Mechanisms to improve integrative research at the science-policy interface for sustainable catchment management

Greater integration between researchers and policy makers is required to provide an evidence base that is transparent, integrated, and adaptive to support the complexities of sustainable catchment management. Opening-up and closing-down mechanisms are equally important in creating and establishing such an evidence base. We provide examples of both types based on our recent research and knowledge-transfer activities at the science-policy interface. Through our coordination role for the United Kingdom government we provide opening up physical and virtual forums for researchers and government science and policy staff to learn about and assess the gaps and uncertainties of the evidence base. Closing-down mechanisms are vital to policy cycles, in that they distil what is known and what is unknown. The Diffuse Pollution User Manual provides a valuable tool for policy and catchment management staff to assess the potential effectiveness of different combinations of remedial diffuse-pollution mitigation methods. It is vital that that opening-up and closing-down mechanisms are iteratively linked given the complexity and uncertainty of the science and policy cycles. Advances in integrative research at the science-policy interface are vital if there is to be a move to more deliberative policy making

High-frequency monitoring of nitrogen and phosphorus response in three rural catchments to the end of the 2011–2012 drought in England

This paper uses high-frequency bankside measurements from three catchments selected as part of the UK government-funded Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) project. We compare the hydrological and hydrochemical patterns during the water year 2011–2012 from the Wylye tributary of the River Avon with mixed land use, the Blackwater tributary of the River Wensum with arable land use and the Newby Beck tributary of the River Eden with grassland land use. The beginning of the hydrological year was unusually dry and all three catchments were in states of drought. A sudden change to a wet summer occurred in April 2012 when a heavy rainfall event affected all three catchments. The year-long time series and the individual storm responses captured by in situ nutrient measurements of nitrate and phosphorus (total phosphorus and total reactive phosphorus) concentrations at each site reveal different pollutant sources and pathways operating in each catchment. Large storm-induced nutrient transfers of nitrogen and or phosphorus to each stream were recorded at all three sites during the late April rainfall event. Hysteresis loops suggested transport-limited delivery of nitrate in the Blackwater and of total phosphorus in the Wylye and Newby Beck, which was thought to be exacerbated by the dry antecedent conditions prior to the storm. The high rate of nutrient transport in each system highlights the scale of the challenges faced by environmental managers when designing mitigation measures to reduce the flux of nutrients to rivers from diffuse agricultural sources. It also highlights the scale of the challenge in adapting to future extreme weather events under a changing climate

Inefficiency and Environmental Risks associated with Nutrient Use in Agriculture within China and the UK

The stocks and flows of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) were quantified for five case studies, representing contrasting agricultural systems in China and the UK. The input of nutrients exceeded the output of nutrients in agricultural products for all five systems, although to varying degrees between individual case studies.Excessive input of nutrients for each system increases the risk of negative environmental impacts on soil, air and water quality. Soils accumulate nutrient stocks due to excessive nutrient inputs, representing an under-exploited nutrient reserve that could contribute to future agriculture production. Livestock and crop production are increasingly disconnected in China. Manure application was limited to high-value fruit and vegetable crops in the systems analysed, but often without adequate accounting for the nutrient content of the applied manure.Pathways to improve the efficiency of nutrient use are identified

A method-centric 'User Manual' for the mitigation of diffuse water pollution from agriculture

We describe the development of a manual of methods for mitigating diffuse water pollution from agriculture and its important influence on policy and practice in England and Wales. The objective of the ‘User Manual’ was to provide policy makers and those implementing policies with information about the cost, effectiveness and applicability of potential methods in a form that would be readily understood by non-specialists. The ‘User Manual’ was based on earlier reports synthesizing available research data and, where data were unavailable, used expert elicitation. The outcome generated 44 potential methods (under the broad categories of land use, soil management, livestock management, fertilizer management, manure management and farm infrastructure) and described the simultaneous impact of applying each method on losses of nitrate, phosphorus and faecal indicator organisms relative to baseline losses. Estimates of cost and effectiveness were presented at the whole-farm level for seven model farm types. Methods differed widely in their cost-effectiveness and applicability to the different model farms. Advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed and subsequent developments of the original ‘User Manual’ are described, together with the opinions of catchment officers who have used the ‘User Manual’ to implement mitigation methods on farms

Delivering improved nutrient stewardship in China: the knowledge, attitudes and practices of farmers and advisers

There is a need to assess and re-orient agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) in China, aiming to rebalance the importance of productivity alongside the stewardship of farm inputs, natural resources and broader protection of the environment; a new ethos is needed. Analysis and recommendations for this are provided

Digital catchment observatories: A platform for engagement and knowledge exchange between catchment scientists, policy makers, and local communities

