CEP ran workshop on global megatrends and the Western Balkans

Photo credit: 'Ljubljana' by Miran Hojnik on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP delivered workshop in Slovenia exploring the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans

CEP led an expert workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 10/11 April 2017, as part of the project Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends undertaken for the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The workshop brought together 21 regional experts and stakeholders in a scoping exercise intended to identify and prioritise the implications of global megatrends (GMTs) for the Western Balkans region related to the water-food-energy nexus. The implications identified were assessed in terms of the likelihood of their occurrence, the magnitude of their effect and the timescale over which they may occur.

The outputs of this workshop will inform a second regional workshop to be held as part of this project that will focus on the risks and opportunities for the Western Balkans region arising from the GMT implications identified and any existing policy gaps and needs.

CEP is leading the work related to global megatrends, adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

CEP part of a team commissioned to scope and develop Urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK

CEP part of a team commissioned by Defra to scope and develop Urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK

CEP is part of a team (led by eftec) commissioned by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to undertake 'A study to scope and develop urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK'. The project is led by eftec and project partners include the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Countryscape and academic experts.

The aim of the project is scoping and developing natural capital accounts for the urban ‘broad habitat’ across the UK, which incorporates a range of individual habitats and ecosystem services. This study will support Defra and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their ongoing work to develop a full set of natural capital accounts and estimates for the UK, as part of the 2020 Natural Capital Accounting Roadmap.

Dr Peter Phillips is CEP's project manager.

CEP commissioned to evaluate the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills Project

CEP commissioned by Natural ENGLAND to evaluate the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills Project

CEP has been commissioned by Natural England to undertake the evaluation of the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills using National Nature Reserves (NNRs) project funded under the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) Skills for the Future Programme. The evaluation is expected to run until summer 2017.

The aim of the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills project is to evolve work-based training programmes and develop the skills of people entering the nature conservation sector or wanting to enhance specialist skills. It aims to demonstrate how practice-based learning models can provide the priority heritage skills required to care for England’s most valuable wildlife and geological heritage.

The project has been delivering training through placements across Natural England’s National Nature Reserves. Skills developed include habitat and species identification and recording, ecological surveying, habitat management and landscape restoration.

CEP is carrying out the evaluation of the project to establish whether and how its aims and objectives have been met and to provide evidence of successes. Key elements of the evaluation include:

• Developing qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools;

• Coding and analysing the information delivered by these tools;

• Reporting on the evaluation findings using a methodology that ‘tells the project story’.

Teresa Bennett is the evaluation project manager.

CEP delivering keynote at ESCom conference 2017

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a keynote address on participatory land use planning at the ESCom 2017 conference 

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips will be delivering a keynote presentation at the ESCom 2017 conference on 'Participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills: using ecosystem service values to inform decision-making'. The keynote on Monday 24th April 2017 will be based on CEP's current work in the Pentland Hills Regional Park which is supporting an established stakeholder group to apply the ecosystem approach to collaborative land use and management. The keynote presentation will be co-delivered with Neville Makan from Scottish Natural Heritage and Katja Schmidt from the University of Potsdam.

For further information contact Dr Peter Phillips (Senior Consultant) p.phillips@cep.co.uk

CEP carried out National Park SEA

Photo credit: 'The Days Ending' by john mcsporran on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP carried out Partnership Plan SEA for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority

CEP was commissioned to carry out an environmental assessment and prepare an Environmental Report as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority's updated National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) 2018-2023. The NPPP is the high level management plan for the Park setting out the strategic direction for all lower level plans and projects. It also requires Ministerial approval.  The SEA Environmental Report including non-technical summary can be viewed here.

The project was undertaken by CEP's Dr Peter Phillips and Dr Bill Sheate. Bill and Peter are also delivering training in May and June this year on ecosystem services and environmental assessment for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network. Full details are available here.

Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus

CECAN (the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus, based at the University of Surrey, has published the final report of CEP's meta-evaluation study of 23 selected evaluation projects we have undertaken relating to Nexus issues – water, environment, food, energy - over the last 10 years.  

The full report  - Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects - is available here.

