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Driving evidence-based improvements for the UK’s “Stressed. Lonely. Overweight. Bored. Aggressive. Misunderstood…but loved” companion animals
Get PDFBackground
The Five Welfare Needs in UK animal welfare legislation underpin a legal duty of care and are an animal welfare assessment framework. Health and welfare problems arise when these needs are unmet. The veterinary professions work with others to address these problems, but there is no publicly-funded UK companion animal welfare surveillance to identify priorities, or promote and monitor change.
Methods
The veterinary charity, the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA), together with the market research organisation, YouGov, has undertaken a longitudinal nationwide survey, assessing whether the UK’s pet dogs, cats and rabbits are having their Five Welfare Needs met. Data from nationally representative samples of pet-owning adults, drawn from YouGov’s online survey panel, have been used to produce the PDSA Animal Wellbeing (PAW) Report annually since 2011.
Results
Examples are given of how the PAW Report has been used to monitor trends in animal welfare problems, drive collaborative behaviour change campaigns, create evidence-based funding applications and inspire innovation in veterinary practice.
Conclusion
The PAW Report has contributed to closing a gap in national companion animal welfare surveillance. When governments rely on non-governmental organisations to assist with animal welfare surveillance, reliable sources such as the PAW Report can inform research, policy and legislation
Wild insect diversity increases inter-annual stability in global crop pollinator communities
No full textWhile an increasing number of studies indicate that range, diversity and abundance of many wild pollinators has declined, the global area of pollinator-dependent crops has significantly increased over the last few decades. Crop pollination studies to date, have mainly focused on either identifying different guilds pollinating various crops, or on factors driving spatial changes and turnover observed in these communities. The mechanisms driving temporal stability for ecosystem functioning and services, however, remain poorly understood. Our study quantifies temporal variability observed in crop pollinators in 21 different crops across multiple years at a global scale. Using data from 43 studies from six continents, we show that (i) higher pollinator diversity confers greater inter-annual stability in pollinator communities, (ii) temporal variation observed in pollinator abundance is primarily driven by the three most dominant species, and (iii) crops in tropical regions demonstrate higher inter-annual variability in pollinator species richness than crops in temperate regions. We highlight the importance of recognising wild pollinator diversity in agricultural landscapes to stabilize pollinator persistence across years to protect both biodiversity and crop pollination services. Short-term agricultural management practices aimed at dominant species for stabilising pollination services need to be considered alongside longer-term conservation goals focussed on maintaining and facilitating biodiversity to confer ecological stability
Leaning on the orchard gate: developing a resilient mindset. The James Nicholls Inaugural Lecture.
Get PDFManning, L. (2021). Leaning on the orchard gate: developing a resilient mindset. The James Nicholls Inaugural Lecture. National Fruit Show AGM. 14th April 2021
On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture
Get PDFRestructuring farmer-research relationships, addressing complexity and uncertainty through joint exploration, are at the heart of On-Farm-Experimentation (OFE). OFE describes new approaches to agricultural research and innovation that are embedded in real-world farm management, and reflects new demands for decentralised and inclusive research that bridge sources of knowledge and foster open innovation. Here, we propose that OFE research could help transform agriculture globally. We highlight the role of digitalisation, which motivates and enables OFE by dramatically increasing scales and complexity when investigating agricultural challenges
The Impact of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education on Regional Development
Get PDFThe paper explores the ways in which enterprise and entrepreneurial education (EEE), delivered by HEI’s, impacts regional development. To do this we analysed several datasets from The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) focusing on the ways in which HEI start-up activity impacts indicators including GDP and employment. This highlights where further research and investment is needed to ensure a consistent regional development policy which we believe aligns with the conference's focus on connecting practitioners and policymakers to create a genuine change in regional disparities
National biosecurity regimes: plant and animal bio-politics in the UK and China
No full text‘Biosecurity’ is a contested concept, but in broad terms it refers to mitigation strategies that prevent disease incursion and the spread of infectious pathogens among humans, animals, plants and other natural environments ( Koblentz, 2010 ). Since the onset of African swine fever (ASF)and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), reducing the risk to health from the transnational spread of infectious diseases across nations and regions is a global priority. Strategies to manage disease operate at multiple scales, including regulatory frameworks set by national governments and intergovernmental organisations ( Wilkinson et al., 2011 ; Maye et al., 2012 ). The economic interests of countries can ‘deflect international economic concerns requiring biosecurity solutions to be reworked at local scales’ ( Enticott, 2014a , 42). Politics at different scales shape the production, distribution and consumption of livestock and plant products, involving global organisations (e.g. the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO) and national and local government departments ( Chan, 2015 ). This chapter examines national biosecurity regimes to contain and manage the impact of infectious animal and plant diseases, including control over the implementation and monitoring of biosecurity measures and relations with international and local actors
Manage the environmental risks of perovskites
Get PDFPerovskite solar cells may bring an enormous advance in our way toward net zero carbon. However, to achieve their full sustainability potential, we must address the risks to soil, ecology, and human health associated with the use of toxic lead in perovskite technology
Vertical Barriers for Land Contamination Containment: A Review
Get PDFSoil pollution is one of the major threats to the environment and jeopardizes the provision of key soil ecosystem services. Vertical barriers, including slurry trench walls and walls constructed with soil mix technology, have been employed for decades to control groundwater flow and subsurface contaminant transport. This paper comprehensively reviewed and assessed the typical materials and mechanical and permeability properties of soil–bentonite, cement–bentonite and soil mix barriers, with the values of mix design and engineering properties summarized and compared. In addition, the damage and durability of barrier materials under mechanical, chemical, and environmental stresses were discussed. A number of landmark remediation projects were documented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the use of barrier systems. Recent research about crack-resistant and self-healing barrier materials incorporating polymers and minerals at Cambridge University and performance monitoring techniques were analyzed. Future work should focus on two main areas: the use of geophysical methods for non-destructive monitoring and the optimization of resilient barrier materials
