Horizon scanning and futures: Challenges to the UK can be varied and diverse, ranging from manmade deliberate actions by foreign states to naturally occurring events such as flooding, soil erosion and so on. Assessment of current and future challenges will need to be combined with risk management approaches
Background
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.
Next steps
Get in touch with ari.comment@go-science.gov.uk
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Topics
- conflict, war and peace
- act of bioterrorism
- international military intervention
- disaster, accident and emergency incident
- structural failure
- natural disaster
- economy, business and finance
- environmental, social and governance policy (ESG)
- environment
- environmental pollution
- politics
- environmental policy
Related UKRI funded projects
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ADVANCES (ADVancing Analysis of Natural Capital in LandscapE DecisionS)
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Why might this be relevant?
The project ADVANCES focuses on assessing changes in natural capital, which is directly relevant to the question about assessing current and future challenges in the UK.
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A public dialogue project on the character, causes and consequences of ecosystem change in the UK and their implications for policy development
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Why might this be relevant?
The project on public dialogue about ecosystem change in the UK is partially relevant as it addresses the implications for policy development, but does not directly answer the question about assessing current and future challenges.
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UK Status, Change and Projections of the Environment (UK-SCaPE)
The UK faces significant challenges in the 21st century due to mounting pressure on air and soil quality, water and food security, and the conservation of biodiversity. To provide effective solutions to these problems a ...
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Why might this be relevant?
The project addresses current and future challenges related to environmental assets and their impacts on humans, aligning with the question's focus on assessing challenges and risk management in complex systems.