Increasing pressures on the hydrological cycle from our changing planet have led to calls for a refocus of research in the sciences of hydrology and water resources. Opportunities for new and innovative research into these areas are being facilitated by advances in the use of cyberinfrastructure, such as the development of digital catchment observatories. This is enabling research into hydrological issues such as flooding to be approached differently. The ability to combine different sources of data, knowledge, and modeling capabilities from different groups such as scientists, policy makers, and the general public has the potential to provide novel insights into the way individual catchments respond at different temporal and spatial scales. While the potential benefits of the digital catchment observatory are large, this new way of carrying out research into hydrological sciences is likely to prove challenging on many levels. Along with the obvious technical and infrastructural challenges to this work, an important area for consideration is how to enable a digital observatory to work for a range of potential end-users, paving the way for new areas of research through developing a platform effective for engagement and knowledge exchange. Using examples from the recent local-scale hydrological exemplar in the Environmental Virtual Observatory pilot project (http://www.evo-uk.org), this commentary considers a number of issues around the communication between and engagement of different users, the use of local knowledge and uncertainty with cloud-based models, and the potential for decision support and directions for future research

A cloud based tool for knowledge exchange on local scale flood risk

There is an emerging and urgent need for new approaches for the management of environmental challenges such as flood hazard in the broad context of sustainability. This requires a new way of working which bridges disciplines and organisations, and that breaks down science-culture boundaries. With this, there is growing recognition that the appropriate involvement of local communities in catchment management decisions can result in multiple benefits. However, new tools are required to connect organisations and communities. The growth of cloud based technologies offers a novel way to facilitate this process of exchange of information in environmental science and management; however, stakeholders need to be engaged with as part of the development process from the beginning rather than being presented with a final product at the end. Here we present the development of a pilot Local Environmental Virtual Observatory Flooding Tool. The aim was to develop a cloud based learning platform for stakeholders, bringing together fragmented data, models and visualisation tools that will enable these stakeholders to make scientifically informed environmental management decisions at the local scale. It has been developed by engaging with different stakeholder groups in three catchment case studies in the UK and a panel of national experts in relevant topic areas. However, these case study catchments are typical of many northern latitude catchments. The tool was designed to communicate flood risk in locally impacted communities whilst engaging with landowners/farmers about the risk of runoff from the farmed landscape. It has been developed iteratively to reflect the needs, interests and capabilities of a wide range of stakeholders. The pilot tool combines cloud based services, local catchment datasets, a hydrological model and bespoke visualisation tools to explore real time hydrometric data and the impact of flood risk caused by future land use changes. The novel aspects of the pilot tool are; the co-evolution of tools on a cloud based platform with stakeholders, policy and scientists; encouraging different science disciplines to work together; a wealth of information that is accessible and understandable to a range of stakeholders; and provides a framework for how to approach the development of such a cloud based tool in the future. Above all, stakeholders saw the tool and the potential of cloud technologies as an effective means to taking a whole systems approach to solving environmental issues. This sense of community ownership is essential in order to facilitate future appropriate and acceptable land use management decisions to be codeveloped by local catchment communities. The development processes and the resulting pilot tool could be applied to local catchments globally to facilitate bottom up catchment management approaches

The riparian reactive interface: a climate-sensitive gatekeeper of global nutrient cycles

Riparian zones are critical interfaces to freshwater systems, acting as gateways for the conveyance and modification of macronutrient fluxes from land to rivers and oceans. In this paper, we propose that certain riparian conditions and processes (conceptually 'Riparian Reactive Interfaces') may be susceptible to environmental change with consequences of accelerating local nutrient cycling cascading to global impacts on the cycles of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P). However, we argue that this concept is insufficiently understood and that research has not yet established robust baseline data to predict and measure change at the key riparian ecosystem interface. We suggest one contributing factor as lack of interdisciplinary study of abiotic and biotic processes linking C, N, and P dynamics and another being emphasis on riparian ecology and restoration that limits frameworks for handling and scaling topography-soil-water-climate physical and biogeochemical observations from plot to large catchment scales. Scientific effort is required now to evaluate riparian current and future controls on global nutrient cycles through multi-nutrient (and controlling element) studies, grounded in landscape frameworks for dynamic riparian behaviour variation, facilitating scaling to catchment predictions

Impacts of Climate Change on indirect human exposure to pathogens and chemicals from agriculture

Objective: Climate change is likely to affect the nature of pathogens and chemicals in the environment and their fate and transport. Future risks of pathogens and chemicals could therefore be very different from those of today. In this review, we assess the implications of climate change for changes in human exposures to pathogens and chemicals in agricultural systems in the United Kingdom and discuss the subsequent effects on health impacts. Data sources: In this review, we used expert input and considered literature on climate change ; health effects resulting from exposure to pathogens and chemicals arising from agriculture ; inputs of chemicals and pathogens to agricultural systems ; and human exposure pathways for pathogens and chemicals in agricultural systems. Data synthesis: We established the current evidence base for health effects of chemicals and pathogens in the agricultural environment ; determined the potential implications of climate change on chemical and pathogen inputs in agricultural systems ; and explored the effects of climate change on environmental transport and fate of different contaminant types. We combined these data to assess the implications of climate change in terms of indirect human exposure to pathogens and chemicals in agricultural systems. We then developed recommendations on future research and policy changes to manage any adverse increases in risks. Conclusions: Overall, climate change is likely to increase human exposures to agricultural contaminants. The magnitude of the increases will be highly dependent on the contaminant type. Risks from many pathogens and particulate and particle-associated contaminants could increase significantly. These increases in exposure can, however, be managed for the most part through targeted research and policy changes