wales

CEP was commissioned by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to carry out a review of the community engagement element of the Flood Awareness Wales (FAW) programme.

The FAW programme was developed by Welsh Government and Environment Agency Wales (now NRW) in 2010 to contribute to the delivery of flood and coastal erosion risk management objectives by raising awareness and increasing the preparedness of communities.

The main aims of the evaluation were to assess the effectiveness of current approaches to community engagement; and to review local, national and international best practice in order to provide evidence and recommendations for future practice to increase community flood resilience in Wales. 

The Executive Summary, presenting the findings of the evidence review, is available on NRW's website. For a full copy of the report please email NRW at: Floodawareness.wales@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

CLIMATE CHANGE INDICATORS CO-DEVELOPED BY CEP PUBLISHED

Climate change adaptation indicators co-developed by CEP have been published by the Scottish government

The Scottish Government has published a set of climate change adaptation indicators designed to monitor how well Scotland is doing against the objectives set by the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme (SCCAP). 

In partnership with the University of Strathclyde, CEP developed indicators for transport infrastructure as part of a wider project for ClimateXChange, which is Scotland's centre of expertise on climate change. The indicators have informed the Adaptation Sub-Committee's independent assessment of the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme published in September 2016.

A separate document with all the indicators including hyperlinks to each indicator card can be found here.

TimberLINK evaluation stakeholder seminar

Photo credit: 'Inveraray' by Julian Berry on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

TimberLINK evaluation stakeholder seminar

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Tom Matthew of Reference Economic Consultants delivered a stakeholder seminar as part of the TimberLINK  environmental and economic evaluation, undertaken for Forestry Commission Scotland.  

The seminar took place on Tuesday 25 October in Inveraray, Scotland, and was attended by a range of forestry and timber transport stakeholders from Argyll, Ayrshire and elsewhere in Scotland. Stakeholder participants were presented with the draft results of the evaluation. There was then an opportunity for discussion and feedback to help validate and refine these results.

The results of this seminar and the overall evaluation will inform considerations about the future operation of the TimberLINK service beyond the current funding period which ends in March 2017.

The future of SA and SEA

Photo credit: London December 1 2014 001 Bloomberg Place by David Hold on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Practitioners respond to the LPEG's report TO PROVE THE VALUE OF SA AND SEA

CEP’s Ric Eales and Bill Sheate have co-authored a paper, prepared by a group of sustainability appraisal (SA) and strategic environmental assessment (SEA) practitioners from eight consultancies (AECOM, Amec Foster Wheeler, CEP, Levett-Therivel, LUC, Ramboll Environ, Steve Lees Planning and TRL) and Oxford Brookes University, in response to the Local Plans Expert Group’s (LPEG) 2016 Report on Local Plans to the Communities Secretary and to the Minister of Housing and Planning.

The paper - ‘Sustainability appraisal: from LPEG’s “little genuine assistance” to making a real sustainable difference’ – challenges the LPEG report’s overall dismissive tone regarding SA/SEA, whilst acknowledging some areas of improvement are needed.  It focusses on developing a ‘next generation’ approach to SA/SEA, within the context of Brexit, which improves plan making and stakeholder engagement and contributes to more sustainable development.

The authors welcome LPEG’s interest in improving the process, but conclude that they believe that SA/SEA is a robust, insightful tool, informative to plan makers and those affected by plans and, if done well, can help plug a key local democratic deficit.

The paper is available here.

Webinar taster for ecosystem services and environmental assessment training

Photo: Bill Sheate - managed realignment, Fingringhoe, Essex.

Incorporating ecosystem services into environmental assessment training course - taster webinar recording NOW available

Ecosystem services are becoming increasingly prominent as a framework for linking the environment and people’s well-being. There is strong interest in what ecosystem services mean for processes such as Environmental Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal. One key difference is the framing of the natural environment as an opportunity or benefit as opposed to a constraint or backdrop to absorb impacts.

This webinar by CEP's Dr Bill Sheate for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network and the Irish Forum on Natural Capital introduces the topic, pointing to some of the resources and examples available. It was recorded on Friday, October 7, 2016 10:00 am and lasts for 30 minutes.

CEP at FloodRISK Conference 2016

Photo credit: Flooded River Severn by muffinn on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP at European Conference on Flood Risk Management

CEP has contributed two papers to FloodRisk 2016, the 3rd European Conference on Flood Risk Management, which will be shown in Lyon on 19 and 20 October.  The papers are co-authored by Clare Twigger-Ross, Paula Orr, Katya Brooks and Rolands Sadauskis and draw on evidence from CEP’s evaluation of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Flood resilience Community Pathfinders (2013-15).

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross’s presentation on ‘Citizen Involvement in Flood Risk Government: Flood groups and networks’ will be shown on Wednesday 19 October, as part of the session on Disaster Management and Recovery.  A presentation by Paula Orr entitled ‘Pieces of kit are not enough: Flood infrastructure and community resilience’ will be shown on Thursday 20 October, in the session on Vulnerability and Societal Resilience.

