Regulating services

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The case for reforming the EU regulatory system for GMOs

Genetically modified (GM) crops are grown worldwide on 170 M ha, whereas cultivation within the EU has been restricted to 0.1 M ha. The UK Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) has raised concerns about the current processes for carrying out Environmental Risk Assessments (ERAs) and about their future fitness for purpose. We summarise these concerns and consider future options

An annotated checklist of birds of Singapore.

This annotated checklist is the third major compilation for Singapore. It lists the current status of all bird species ever recorded in the wild in Singapore. A total of 404 species have been recorded, including 44 species which are now extinct or have not been recorded for the last 50 years. Some of the latter species have been recorded again as non-breeding visitors. There are now 342 species that occur naturally in Singapore and another 22 species that were introduced by man. Fifty-eight families of birds are represented. There are 121 resident species with proven breeding records and 21 other presumed residents. One hundred and fifty-four species are winter visitors and/or passage migrants, with another 25 species listed as non-breeding visitors and 21 others that occur in Singapore as vagrants. Census data since 1991 shows that the total number of birds in Singapore has declined by 40 % and the number of species has declined by nearly 17 %. The most abundant bird species Is a migrant, the Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva). The most important site in terms of bird population is Sungei Mandai, an unprotected mudflat and mangrove ecosystem while Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Pulau Ubin are important in having the highest diversities of birds. The loss of mudflats through reclamation, damming of estuaries, and canalisation of rivers has resulted in a decline in waterbird density and diversity as shown in the Annual Waterfowl Census. The current total shorebird population in Singapore is only 4,000 - 5,000 birds, a vast decrease from the large wintering population of 10,000 birds at a single site, the Serangoon Estuary, in 1985. Forty-one of the 44 extinct species were resident forest birds, of which, 34 (82.9 %) went extinct between 1900 and 1950. This equates to 3.4 species lost every five years, an alarming rate of extinction for a small island like Singapore. The most susceptible families are the Trogonidae and Eurylaimidae, with 100 % species loss, and Picidae, with 56.3 % species loss. The susceptible bird families are predominantly those of the forest, whereas the resistant families exist largely in open country and scrub. In fact, only three extinct species were not largely dependent on tropical rainforests for their existence. Forest species such as the Green Broadbill (Calyptomena viridis) became extinct from the forests as recently as 1941. This emphasises the role that habitat destruction has played in shaping Singapore's avifauna. Fifty-four species of birds are at risk of extinction, of which 34 species (63 %) live in the forest. The remaining patches of forest in Singapore are mostly protected in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve that should provide a safe haven for the forest birds. However, the forests are too fragmented, small and constantly disturbed by thousands of visitors. By connecting the smaller Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to the much larger Central Catchment Nature Reserve, the forest patch size can be increased and might allow more movement of animals and plants between the two patches. Many forest birds are secretive or weak fliers and are reluctant to cross open spaces. A green corridor might encourage them to do so. Another 16 species (29.6 %) of threatened birds are specialists of mangroves and wetlands. Preservation of these most-threatened of ecosystems in Singapore is of utmost importance to the survival of the birds found in these special habitats. With improvement in the quality of habitats, we could perhaps slow down the rate of local extinction of the avifauna of Singapore. Our remaining habitats need to be protected and laws protecting wildlife must be strictly enforced, so that the birds may have a chance to coexist with us