We evaluated the evaluation approaches and findings from a range of case studies – national and EU policy level down to programme level policy interventions and other initiatives – and sought to address three aims:
1.    To learn the lessons from past policy evaluations; 
2.    To understand the factors that support or inhibit (barriers or enablers to) successful evaluations: and
3.    To explore the value of different types of approaches and methods used for evaluating complexity

An important finding was the extent to which the contexts for evaluations at the EU level and UK levels differ: a very strong policy cycle exists for EU evaluations, which creates a more rigid framework for monitoring and evaluation, compared to the much greater degree of policy flux in the UK, and the resulting need for greater flexibility in the way in which evaluations are undertaken, and hence the greater utility of qualitative data collection and analysis methods.

Consequently the use or influence of evaluations in policy making differs considerably – there is much more instrumental (direct) use of EU evaluations compared to more conceptual or process (indirect) use of UK evaluations.

For further information contact Dr Bill Sheate or Dr Clare Twigger-Ross 

The key findings from the study are summarised in the infographic below:

CEP's work on enhancing ex-post evaluation published by Defra

CEP's work on enhancing ex-post evaluation of FCERM plans and schemes published by Defra

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commissioned CEP, with our partners HR Wallingford, Middlesex University and Ruth Johnston, to investigate the practice of, and barriers to, the ex-post evaluation of Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) plans and schemes.

Phase 1 of the project reviewed the extent to which ex-post evaluation is undertaken, highlighting examples of good practice and considering how evaluation practice could be improved. Phase 2 of the work developed case studies providing Defra with evidence to inform possible approaches to ex-post evaluation of FCERM plans and schemes.

The project's final report for Phase 1: Enhancing ex-post evaluation of flood and coastal erosion risk management plans and schemes' and  Phase 2: Case Study report are now available online.

CEP to undertake REA on water efficiency for Defra

Photo credit: 'Water Drop' by Enid Martindale on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP to undertake REA on behaviour change approaches to water efficiency for Defra

The Centre for Hydrology & Ecology (CEH) and CEP have been commissioned by Defra to undertake a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) as part of the Managed Service Provider Framework for Evidence Reviews in the context of Water Resources and Flood Risk Management. The Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) on behaviour change approaches to promote household water efficiency, will review and assess existing academic and other literature about behaviour change relating to reducing the demand for water. The REA will focus on answering the following question:

'What behaviour change approaches have been used to reduce household demand for water and how effective are these approaches?'

To assess the effectiveness of the approaches, the REA will assess and rate each piece of evidence for its relevance and robustness following the recent JWEG guidance (Collins et al, 2015). The study will also seek to identify key gaps remaining in the evidence base and suggest how these could be filled.

Training courses in natural capital and participatory planning now booking

CEP TRAINING COURSES FOR EKN IN NATURAL CAPITAL AND PARTICIPATORY PLANNING NOW BOOKING

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.

For further information and links for booking see below:

CEP's Global MegaTrends report published by the EEA

Photo by: 'Modern Art Sunset' in Thessaloniki by Nubrig on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

CEP's report on THE DEVELOPMENT OF A METHODOLOGICAL TOOLKIT FOR UNDERSTANDING THE IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBAL MEGATRENDS PUBLISHED BY THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY

The European Environment Agency published CEP's report Mapping Europe's environmental future: understanding the impacts of global megatrends at the national level.

This report is the result of CEP's work in developing and testing a methodology to help European member states explore and understand the implications of global megatrends for the environment and for policy at the national level.

The report sets out the logic for identifying the implications of global megatrends at the national, regional or European level, and aims to provide inspiration to EEA members and cooperating countries to undertake their own national studies. It describes the context and the reasons why understanding global trends is important, and sets out a suggested methodology for doing so.

This project was funded by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) and was delivered under the aegis of the European Environment Agency (EEA) EIONET FLIS.

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross awarded CECAN Fellowship

Photo credit: 'jigsaw puzzle pieces' by Electric-Eye on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross awarded CECAN Fellowship

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross has been awarded a Fellowship by the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) Investigating the value of qualitative comparative analysis in relation to the Defra Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder (FRCP) evaluation. Building on the Defra FRCP evaluation undertaken by CEP (2013 - 2015), this study aims to identify key factors that predict improved community resilience.

The key evaluation challenge for this study will be the attribution of causality in the context of community resilience to flooding. A key methodological development will be testing qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in a novel (flooding) complex evaluation situation to examine its feasibility for similar situations, and to assess the aspects of QCA of most use to this type of evaluation.

This is expected to raise key complexity issues in evaluation, which have been recently explored in CEP's project for CECAN Learning lessons for evaluating complexity at the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects. The findings of this project will become available on the CECAN website in the coming months.

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.