WSKEP news

Environmental risks have come to prominence in the global risks landscape in 2016. The World Economic Forum: The Global Risks Report 2016 has been published and has identified water as the number one global risk for business and society in the coming decade.

“Climate change is exacerbating more risks than ever before in terms of water crises, food shortages, constrained economic growth, weaker societal cohesion and increased security risks. Meanwhile, geopolitical instability is exposing businesses to cancelled projects, revoked licenses, interrupted production, damaged assets and restricted movement of funds across borders. These political conflicts are in turn making the challenge of climate change all the more insurmountable – reducing the potential for political co-operation, as well as diverting resource, innovation and time away from climate change resilience and prevention,” said Cecilia Reyes, Chief Risk Officer of Zurich Insurance Group.

More information and the full World Economic Forum: The Global Risks Report 2016 can be found here.

The Scottish Government has unveiled a plan to protect homes, businesses and communities from flooding. The Flood Risk Management plan contains 14 local strategies and proposals for 42 flood protection schemes or engineering works planned for 2016-21 and a range of other flood alleviation measures. This will be supported by investment over the first cycle of £235 million on measures to protect up to 10,000 properties. Following recent flooding as a result of Storm Frank, the Minister said the plans show the Scottish Government is committed to helping communities recover and protecting communities against future risks.

Information about the plan can be found here.

Climate change is likely to have a wide range of impacts on health - some harmful, others potentially beneficial. This LWEC report card summarises the latest scientific evidence and understanding of how climate change may affect the health of the UK population. It has been designed to make it easier to understand the nature of the possible changes and to help inform decisions that will protect our wellbeing.

The report card is based on ten technical review papers commissioned to provide in-depth analyses of specific topics. Each paper has been peer reviewed by leading experts and is available under 'Source papers'.

The health report card can be found here.

NERC and the Department for International Development (DFID) will shortly be inviting proposals for a new £4m collaborative research programme on 'Understanding the Impacts of the Current El Niño Event'.

Closing date: 16:00 on 18 February 2016

Applications are invited for small projects of up to £300k (100% FEC) to study the impacts of the current El Niño event. Projects will be funded for a maximum duration of 18 months and must commence in April 2016. All projects are required to have a principal investigators based in a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding. Co-investigators and researchers based in other organisations, including in low- and middle-income countries, are welcome but will receive funding through the lead research organisation.

The focus of the call will be limited to cases where there is an urgency to collect novel data relating to the local and regional impacts of the current El Niño in a low- or middle-income country (or countries).

The post can be found on the NERC website here.

NERC has joined forces with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (DCWW) to help tackle future environmental challenges in managing water supply and provide vital data to decision makers. 

Officially announced today, NERC has launched a new three-year strategic partnership with DCWW, a not-for-profit water utility company supplying more than three million people in Wales and adjoining parts of England.

The collaboration will allow NERC and DCWW to work together in sharing knowledge, data and expertise drawn from across the £330m portfolio of NERC-funded research into real world applications, tools and solutions across the water sector.

The partnership will concentrate on three main areas of mutual interest: managing water catchment areas, managing nutrient levels in river, coastal and marine environments, and environmental data for decision makers.

More information can be found on the NERC Website.

December was an extraordinary month in both meteorological and hydrological terms, with some of the most widespread and severe flooding witnessed in the UK. It was remarkably mild throughout the UK, and the warmest December in the Central England Temperature series (from 1659) by a wide margin, ~5°C above the 1971-2000 average. Exceptionally stormy and wet conditions across the north contributed to the wettest calendar month on record for the UK (in a series from 1910). Slow-moving low pressure systems (including the named storms ‘Desmond’, ‘Eva’ and ‘Frank’), driven by a sustained moist south-westerly airflow, brought prolonged heavy rainfall to northern and western areas. Several major flood episodes caused widespread and severe impacts: early estimates indicate 16,000 homes were flooded in England alone, while Scotland also suffered major impacts. ‘Desmond’ established new UK rainfall records over 24‑hour (341.4mm at Honister Pass, Cumbria) and 48-hour (405.0mm at Thirlmere, Cumbria) timeframes. Saturated soils resulting from substantial November rainfall exacerbated the fluvial flooding which followed in December. The spatial scale of sustained very high flows was remarkable; many large catchments in northern Britain recorded their highest ever peak flows and/or monthly mean flows. The three largest flows ever registered in river flow records for England occurred on the Eden, Lune and Tyne. The wettest parts of the UK were away from the main aquifers, although groundwater levels increased sharply in some boreholes in the north. Reservoir stocks in the Northern Command Zone (north-west England) doubled since the end of October, and end of December stocks for England & Wales were appreciably above average. With the exceptional wetness and flooding continuing into January in parts of northern Britain, the risk of further flooding in early 2016 remains high.

