RELU Rural Economy & Land Use January Newsletter   Harnessing the social and natural sciences for sustainable rural development

Three articles from the RELU Rural Economy & Land Use January Newsletter   Harnessing the social and natural sciences for sustainable rural development – A really useful source of information for those interested in land-use issues: 

Farming and Water Action workshop in March

Earlier this year, the Farming and Water Action Group of the UK Water Partnership published a series of reports that explored the links between water and food production and the challenges for delivering both food and water to society in a sustainable way. They identified issues, evidence gaps and potential solutions and made recommendations for policy-makers, industry, practitioners and academia. The UK Water Partnership is now planning a workshop which will be held in Reading on 10 March 2016 to consider how these recommendations can be addressed. Details and how to register will be available soon and will be posted on the Landbridge website but please mark the date in your diary if you are interested. Any queries in the meantime should be addressed to Faith Culshaw faith.culshaw@nerc.ac.uk. 

Talking the talk on ecosystems services

Stakeholder engagement and involvement in decision making is key to the Ecosystem Approach but this involves working with a new language and philosophy to understand and value the natural world.  LWEC Policy and Practice Note 23, “Using ecosystem services in public engagement and dialogue on the natural environment” provides pointers for organisations undertaking these processes. 

Food-energy-water nexus interactions – Nexus Network grants and workshops

The Nexus Network has £300,000 available to support inter- and trans-disciplinary research projects on nexus themes. Projects should improve understanding of food-energy-water nexus interactions and support actions to improve their sustainability. Proposals are invited for funding of up to a maximum of £150,000 each and for projects of up to 12 months.  The deadline is 31 January 2016. For full details see the Research Partnership Grants page.  The Network is also running two workshops during the first half of 2016: the first is on resource conflicts, with a focus on what food-energy-water means for people in the global South on 29 Feb 2016.  The second is on food-energy-water provision, again with a global South focus, on 12 and 13 May 2016. 

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Produced by the Rural Economy and Land Use Network in association with Landbridge

Edited by Anne Liddon and Jeremy Phillipson Centre for Rural Economy, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University

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