Would a written charter for land use help to create Big Society?

Most farmers accept the responsibilities that go along with the rights of land ownership. Many would say that they hold land in trust, not just for themselves and their families, but for their communities and for the nation. We certainly depend on them to preserve our iconic landscapes and to keep the land in good heart for future generations. But there are increasing pressures on each piece of land in our crowded world. How can it provide everything we need: food, timber, clean water, carbon storage, space for leisure, physical and mental well-being? Is it possible to create a framework that would integrate these different demands, within a "Big Society" model? The Relu programme provides some interesting examples of collaborative action. In Loweswater landowners have come together with academics to address the problem of algal bloom in the lake; in Pickering a "competency group" of local people and academics has created innovative computer models of flood risk, and resulted in a new solutions being piloted that could protect the town, without spending large sums of money. But is this kind of success specific to particular places and groups of people or could it be repeated elsewhere? Relu's new briefing paper, based on the programme's response to the recent Governement White Paper on the environment, takes a look at these questions and suggests that a written charter for land use that draws on this kind of research could help to enable integrated management of these vital resources. http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/briefings/BRIF13/NatureofEngland.pdf

Nature red in tooth and claw

Is nature benign or malign? If I go for a relaxing walk in the country on a sunny day I might assume that is good for my mental and physical health - and I'm probably right, most of the time. But what if I slip and fall into a cowpat that is full of E coli O157? Or I'm bitten by a tick and it infects me with Lyme Disease? Whose fault is it if I become ill? Should someone have warned me to take care, or is it all my own fault for not examining myself for ticks and picking them off with tweezers? Washing the cow excrement off my hands might have prevented me getting E coli but where is the washbasin in the middle of that farmer's field? Relu projects wrestled with these and even more complex problems at a risk workshop in York over the past couple of days. Perhaps I'm glad I live in the town after all. http://www.relu.ac.uk/research/Animal%20and%20Plant%20Disease/Animal%20and%20Plant%20Disease.html

The last time I bought grow bags I asked the retailer for peat-free compost and was told (I suspect out of genuine ignorance) that "they all have peat". Although I know this to be untrue, and should have made the effort to go elsewhere, I contributed to the degradation of our carbon stores by buying some anyway, simply because it was convenient. Life is full of such small guilt-trips and perhaps we need higher prices to make us do the right thing. Maybe the retailer would have been better informed and switched to selling alternatives if peat-based products were more expensive? A levy on peat extraction is certainly one option that could help to conserve this important carbon store. It was just one of four compelling suggestions being made by Relu's Sustainable Uplands project at a seminar for policymakers in Westminster. The uplands provide us not just with an efficient means of storing carbon but with food, clean water supplies, flood protection and wonderful landscapes. Why would we not protect them, except perhaps through ignorance - or putting our immediate convenience first? http://homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk/~lecmsr/sustainableuplands/

Brief encounter

Can streetwise townie Sue have anything in common with Relu who has come up from the country for the day? Could it even end in engagement? Like many apparently unlikely partners these two UK research council programmes found they had a lot in common. Sue - or the Sustainable Urban Environment programme to give her full name - and Relu - held a joint workshop in London and found many common interests in stakeholder involvement, interdisciplinarity and communication. Both concluded that cracking the disciplinary language barrier is essential and that could apply to the town and country divide too. It is clear that both urban and rural environments must be sustainable, and in an era of climate change they depend upon one another more than ever. The extended poster session for researchers from the two programmes struck some promising sparks - with several vowing to keep in touch and exchange information. Could this be the start of some fruitful liaisons? And if we were to hold another workshop for Relu and Sue should it be in the countryside? That might provide even more inspiration.

The water's not so lovely after all

I was put off swimming pools at the age of 11 by a large and intimidating teacher who insisted we all jump in......with disastrous results. I think I must have swallowed a gallon of chlorinated water and I regret now that as a result of this trauma I never learnt to swim. But at today's workshop on cryptosporidium organised by Relu's Assessment of Knowledge Disease Sources in Animal Disease Control, I was quite relieved that I never feel the least bit tempted to dive in. Apparently faecal contamination from human bodies is a major problem in the recycled water and can infect swimmers with this nasty bug. The chlorene may taste nasty but it is no match for cryptosporosis. As always at such project events I learnt a lot, but they weren't really putting on the event for my benefit. It was an important part of the research process. As researcher Louise Heathwaite explained to the experts gathered from government and industry, 'We want what's in your heads'. The project is looking at how expertise and experience translates into policy - and why we don't get it right all the time. It's fascinating stuff but I'm afraid it has confirmed all my prejudices about swimming pools.

Could models get us all involved in Big Society?

Would I like to have a go at mathematical modelling? It's the kind of question that brings back all the sweaty-palmed anxieties of school algebra tests. And yet, one Relu project has worked with a group of "non-experts" who were enthusiastic about incorporating their local knowledge into computer models of flood risk in their home town. Together, academics and residents have come up with a brand new proposal, now being piloted, that could solve a serious, real-life flooding problem. The team also found that, unsurprisingly, many people have a deep mistrust of computer models, because although they are generally "rightish" for most of people most of the time, they may be completely wrong for the particular place where you live. But although professional expertise may fall down on the particular, this is exactly where local expertise can add a new dimension, improve accuracy and give residents greater confidence in the model's projections. Perhaps this could be Big Society in action? http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/policy%20and%20practice%20notes/22%20Whatmore/RELU%20PP22.pdf

New CAPs for all

Pondering the CAP tends to have a distinctly soporific effect upon me, but when, as happened recently, I hear Brian Aldridge and Neil Carter debating it on the Archers, I know it really must be important. And it doesn't take much digging into this topic to bring home how much CAP reform could affect us all. It won't just make a difference economically, but it could also have fundamental effects on the ecology and landscapes of the whole of the UK. Obviously I have been mugging up from Relu's latest briefing paper, http://www.relu.ac.uk/news/briefings/BRIF%2012%20CAP/12674%20RELU%20CAP%20Briefing%20Paper.pdf written for us by Alan Woods. As always, Alan has the policy issues at his fingertips and deftly draws in evidence from across the programme. These findings advocate reformed agri-environment schemes that promote an ecosystem services framework - which means getting more for your money from every acre, not just in terms of food but also other vital goods such as clean water, carbon storage and wildlife. There isn't going to be any more land available, so we have to get the best we can from what's already there. I can't say that CAP reform is going to be my favourite reading from now on (except possibly as an alternative to counting sheep) but I can't deny its importance, and I will be as interested as anybody in the outcome of the reform process.