Defra’s areas of responsibility cover a wide range of interacting natural and human systems. Changes that affect one outcome are often likely to have knock-on implications for others. Policy in areas such as land management, biodiversity conservation, pollution prevention, food security, fisheries, and waste management, need to be designed in the absence of perfect knowledge of how human and natural processes interact. It can be particularly difficult to attribute cause and effect in such complex systems where evidence is often partial and fragmented.
Consideration of the issues that Defra deals with as parts of systems, i.e. in terms of relationships between the parts can help us to unpick complex or seemingly chaotic situations, and better deliver robust positive outcomes for society. To facilitate more effective decision making, a range of approaches and specialties need to be applied to the above challenges.
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This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Human society and our economy have been built to make use of the natural world. However, as the Dasgupta report has highlighted these activities have damaged our environment and wild populations. Repairing this damage an...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: University of Kent
The project addresses the question fully and the authors have the necessary expertise to answer the question.
Earlier this year, the media reported on a major new report (endorsed by most governments) that drew attention to the decline in natural ecosystems on our planet, and why this matters for human wellbeing. There are now g...
Funded by: NERC
Lead research organisation: Bangor University
The project partially addresses the question and the authors have the necessary expertise to answer the question.
Human-dominated landscapes are playing an increasingly important role in natural resource conservation and it is becoming progressively clear that social and ecological outcomes are inherently interrelated and difficult ...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Sheffield