Agricultural Research

Besemer H, Addison C, Pelloni F, Porcari EM, Manning-Thomas N. Agricultural Research. In: Meier zu Verl C, Horstmann W, eds. Studies on Subject-Specific Requirements for Open Access Infrastructure. Bielefeld: Universitätsbibliothek; 2011: 19-68.Agricultural science combines amongst others applied socioeconomic disciplines, applied plant animal physiology and environmental sciences (soil science, hydrology, erosion/geomorphology). Research workflows, like for other applied sciences, depend on the disciplines and methods that are applied, as well as on the way that the organisation that does the research is embedded in the agricultural sector. This chapter was written from the perspective of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a global partnership that unites organisations engaged in research for sustainable development with funders, including governments, foundations and international and regional organisations. CGIAR's mission implies working for international development, but many of the processes apply to national agricultural research organisations as well. As it impossible to give a general framework for research workflows in our field, we will present case studies from the CIAGR to illustrate the diversity

Net positive outcomes for nature

Much research and policy effort is being expended on seeking ways to conserve living nature while enabling the economic and social development needed to increase global equity and end poverty. We propose that this will only be possible if the language of policy shifts away from setting conservation targets that focus on avoiding losses and towards developing processes that consider net outcomes for biodiversity

Four steps for the Earth: mainstreaming the post-2020 global biodiversity framework

The upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting, and adoption of the new Global Biodiversity Framework, represent an opportunity to transform humanity's relationship with nature. Restoring nature while meeting human needs requires a bold vision, including mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in society. We present a framework that could support this: the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy. This places the Mitigation Hierarchy for mitigating and compensating the biodiversity impacts of developments (1, avoid; 2, minimize; 3, restore; and 4, offset, toward a target such as "no net loss" of biodiversity) within a broader framing encompassing all conservation actions. We illustrate its application by national governments, sub-national levels (specifically the city of London, a fishery, and Indigenous groups), companies, and individuals. The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy supports the choice of actions to conserve and restore nature, and evaluation of the effectiveness of those actions, across sectors and scales. It can guide actions toward a sustainable future for people and nature, supporting the CBD's vision

The impact of currently licensed therapies on viral and immune responses in Chronic Hepatitis B: considerations for future novel therapeutics.

Despite the availability of a preventative vaccine, chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains a global healthcare challenge with the risk of disease progression due to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although current treatment strategies, interferon and nucleos(t)ide analogues have contributed to reducing morbidity and mortality related to CHB, these therapies are limited in providing functional cure. The treatment paradigm in CHB is rapidly evolving with a number of new agents in the developmental pipeline. However, until novel agents with functional cure capability are available in the clinical setting, there is a pressing need to optimize currently licensed therapies. Here, we discuss current agents used alone and/or in combination strategies along with the impact of these therapies on viral and immune responses. Novel treatment strategies are outlined, and the potential role of current therapies in the employment of pipeline agents is discussedWellcome Trust Clinical Research Training Fellowship (107389/Z/15/Z)NIHR Academic Clinical LectureshipBarts Charity Project Grants (723/1795 and MGU/0406NIHR Research for patient benefit award (PB‐PG‐0614‐34087) to PTF

Short‐term solutions to biodiversity conservation in portfolio construction: Forward‐looking disclosure and classification‐based metrics biodiversity conservation in portfolio construction

Demand is increasing among investors to create portfolios that encourage positive outcomes for biological diversity. The evolution of investment strategies for transitions to zero carbon over the last two decades provides insights that will assist in shaping strategies for biodiversity‐positive investments. Many emerging approaches to capture company impact and dependence on biodiversity focus on nature‐related threats to an organisation by assessing ecosystem integrity. Other approaches focus on minimising an organisation's contribution to risks of species extinction by using data sets such as the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. However, while these approaches are useful for assessing threats to and from biodiversity for individual companies, to be effective for investment portfolio construction, metrics need to be comparable across companies in an investment universe. Many of the threat assessments that could link corporate activities to impacts are incomplete and omit critical information. If the investment community focuses on biodiversity without sufficient forethought, there is a risk of entrenching metrics with significant flaws. In this paper, we suggest that interim approaches are needed to support investors in understanding the approaches being taken by potential investee companies. To that end, we present and discuss a disclosure‐based Biodiversity Management Quality and a classification‐based Biodiversity Revenues metric for biodiversity‐related investing

Are corporate biodiversity commitments consistent with delivering ‘nature-positive’ outcomes? A review of ‘nature-positive’ definitions, company progress and challenges

There are growing calls for businesses to implement ‘nature-positive’ strategies. Convergence around a precise definition is now needed. We review definitions of ‘nature-positive’, highlight differences between ‘nature-positive’ and previous iterations of organizational biodiversity strategies (e.g. net positive impact) and propose four key elements for ‘nature-positive’ strategies: 1) demonstrating positive biodiversity outcomes across the entire value chain (“scope”); 2) buy-in throughout the entire organization (“mainstreaming”); 3) integrated consideration of different components of nature (e.g. both biodiversity and climate; “integration”); and 4) measurable outcomes against a fixed baseline aligned with overall societal goals (e.g. post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework; “ambition”). We analyse trends in biodiversity commitments of the Global Fortune 100 companies and firms that have made recent ‘net impact’ commitments, evaluating alignment with these elements and where possible assessing their evolution since 2016. Uptake of biodiversity commitments has increased since 2016, but with limited progress towards adopting measurable, time-bound commitments (an increase from 5 to 10/100 Fortune 100 firms from 2016 to 2021). We review barriers to business implementation of strategies that can deliver socially equitable and ‘nature-positive’ outcomes. Major improvements are needed in data availability and transparency, regulation and sector-wide coordination that creates level playing fields and prevents impact leakage. Transformative action is required to create production and consumption systems that actively enhance nature

Understanding poverty dynamics in Kenya

Combining qualitative-quantitative approaches, we examined the reasons behind household movements into and out of poverty across Kenya, and how they differ by livelihood zones. Among the 4773 households studied, 42 per cent were poor 15 years ago and 50 per cent are poor at the present time. Over the same period, 12 per cent of the households escaped poverty, while another 20 per cent fell into poverty. While some national trends were evident - such as the role of health problems in driving people into poverty and the importance of off-farm income in getting them out - many reasons differ across livelihood zones, thus this paper provides an example of how regionally differentiated anti-poverty policies can be investigated and designed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.