More information and the full summary can be found here.

Current water resources planning in England and Wales tests the resilience of public water supply systems against the worst historical droughts in the observed record. This approach, however, does not assess how a water supply system would respond when pushed beyond these historical design conditions. This project aimed to understand the performance of different types of water supply systems to a range of droughts, including those that are more severe than the worst case historical droughts, 

More information and the report can be found here.

Summary

The one-month outlook is for January river flows to be above normal across most of northern and western Britain, with flows likely to be much higher than the normal range in some areas, particularly in north-east Britain where flows may be exceptional (major flooding has already occurred in early January in eastern Scotland). In south-east England, flows are likely to be normal to above normal. January groundwater levels are also likely to be normal to above normal. These expectations are largely a result of the very wet start to January, which has seen exceptional rainfall in many areas; much of north-east Britain saw more than the January average in the first week. Meteorological projections do not show any strong signal for wet or dry conditions over the next three months, implying normal river flows and groundwater levels will predominate, although the wet start to 2016 may result in seasonally high levels in some aquifers.

For further information see here.

The latest provisional statistics from the Met Office confirm December has broken records both for rainfall and temperature

The month was not only the wettest December on record, but also the wettest calendar month overall since records* began in 1910, while 2015 is the sixth wettest year on record (dating back to 1910).

The UK mean temperature for 2015 is 9.2 °C, notably warm but not exceptional. The warmest year on record was set in 2014 at 9.9 °C. The UK mean temperature for December is record breaking at 7.9 °C, which is 4.1 °C above the long-term average. The previous record was 6.9 °C in 1934.

The temperatures for December 2015 were closer to those normally experienced during April or May. Along with the remarkable warmth, there has been a virtual complete lack of air frost across much of England, with the UK as a whole seeing less than three days of air frost on average for December which is eight days below the long term average. Although some places particularly in Scotland and over uplands have had some frosts.

For further information click here.

The festive season was marred by floods for many people in northern England (including Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire) and Scotland (including Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and the Scottish Borders). The Met Office has released statistics for December showing that it was the wettest calendar month since records began in 1910.

In early 2014, many news stories about the flooding included a discussion of groundwater levels and the way rising levels in aquifers were causing and/or prolonging flooding in southern England and in the Thames valley. Groundwater has played a much smaller role in the recent flooding in Northern England and Scotland. Local geology explains much of the difference.

The British Geological Survey (BGS) have undertaken research on flooding over many years and has contributed to improving understanding of how, where and when flooding occurs. We have produced a range of datasets that have been developed to assist government agencies in planning for flood events and improving flood prevention.

More information can be found here.

Closing date and time for outline proposals: 16:00 on 3 March 2016

Awards totalling £2·5-£5m are available to research organisations over 5 years to boost impact from NERC environmental science.

The Environmental Science Impact Programme (ESIP) is dedicated to bringing research organisations together with businesses, policy bodies and other actors contributing to economic development specific to their location to deliver significant regional impact from NERC environmental science.

NERC invites research organisations with a strong and substantial portfolio of NERC funded research to apply through ESIP calls for a five year programme of activity with an overall value of between £2·5-£5m.

The ESIP will fund a limited number of highly ambitious programmes that will achieve transformative impact from NERC environmental science research by:

• Bringing considerable NERC investment in excellent research within the participating research organisation(s) together with strengths in businesses, policy bodies and other stakeholders particular to their location(s).
• Conducting a coherent programme of high impact, focused, co-designed and co-delivered research translation and innovation activities.
• Leveraging benefits and contributions from other sources of funds relevant to the ambition of the proposal.
• Creating durable collaborations between the academic and non-academic participants.

