18Nov 2016
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

Team CEP
27Oct 2016
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.

Team CEP
26Oct 2016
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.

Team CEP
25Oct 2016
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.

Team CEP
19Oct 2016
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.

Team CEP
19Oct 2016
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.

Team CEP
29Sep 2016
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.

Team CEP
22Sep 2016
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.
Team CEP
16Sep 2016
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.

 

Team CEP
8Sep 2016
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.  

Team CEP