IWAM policy driven focus-group learning session on Buffer strips

We recently held a policy driven focus-group learning session in support of a Defra consultation on agricultural buffer strips. The aim of the session was oo provide Defra staff with expert and practical advice on the science of buffer strip design, performance (for diffuse substances e.g. nutrients, particles and PPP) and management.

NeWater Curriculum

Useful series of online courses on Adaptive River basin Management.

The NeWater Project Announces:
*Teaching Adaptive Water Management
A Training Course for Instructors*

12-14 May 2009
UN Campus, Bonn, Germany

Hosted by the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security

The two-day training course is intended to familiarize university instructors with the teaching material provided in the Online Curriculum - Adaptive River Basin Management.

The course will focus on both content of the modules, as well as the use of the materials in designing new programmes or incorporating these into the teaching curricula of the instructors who participate in the course. In addition, participants will learn about approaches to and methods for teaching Adaptive Water Management.

Prof Beddington presentation at SDUK09

Prof Beddington (UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor) presented his take on the challenges we face nationally and globally at the Sustainable Development UK Conference,his presentation is now available.

" I will leave you with some key questions. Can nine billion people be fed? Can we cope with the demands in the future on water? Can we provide enough energy? Can we do it, all that, while mitigating and adapting to climate change? And can we do all that in 21 years time? That's when these things are going to start hitting in a really big way. We need to act now. We need investment in science and technology, and all the other ways of treating very seriously these major problems. 2030 is not very far away. "

Video interview with Robert Chambers from IDS on Learning

Robert Chambers from the Institute of Development Studies (University of Sussex) is one of the pioneers of participatory approaches for sustainable agriculture and development. Interview done in Cali in April 2008, during the Learning Laboratory Meeting. Produced by Cristina Douthwaite.

Charles Francis: Future active learning for agroecology

Charles Francis (Univ. of Nebraska) is a leading expert on improving learning for sustainable agriculture. In 2006 he gave University of Alberta Bentley Lecture on Sustainable Agriculture Lecture No. 4 Learning for the Future: Preparing for Complexity, Uncertainty, and Sustainability. In a recent paper in the Agronomy Journal (vol 100, issue 3, 2008; Transdisciplinary Research for a Sustainable Agriculture and Food Sector C. A. Francis,* G. Lieblein, T. A. Breland, L. Salomonsson, U. Geber, N. Sriskandarajah, and V. Langer) Charles et al., highlight their success with an Agroecology masters programme in Norway.

Policy foresight programme at the James Martin 21st Century School

As part of the James Martin 21st Century School at the University of Oxford, Crispin Tickell is coordinating and producing invaluable summaries from the Policy Foresight Programme on issues of science, technology, and the environment to identify leverage points in current policy that could have significant long-term benefits for civilization.

Two relevant and fascinating workshops were:

A new look at the interaction of scientific models and policy making
James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University13/02/08

Can Britain Feed Itself? Should Britain Feed Itself?
James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University15/10/08

Stockholm Seminars: Frontiers in Sustainability Science and Policy

These are a fascinating set of seminars from leading experts. I have just watched Will Steffen's call for new approaches to science based on the complex problem's we face. Will makes a case for systems approaches that include participatory research, deal with scale in a fluid manner and use transdisciplinary teams.