Looking forward to tearing more about @WildlifeTrusts's 2030 Strategy, and the challenges & opportunities that they face in achieving their goals #NatureSeries
.@KathrynABrown opens her presentation by giving a potted history of The Wildwlife Trusts, going back to their foundation in 1916, through to present day as the UKs 7th largest landholder with 2,300 nature reserves with over 3k staff, 37k volunteers & 900k members #NatureSeries
Brown moves on to announcing the 2030 Strategy - which not only continues to move forward on its founding goals of preserving nature, but also reversing the trend of biodiversity loss, with an increased focus on nature-based solutions to help reverse & decline #NatureSeries
Brown says there is also a new focus on community engagement - empowering people to take "meaningful action" to reverse nature decline both within their local communities as well as #SocialPrescribing to help with social connections & mental health #NatureSeries
On nature-based solutions, Brown says that it is about ensuring nature "is used to address local & global problems", which not only includes habitat loss & climate change, but also wider societal & human health issues #NatureSeries
Looking at 2022's impact report, Brown gives case studies on the work TWT is doing on nature-based solutions, including nearly £2.2m invested in 159 natural flood management activities. Brown says she is keen to be testbeds for areas where Govt policy is "lacking" #NatureSeries
Turning to recent examples, Brown discusses the Aviva Rainforest Programme - which TWT believe is funded by the largest private donation for a nature-based solution in the UK, aimed at restoring UK's rainforests, turning them into publicly accessible nature reserves #NatureSeries
Turning to community-led adaptation, Brown highlights an example from #Somerset that is empowering residents to decide for themselves the types of nature-based interventions (e.g. Sustainable Drainage Solutions) they can implement to help adapt to a changing climate #NatureSeries
Brown also gives an example of natural flood solutions from #Sheffield, where a series of floodwater ponds & water pathways have been created for places for water to go, removing flood risks & creating a "photo trail" for tourists to capture the changing landscape #NatureSeries
Turning to challenges & barriers to nature-based solution, Brown says that the main challenges revolve around gathering the right evidence & how this is translated into practical actions #NatureSeries
In particular, Brown says it is important for The Wildlife Trusts to ensure all of its Trusts are collecting data in a robust and uniform way and making the best use of the data that it is collected #NatureSeries
Brown goes through the findings of the WT's "Evidence Emergency Project", which shows strength of feeling as to whether TWT was evidence led. Also identified barriers to evidence incl. lack of opportunities to share best practise & academic research behind paywalls #NatureSeries
Next, Brown moves on to how this evidence is translated in to practical action. Brown goes through the reports published by TWT which set out their objectives in various areas, including nature-based solutions #NatureSeries
First, Brown describes the mapping of data and how TWT put together a risk register, which helped the different trusts to prioritise their local issues against the national objectives, depending on differing regional circumstances #NatureSeries
Part of these challenges, Brown explains, come from the fact that TWT doesn't have a lot of realtime data from events such as heatwaves & depending on volunteers to collect research means it can be inconsistent in terms of what is collected & when #NatureSeries
Part of these challenges, Brown explains, come from the fact that TWT doesn't have a lot of realtime data from events such as heatwaves & depending on volunteers to collect research means it can be inconsistent in terms of what is collected & when #NatureSeries
Ideally, Brown wold want to measure condition of non-protected areas (marine/freshwater & terrestrial), areas of habitats under active restoration, connectivity, people taking meaningful action for nature & urban biodiversity #NatureSeries
On human action, Brown says data shows that 1 in 4 people will engage in "nature positive" actions such as gardening or feeding the birds, but little robust data exists on whether those actions have meaningful positive impacts #NatureSeries
Finally, on "tunnel vision", Brown says there are three main areas that nature-based conditions can have a positive impact - climate, nature & people. However, Brown expresses concerns that siloed thinking can only address 1 segment, leading to "perverse incentives" #NatureSeries
The webinar now moves on to a Q&A session #NatureSeries
On the rainforest project, Brown welcomes the partnership with Aviva. Notes that, as an insurance company, they are often "more switched in" to the benefits of nature-based solution, as they understand the risks & wish to play a role in mitigating them #NatureSeries
On the challenge of aligning priorities with available funding pots, Brown admits that it can be challenging. Gives example of flood management, where funding from Govt is just for the interventions, but TWT will measure biodiversity gains "as a matter of course" #NatureSeries
On how they acquire new land, Brown discusses the philanthropic loan scheme, which allows high-worth individuals to loan money to the trust to pay for land, but giving their fundraising team sufficient time to raise money to pay back the loan #NatureSeries
.@AndrewCities opens noting there is general consensus that we need to invest more in R&D. Debates are on what model to follow (matching private investment? Research Excellence Framework? Levelling Up?) & whether it should be local or national? #CentreForCities
First speaker @asvalero highlights that research shows that increasing R&D is a driver of growth, both nationally & internationally. Argues that focus on city regions "makes sense" due to high population density & higher educated populations #CentreForCities
Valero notes that the UK is already the 4th highest economy in terms of R&D. While most of this is concentrated in the "Golden Triangle", Valero notes there are opportunities across the country #CentreForCities
NCUB CEO @dr_joe_marshall notes that the #SpringBudget24 was not laced with major financial or policy announcements, expresses his disappointment that more emphasis was not based on how to unlock innovation across Unis & businesses. Warns funding cuts "on the horizon" #NCUBEvents
@dr_joe_marshall First, @AmadeusCapital's Anne Glover says, as a venture capitalist, she's primarily interested in the translation of "fantastic UK R&D into commercial propositions". While she believes Govt understands the importance of this the Budget was "rather anodyne" in funding #NCUBEvents
Looking forward to what should be an informative discussion on the intersection of academics, research, & policy & how research informs policy decisions #LSEPublicPolicy
First, President and CEO of @NewYorkFed John C Williams is asked to reflect on the past 3 years and the importance of academics. He insists they are "critically important" to all the work that the Federal Reserve Bank of NY does #LSEPublicPolicy
Williams argues that the transition from economic research to policy briefings is an "incredibly short time period", and that they often debate economic research that is still ongoing during their policy briefings #LSEPublicPolicy
Firstly, @PJTheEconomist notes that "very little" has changed following yesterday's Budget - noting that this means the public will still be facing rising tax revenues & decreased investment in public spending #IFSEvents
@PJTheEconomist However, Johnson says that, while 2023 was the worst year for household incomes since the 1920s, he welcomes the news that the OBR now believes they will return to pre-pandemic levels in 2025 - two years earlier than planned #IFSEvents
First, shadow Housing Minister @mtpennycook repeats Starmer’s message that a Labour government will build new homes to “give Britain its future back”. Notes that previous Govts of all colours have failed to grasp the challenge of homebuilding #Lab23
Pennycook argues that a Labour government would need to “deal with with aftermath of the Truss era” as well as reignite any policies the Tories “sit on” like the renter’s reform bill #Lab23
Looking forward to what should be an interesting panel on how to improve connectivity and get more people online #Lab23
First @FrontierEcon’s Gillian Paul talks through data highlighting the #DigitalDivide in terms of access to internet. Let’s while 9m working age people are eligible for social tarrif, 11% of eligible individuals live in households “possibly too poor” to afford it #Lab23
@FrontierEcon Digging deeper into these households, Paul notes 73% of these households are of working age but are not in work & receive all their income from benefits. 60% are solo occupants #Lab23