An infographic commissioned to accompany the 21st Century Challenges discussion series illustrates the challenge of tackling flood risk in the UK. The infographic was displayed at a 21st Century Challenges public discussion on ‘Flooding: National Problem, Local Solutions‘ at the Rheged Centre on Saturday 11th March. Infographic by Greg Stevenson.
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“We need to take environmental discussions out of the technocratic closet and make them popular” was Baroness Kate Parminter’s take home message from this year’s Burntwood Lecture, held by the Institution of Environmental Sciences. In her lecture, Baroness Parminter, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson in the House of Lords for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, addressed the ‘separation anxiety’ that
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On Tuesday, 8 November, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) held the latest in our series of 21st Century Challenges Policy Forum discussion meetings, on ‘Achieving Sustainable Flood Risk Management in the UK‘. An audience of 100 professionals from a range of different sectors, from business and industry to academia, central and local government to Non-Governmental Organisations, convened at the
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The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Parliamentary Select Committee has today (2 November) released a report into flood risk management in the UK that the committee’s chair, Neil Parish MP, describes as ‘radical’ in its proposals. Setting out their view that the current systems of flood risk management (FRM) in this country are unfit for purpose, the Committee call for
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A low-carbon economy – with a target of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide levels, on 1990 levels, by 2050 – is a long-standing objective of UK energy policy. But what will a low-carbon economy look like and what will it be like to live there? A paper in Energy Policy by Gavin Bridge and colleagues (‘Geographies of energy transition:
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There is growing recognition amongst policy-makers and land managers that poor land stewardship can exacerbate the risks of floods and droughts, with the need to ‘work with natural processes’ in order to both increase resilience to climate change and deliver positive conservation outcomes. Such ‘win-wins’ resulting from the integrated management of land and water are the focus of a joint statement from the Society
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Research by a team of geographers at the University of Exeter, published this summer and launched at the RGS-IBG, shows that understanding the significance of place to communities and individuals is important when considering how to adapt to the risks of flooding and build resilience to future flood events. The attachment felt by people to places can lead to a desire to maintain particular
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Earlier this month the Government published the results of the first stage of its review examining how the UK can be better protected from future flooding and extreme weather events. The ‘National Flood Resilience Review’ (NFRR) began in January, initially chaired by Oliver Letwin MP in his then position as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Led from the Cabinet
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Major threats to environmental policy over the current Parliament include deregulation, economic uncertainty and the dominance of the Treasury, according to panellists at a ‘Castle Debate‘ at the Law Society on 15th March. The event, ‘Government Environmental Policy: Opportunities and Threats‘, was the latest in a regular programme of discussion meetings organised by Pamela Castle OBE, providing an opportunity for leading
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