Horizon scanning
An introduction to Research for Parliament 2021
Experts have helped us find 30 areas of change to help the UK Parliament prepare for the future.
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Horizon scanning
Biological solutions for environmental challenges
Biological organisms may begin to provide new and better solutions to environmental problems, but wider use of bioengineering may raise ethical concerns with public perceptions unclear.
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Horizon scanning
Preparing for more extreme climate impacts and disasters
Climate change is expected to worsen the frequency, intensity and impacts of some extreme weather events requiring investment in disaster risk reduction and early warning systems.
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Horizon scanning
Rebuilding marine biodiversity
Implementing CBD requirements to protect 30% of the global ocean will need to be informed by what interventions can address pressures on marine ecosystems to be successful.
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Horizon scanning
Systemic risks arising from escalating biodiversity loss
Biodiversity is critical for maintaining current and future ecosystem service supply and continued loss increases risks of collapses in capacity as stresses such as climate change build.
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Horizon scanning
Transforming the food system to deliver beneficial long-term outcomes
Transforming the food system, to achieve all the UN SDG long-term goals, is challenging and will require a comprehensive, longer term approach to outcomes.
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Horizon scanning
Meaningful environmental and social governance reporting for net zero
The reporting of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks could encourage investments that address climate change targets, but a lack of standards raises reliability concerns.
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Horizon scanning
Reducing the environmental and biodiversity impacts of agriculture
The effective ways of increasing agricultural productivity while minimising environmental impacts are debated, such as if biodiversity gains can be integrated into farming systems.
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Horizon scanning
Changing consumption behaviours to meet environmental goals
Achieving environmental targets will involve changes in consumption at every level down to households and individuals, requiring effective measures to change consumer habits.
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Horizon scanning
Soil as an essential national asset
Climate change and poor management pose significant threats to soils and the services they provide; appropriate baselines and data need to be identified to assess changes in soil health.
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POSTnote
Woodland creation
Large-scale woodland creation is being promoted internationally to mitigate climate change. It can also supply other benefits, such as improving biodiversity, air and water quality. This POSTnote summarises key factors influencing how much carbon is taken up by woodland, the different objectives of woodland creation, constraints to increasing UK tree cover and different finance options.
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POSTnote
Digital sequence information
Evolving life sciences and agricultural research approaches may have a decreasing need to access physical resources in future, such as plant seeds or viral material. Information and genetic data may be all that is required for commercial exploitation of biological resources. This POSTnote summarises the challenge this creates for international discussions on the governance of genetic resources and the possible options for addressing these.
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Rapid response
Effects of COVID-19 on the food supply system
The effect of consumers stockpiling certain goods and the slow reaction of retailers to ration them exposed the limitations of cost-efficient and streamlined supply chains to be agile and adapt to unforeseen shocks. This suggests that changes may be needed to make the supply chain more resilient. Specific problems arose from the closure of parts of the catering sector and the lack of agility in redistributing supplies from this sector to retail outlets or the food donation/charity sector. This was due to challenges in packaging availability, logistics and labelling requirements; leading to an increase in food loss. Agricultural food producers and the wider supply chain may have incurred significant losses from the impacts of COVID-19. Food processing facilities have been responsible for a number of localised COVID-19 outbreaks. This may be influenced by a range of factors, including the proximity of workers for prolonged periods, the need to speak loudly to communicate over the noise of the machines or the shared welfare spaces external to the factory setting. The immediate effects of COVID-19 on the food supply system are the current policy concern, but the longer-term food system issues highlighted as a result of the pandemic will have to be addressed by considering how to build resilience to possible future shocks.
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POSTnote
Remote sensing and machine learning
There is increasing interest in using machine learning to automatically analyse remote sensing data and increase our understanding of complex environmental systems. While there are benefits from this approach, there are also some barriers to its use. This POSTnote examines the value of these approaches, and the technical and ethical challenges for wider implementation.
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POSTnote
Managing land uses for environmental benefits
Understanding the combined impacts of land use on environmental benefits could better inform decision-making and land management frameworks. This POSTnote summarises the challenges of managing landscapes on a large scale to deliver multiple environmental benefits, the evidence needed, and the policy approaches that could be used to achieve this.
Total results (page 5 of 10)