Transformative impact will be achieved through the translation of NERC science into actions or policies that improve performance, resilience and sustainability, and support growth. The geographical reach of this impact may range from regional to global, and can include societal and economic benefits, but there must be realisable economic gains to the region.

For further information see details here.

8 - 9 th March 2016
Nottingham

The Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and NERC invite you to participate in a two-day interactive strategic workshop (sandpit) with the ultimate aim of funding up to six multidisciplinary research translation projects within the remit of the Sustainable Agriculture Research Club (SARIC).

For more information visit the SARIC Sandpit webpage:

NERC invites applications to the fourth grants round on the Technology Proof of Concept programme, which provides funding for proof of concept projects across NERC’s remit. There is £2M available for this call, with individual proposals invited to bid for up to £175k (100%FEC). Applicants should refer to the Announcement of Opportunity on the NERC website for full details.

Applications can be submitted through Je-S from 11th January 2016.
The closing date is 16:00 on 17th February 2016.

Closing date and time for outline proposals: 16:00 on 3 March 2016

Awards totalling £2·5-£5m are available to research organisations over 5 years to boost impact from NERC environmental science.

The Environmental Science Impact Programme (ESIP) is dedicated to bringing research organisations together with businesses, policy bodies and other actors contributing to economic development specific to their location to deliver significant regional impact from NERC environmental science.

Further details can be found here.

1. This document sets out the arrangements for a fifth round of the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF) from 2018-19 to 2019-20. This is a two-stage process. While funding for this scheme has been announced by the Government, funds have not yet been formally allocated to HEFCE by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. This document invites higher education institutions (HEIs) with a significant track record of research excellence to submit expressions of interest to apply for the capital grants on a competitive basis. Successful HEIs at the expression of interest stage will be invited to submit a full bid once funding allocations have been formally agreed.

2. Due to the increased amount of funding available, and reflecting feedback that some HEIs have felt constrained by application timescales, the panel will reserve the right to consider bids in two tranches:

a.Tranche 1: The panel will consider bids that are at a more advanced stage of development.

b.Tranche 2: The panel will consider bids where the expressions of interest have indicated that they are at an earlier stage of development, or where the panel believes this to be the case. The panel may also invite bids that require further development in tranche 1 to resubmit to tranche 2.

3. Both exercises will follow the same rigorous assessment process established in previous rounds of the competition. The independent assessment panel will assess all expressions of interest supported by clear advice from the relevant UK funding body, Research Councils and government department if appropriate. More than half of the funding will be retained for the second tranche of bidding.

4. This call relates to funding of up to £200m available to 2020. A further round of the competition will take place for funding beyond this period.

The deadline for submission of expressions of interest is 12:00 on Friday, 15 April 2016.

For further information see here.

DPhil Studentship Opportunity for October 2016 enrolment

Environmental Change Institute in the University of Oxford
Supervisor: Professor Jim Hall

Managing water supplies in a changing climate is a growing challenge. The uncertainty associated with future rainfall, river flows, water quality and groundwater makes it difficult to plan for the future with any degree of certainty. Under the circumstances, it may be desirable to adopt flexible strategies that keep options open for the future. There is a desire to develop ‘adaptation pathways’ for water resources management systems. Adaptation pathways demonstrate the possible sequences of options that might be adopted to cope with a wide range of future conditions.

The Environmental Change Institute in the University of Oxford has developed advanced methodologies for risk assessment of water resource systems and for decision making under uncertainty. This work will combine these methodologies in order to develop and demonstrate new approaches for water resources planning. The research will focus on the Thames river basin, where climate change and increasing water demand are challenging water supplies.

The research will combine several cutting-edge research areas in order to develop and integrated approach to decision making for the Thames:

1. Statistical analysis of hydrological variability (in surface and groundwater) in order to estimate the probabilities of droughts on a range of scales.
2. Analysis of the risks of harmful water quality, which may jeopardise water supplies.
3. Simulation modelling of the water supply infrastructure in order to estimate the probabilities of water shortage.
4. Development of decision strategies and pathways that ensure that risks to the water supply system are always within the bounds of tolerability.

Further information can be found here.

