A Scientific Review of the Impact of UK Ruminant Livestock on Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Climate change is a subject of global environmental concern. The UK has seen a progressive strengthening of political resolve to address the problems associated with emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), principally carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Although agriculture globally, and ruminant livestock production in particular, is a net contributor to GHG emissions, generalizations about impacts on climate change often fail to distinguish between different systems of production, advances in technology, and the role of extensive grazing lands in contributing to ecological services and food production in situations where other forms of farming are impractical. Against this background, the overall aim of this review was therefore to conduct an independent desk-based analysis of the scientific evidence of the impacts of the UK’s forage-based livestock sectors (beef, sheep and dairy production) on emissions of the three main GHGs: carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The study has been confined to impacts up to the ‘farm gate’ and it has examined and reviewed the evidence to answer the following questions: How do GHG emissions from UK beef, sheep and dairy production compare with the situation in other countries/regions, such as South America and NZ, and selected EU countries. Within the UK how do various intensive and extensive systems of dairy, beef cattle and sheep production compare in terms of their respective emissions balances? What are the research findings on measures that can or have been adopted to reduce net GHG emissions, and what is the potential for further adoption by the industry in the UK? What are the likely future impacts of climate change on the UK ruminant livestock industry, particularly in comparison with its competitors? Main findings: Total UK agricultural GHG emissions have decreased by 17% since 1990. Methane (CH4) emissions have decreased by 52% since 1990, through a combination of reduced livestock numbers and more efficient feeding. There is evidence that UK ruminant agriculture compares favourably with other countries, and that the rate of reduction of total agricultural GHGs in the UK in recent years has been similar to, or greater than, several competitor countries. There is a wide degree of uncertainty over the exact levels of emissions of N2O and evidence suggests that UK emissions are lower than those based on the IPCC methodology. The development of more precise GHG inventories will address these uncertainties. Increases in milk yields and technical feed improvements have been associated with reductions in GHG emissions per litre of milk. The UK beef sector has also benefited from technical feed improvements, and UK beef production, and increasingly also lamb production, is mainly carried out over a short production cycle; this contributes to reducing the GHG emissions per animal and thus per unit of output. Livestock in upland and marginal areas may be associated with high CH4 emissions per unit of output (due to relatively low quality forage) but low emissions per ha. Many of these areas also have a role in CH4 capture, and their management via low intensity beef and sheep grazing is also important in achieving wider agri-environmental objectives.Climate Change, Ruminant Livestock, Greenhouse Gases, UK, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Can models of organizational change help to understand ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in community sentences? Applying Kotter’s model of organizational change to an Integrated Offender Management case study

A number of nationally driven initiatives have led to significant changes in the framework of community sentences, with various agencies being required to work in ‘joined-up’ multi-agency arrangements. Most notable, perhaps, has been the increased working relationship between police and probation, most recently within Integrated Offender Management (IOM). Although these have produced some positive outcomes in relation to crime reduction, success is sporadic and often quite modest. Research has identified a number of barriers to successful implementation, and this article builds on this by drawing upon fresh empirical evidence to argue that the success of such schemes relies on the management of organizational change that will inevitably and necessarily occur. Applying Kotter’s model of organizational change to data generated from an evaluation of two IOM schemes in England, the article offers an explanatory account of the implementation of the schemes and the possible effect this had on efforts to reduce crime

A scientific review of the impact of UK ruminant livestock on greenhouse gas emissions

NF

Sustainable food and farming strategy: updated regional indicator analysis, 2007

This report was commissioned by South West Chamber of Rural Enterprise

Social Media In Use: Assessing The Impact Of Social Media Use In Irish Technology Start-Ups

After spectacular adoption of social media by individuals over the last decade, business use of social media has finally begun to catch up. The aim of this research is to develop a richer understanding of how Irish start-up organisations are utilising social media in order to gain sustainable competititve advantage in the global marketplace. A sample of ten Irish high tech start-ups is interviewed to identify both organisations\u27 primarily use of social media and associated challenges. The findings from this research provide strong evidence that Irish start-ups are using social media primarily for creating brand awareness and as an alternative sales channel. An analysis of the companies\u27 Twitter feeds also provides empirical evidence of how social media is being used by coding their tweets and developing a classification of the key functions of Twitter updates: Information, Interaction and Promotion. Our research also identifies main challenges faced by management administrating social medie initiatives. In conclusion, this research suggests a “best practice” model for start-ups engaging in social media

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): spectroscopic analysis

The Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey is a multiwavelength photometric and spectroscopic survey, using the AAOmega spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain spectra for up to _ 300 000 galaxies over 280 square degrees, to a limiting magnitude of rpet < 19.8mag. The target galaxies are distributed over 0 < z . 0.5 with a median redshift of z _ 0.2, although the redshift distribution includes a small number of systems, primarily quasars, at higher redshifts, up to and beyond z = 1. The redshift accuracy ranges from σv _ 50 kms−1 to σv _ 100 kms−1 depending on the signal-to-noise of the spectrum. Here we describe the GAMA spectroscopic reduction and analysis pipeline. We present the steps involved in taking the raw two-dimensional spectroscopic images through to flux-calibrated one-dimensional spectra. The resulting GAMA spectra cover an observed wavelength range of 3750 . λ . 8850 °A at a resolution of R _ 1300. The final flux calibration is typically accurate to 10 − 20%, although the reliability is worse at the extreme wavelength ends, and poorer in the blue than the red. We present details of the measurement of emission and absorption features in the GAMA spectra. These measurements are characterised through a variety of quality control analyses detailing the robustness and reliability of the measurements. We illustrate the quality of the measurements with a brief exploration of elementary emission line properties of the galaxies in the GAMA sample. We demonstrate the luminosity dependence of the Balmer decrement, consistent with previously published results, and explore further how Balmer decrement varies with galaxy mass and redshift. We also investigate the mass and redshift dependencies of the [NII]/Hα vs [OIII]/Hβ spectral diagnostic diagram, commonly used to discriminate between star forming and nuclear activity in galaxies.Web of Scienc

Green futures: practical environmental enhancements in the South West's improved grasslands

The Delivery Plan for a Sustainable Farming & Food Industry in South West Englan

Targeting Prolific and Other Priority Offenders and promoting pathways to desistance: Some reflections on the PPO Programme using a Theory of Change framework. ACCEPTED FOR CRIMINOLOGY &amp; CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Abstract The Prolific and Other Priority Offenders (PPO