After the conference, the presentations will be available on CEP’s website.

CEP carrying out a baseline study on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for the British Council

CEP to study the British Council's contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to make recommendations about future programming up to 2030.

The UK Government played an important role, with other actors around the world, in developing and promoting the SDGs and is committed to supporting the achievement of the goals.  The British Council, as the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, has a major part in this effort. CEP has been commissioned to write a baseline study on where and how a selection of the British Council’s programmes and projects are making an active contribution to achieving the SDGs. 

CEP will be undertaking a desk review of twelve programmes and projects, mapping their links to the SDGs and developing three case studies. 

The main objectives of this project are to:

• map a selection of determined SDG targets and indicators against a selection of current or recent British Council programmes;
• identify and reflect upon consistent themes, examples of strengths and good practice in delivery and potential gaps;
• make recommendations for future programming and for incorporating the SDGs into British Council monitoring and evaluation processes.

The project will be delivered between September and November 2016.

CEP’s Paula Orr is managing the project.

Dr Twigger-Ross speaking at the British Environmental Psychology Society conference

Photo credit: "Untitled21" by Jo Munday on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross speaking at the British Environmental Psychology Society conference

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is giving a keynote talk titled "Environmental Psychology in practice: challenges and opportunities" at the British Environmental Psychology Society (BrEPS) annual conference on Friday 23rd September. Clare's talk will be drawing on CEP's recent work on the Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder evaluation and the Health and Social Benefits of Nature.

The conference is titled "Healthy and Sustainable places: providing evidence based solutions to real world problems" and is being held at the University of Surrey Environmental Psychology Research Centre on the 22nd and 23rd September. This year's conference focuses on two key themes:

• Environment, health and well-being: including areas such as environmental stress and restoration, place attachment and aesthetics.
• Sustainability: including areas such as sustainable lifestyles, environmental attitudes and behaviour, and environmental risk.

CEP commissioned to undertake European emerging risks project

Photo credit: 'Jökulsárlón' by Arian Zwegers on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP is to develop a methodological framework for the identification of emerging risks to the environment for the European Commission

CEP is leading a team, including Milieu , that has been commissioned by the European Commission’s DG Environment to develop a methodological framework for the identification of emerging risks to the environment.

The project will support the fifth Priority Objective of the 7th European Environmental Action Programme (EAP) which aims to improve the knowledge and evidence base for Union environment policy, and in particular the goal to ensure by 2020 a ‘greatly improved’ understanding of, and ability to evaluate and manage, emerging environmental and climate risks. This will aid timely and effective policy action at EU level.

CEP will be undertaking research, developing a methodological proposal and facilitating relevant stakeholder participation.

The specific objectives of this project are:

• To provide an overview of state-of-the-art approaches, tools and best practices linked with the identification of emerging risks that could apply in the context of protecting the environment.
• To develop an inclusive and participatory methodological framework for the systematic identification of emerging risks to the environment in the EU.

The project will be delivered between September 2016 and June 2017.

CEP’s Owen White is managing the project.

CEP at annual meeting of the European network for environmental foresight experts

CEP at annual meeting of the European network for environmental foresight experts

CEP’s Owen White has been invited as an external expert to participate in the annual meeting of the EIONET (European Environment Information and Observation Network) forward-looking information and services (FLIS), hosted by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in Copenhagen, Denmark 20-21 September 2016. 

Following on from the FLIS expert workshop Owen presented at in March 2016, Owen will be presenting the methodology CEP has developed related to downscaling the implications of global megatrends at the national or regional scale, and facilitating discussion relating to the piloting of the methodology by six case study EU countries.  The method is intended to enable EU member states or regions to identify and prioritise potential implications of global megatrends, link these with national environmental information and indicators, and help identify emerging environmental policy needs. 

CEP has been contracted to develop this methodology by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) as part of an ongoing project, and under the aegis of the EEA network of environmental foresight experts.  

CECAN official launch event and workshop

Photo credit:'knot' by Lindsey Turner on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CECAN official launch event and 2-day Complexity in Evaluation Workshop

The 'Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus' (CECAN), a £3 million research centre hosted by the University of Surrey, is being officially launched at the CECAN Event: Policy Evaluation for A Complex World, taking place on 13th September in London. A panel discussion will encourage debate on the Nexus policy areas at the heart of the Centre's work, and raise critical questions around complexity, evaluation methodologies, and 'what works in practice'. CEP will attend as part of CECAN's coalition of experts and leading UK bodies who will be developing new ways to measure the effectiveness of domestic policies across the energy, environment, water and food Nexus.

Following the launch event, on the 15th & 16th September, a 2 Day Residential 'Complexity in Evaluation' Workshop will take place in Surrey. The workshop will combine participatory design and collaborative problem solving with information and ideas exchange between CECAN and partners. Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Dr Bill Sheate from CEP will be attending the workshop.

For more information and to sign up to the events please see CECAN's event webpage.