November was notably mild and dull, and very wet and windy in some parts. It was the third warmest November (in a record from 1910) for the UK and the dullest in a record from 1929. It was also a stormy month, with a series of vigorous depressions bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds that caused significant disruption. These included the first named storms (‘Abigail’, ‘Barney’ and ‘Clodagh’) to affect the British Isles, following a Met Office/Met Éireann pilot initiative to introduce official storm names. The persistent heavy rainfall in November effected a hydrological transformation in much of northern and western Britain. Many rivers that saw depressed October flows yielded exceptional flows in November, associated with floodplain inundations that caused disruption but generally modest impacts. However, the exceptional rainfall eliminated soil moisture deficits in northern and western Britain which, along with the high late autumn river flows, has made many areas highly vulnerable to flooding in early winter (as witnessed in the first week of December). With the highest rainfall occurring across the upland gathering grounds of many major impoundments, reservoir stocks increased steeply (the third largest monthly increase in UK total stocks, in a record from 1995) and were above average in all but a few southern reservoirs. With most rain-bearing systems making only a modest impression in the south, river flows and groundwater levels in the English Lowlands were moderately below average but mostly in the normal range. Overall, the water resources situation is favourable entering the winter.

For further details see here.

Universities & Science Minister Jo Johnson today announced the reappointment of Professor Duncan Wingham as chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Jo Johnson said:

"I am very pleased to reappoint Professor Wingham for a further term as chief executive of NERC. His breadth of experience and expertise in environmental science will continue to be important as he leads NERC to support world-class science and increase knowledge and understanding of the natural world."

Professor Duncan WinghamSir Anthony Cleaver, chair of NERC, said:

"Duncan has been an outstanding chief executive of NERC and I am delighted that his term of office has been extended. His focus on demonstrating the impact of research and his vision and clarity of thinking have helped maintain Britain's leading position in environmental research."

Professor Wingham said:

"There has never been a more exciting time in UK environmental research, with initiatives such as those in the Southern Ocean and Arctic pushing the frontier of our knowledge further, promising long-term gains in our well-being and security. It will be a privilege to serve NERC and our community again as we work with the public, investigators, funders, industry and government to discover new approaches to the grand challenges faced by our society."

The appointment is from 1 January 2016 until 31 December 2017.

NERC is the UK's main agency for funding research in atmospheric, Earth, biological, terrestrial and aquatic sciences. In the 2015 Spending Review, the government protected science funding of £4·7bn in real terms over the Parliament. The government is also funding a £1·5bn new Global Challenges Fund.

For further information see here.

Summary

The one-month outlook is for December flows to be above normal across most of northern and western Britain, with an increased likelihood of exceptional flows in some regions. These projections reflect the exceptionally wet November in much of northern Britain. In actuality, early December has already witnessed exceptional rainfall and flooding in northern England and parts of Scotland, so it is highly likely that total flows for December will be exceptional. With meteorological projections favouring wetter-than-average conditions over the next three months, there is an increased likelihood of above normal winter flows in many northern and western areas, and high groundwater levels are also likely in aquifers in these areas. In the south and east of England, winter river flows and groundwater levels are largely expected to be normal or above, although below normal levels are likely to persist in some eastern areas.

For further information see here.

A new report released by IUCN, Climate Advisers and WWF reveals the huge potential that more effective and ambitious forest conservation and restoration could make in the fight to combat climate change: 

This report has found that if just 12 forest countries, including Brazil and Indonesia, meet their existing forest goals this would cut annual global climate emissions by 3.5 gigatonnes in 2020 – equivalent to the total annual emissions from India and Australia put together. With additional ambition on top of these goals, achieving near zero forest loss in these countries by 2020 would save nearly 5 gigatonnes a year - as much as India, Australia plus Japan’s annual emissions.

But even current national plans to reduce deforestation and restore forest landscapes might not be realised without stronger international support, as most are conditional on international finance.

In the run up to the Paris climate change talks, dozens of countries included action on forests in the national plans they submitted - so called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. Today’s report analyses the targets of 12 countries - Brazil, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Nepal, Paraguay, Peru, Tanzania - that are home to nearly half the world’s tropical forests.

It’s vital that the climate finance pledges and the final Paris agreement give forest nations the necessary long-term support to press ahead with, and extend, their conservation and restoration plans.

This report will be discussed at an IUCN event in Paris on 9 December at the UN climate conference. This report is a consultation draft with initial results. The full technical report will be published in 2016 and we are open to feedback on the messaging and approach in this version.

For further information see here.