Nuisance insects and climate change

Changes in ecology, climate and human behaviour over recent decades have favoured the development and increased prevalence of urban pests, including nuisance insects. The potential for nuisance insect species to increase in prevalence in the UK as a result of climate change is addressed in this report through two key objectives: 1: To complete a desk top study to determine the current level of knowledge in relation to new and existing species of insect with the potential to cause statutory nuisance in the UK as a result of current and predicted climate change 2: To investigate the potential for new and existing species of insect to cause statutory nuisance to occur in the UK as a result of current and predicted climate change In the first section of this report we consider the first objective and present an inventory of nuisance insects and discuss the availability of information on these species to Environmental Health Officers (EHOs). We conclude from this section that defining an insect as a statutory nuisance should be on a case-by-case basis; an insect will be a statutory nuisance in some scenarios but not others (particularly in relation to the source and abundance of the insects). In addition, we focus on two subsidiary objectives: 3. To devise a programme or technique for monitoring trends in the insects of most concern 4 To devise a list of strategies that Environmental Health Officers can apply locally and disseminate to residents. We comment on the wealth of literature and information on nuisance insect species but note the lack of a central information source for EHOs and other interested parties. We suggest that a central repository would be a valuable tool for EHO‟s particularly if it included fact sheets (providing relevant biological information for EHO‟s) and distribution maps. We advocate the use of the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Gateway as a resource for providing distribution data but discuss the current limitations in terms of available data. We have appended example fact sheets for a number of species. In the second section of this report we consider nuisance insects more broadly than encompassed in the statutory nuisance definition, and provide examples of species that have 6 already been recorded in Britain (native and non-native including residents and occasional immigrants) or are potential invaders (non-native new arrivals). The methods used to review the literature on nuisance insects species and the impacts of climate change on their distribution, in a systematic way, are described. We highlight the nuisance insect species that are unlikely to be affected by climate warming Blattella germanica (german cockroach), Cimex lectularius (bed bug), Monomorium pharaonis (Pharaoh‟s ant), Anobium punctatum (woodworm), Ctenocephalides felis (cat fleas), Lyctus brunneus (powderpost beetle), Hylotrupes bajulus (house longhorn), Tineola bisselliella (common clothes moth), Dolichovespula media (media wasp) and Vespa crabro (European hornet). The ten species most likely to increase with climate warming are Tinearia alternata (moth fly), Lasius neglectus (invasive garden ant), Thaumetopoea processionea (oak processionary moth), Linepithema humile (Argentine ant), Reticulitermes grassei (Mediterranean termite), Culex pipiens molestus (urban mosquito), Culex pipiens pipiens (mosquito), Aedes vexans (mosquito – wetland), Ochlerotatus cantans (mosquito – woodland) and Musca domestica (house fly). The ten species most likely to increase with changes in precipitation are the same as for increasing temperature with the exception of Musca domestica and inclusion of Phlebotomus mascittii (sand fly). We provide two detailed case studies illustrating potential modelling approaches: biting midges and mosquitoes. In addition, we highlight the potential for further studies which would enable detailed quantitative analysis, such as demonstrated in the case studies, to be undertaken across taxa

What do we need to know to enhance the environmental sustainability of agricultural production?: a prioritisation of knowledge needs for the UK food system

Increasing concerns about global environmental change and food security have focused attention on the need for environmentally sustainable agriculture. This is agriculture that makes efficient use of natural resources and does not degrade the environmental systems that underpin it, or deplete natural capital stocks. We convened a group of 29 ‘practitioners’ and 17 environmental scientists with direct involvement or expertise in the environmental sustainability of agriculture. The practitioners included representatives from UK industry, non-government organizations and government agencies. We collaboratively developed a long list of 264 knowledge needs to help enhance the environmental sustainability of agriculture within the UK or for the UK market. We refined and selected the most important knowledge needs through a three-stage process of voting, discussion and scoring. Scientists and practitioners identified similar priorities. We present the 26 highest priority knowledge needs. Many of them demand integration of knowledge from different disciplines to inform policy and practice. The top five are about sustainability of livestock feed, trade-offs between ecosystem services at farm or landscape scale, phosphorus recycling and metrics to measure sustainability. The outcomes will be used to guide on-going knowledge exchange work, future science policy and funding

A research agenda for improving national Ecological Footprint accounts

Nation-level Ecological Footprint accounts are currently produced for more than 150 nations, with multiple calculations available for some nations. The data sets that result from these national assessments typically serve as the basis for Footprint calculations at smaller scales, including those for regions, cities, businesses, and individuals. Global Footprint Network's National Footprint Accounts, supported and used by more than 70 major organizations worldwide, contain the most widely used national accounting methodology today. The National Footprint Accounts calculations are undergoing continuous improvement as better data becomes available and new methodologies are developed. In this paper, a community of active Ecological Footprint practitioners and users propose key research priorities for improving national Ecological Footprint accounting. For each of the proposed improvements, we briefly review relevant literature, summarize the current state of debate, and suggest approaches for further development. The research agenda will serve as a reference for a large scale, international research program devoted to furthering the development of national Ecological Footprint accounting methodology.Ecological Footprint Biocapacity Productivity Nation Accounts Research Improvement

A review of planting principles to identify the right place for the right tree for ‘net zero plus’ woodlands : Applying a place-based natural capital framework for Sustainable, Efficient and Equitable (SEE) decisions

Acknowledgements: This paper is in part supported by the NetZeroPlus (NZ+) grant funded by UKRI-BBSRC award BB/V011588/1 and also by the Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics. Turing-HSBC-ONS Economic Data Science Award “Learning Tools for Land Use Analysis and Decision Support Utilising Earth Observation, Natural Capital and Economic Data. [Corrections added on 19 May 2022, after first online publication: additional funding information has been added.]Peer reviewedPublisher PD