Category Archives: Consultation
Government make U-turn on the sale of the Public Forest Estate
On Thursday 17th February 2011 it was announced that the consultation into the future ownership and management of England’s Public Forest Estate will be halted, and that and all forestry clauses in the Public Bodies Bill will be scrapped. In … Continue reading
Defra consultation on Biodiversity Offsetting in England
Today Defra launched a further consultation to help shape the natural environment. As part of the Defra Business Plan, the department have committed to assessing the scope for actions to offset the impacts of development on biodiversity in England. They … Continue reading
BES responds to Defra’s ‘Invitation to shape the nature of England’
The Policy Team has today submitted its response to Defra’s consultation on the forthcoming White Paper on the Natural Environment. The Department’s discussion document published earlier this summer, asked a series of questions about the current system of nature protection … Continue reading
‘Charting progress’: Are the British Seas improving?
This week has seen the publication of a comprehensive report on the state of the UK seas, Charting Progress 2, carried out by the UK Marine Monitoring and Assessment community and published by Defra. There have been “significant improvements” in … Continue reading
Towards Sustainable, Ethical Biofuels
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has been consulting since December on ‘New Approaches to Biofuels’. Today the Society of Biology submitted its response, to which members of the BES have contributed. The aim of the Nuffield consultation is to explore … Continue reading
BES and Biochemical Society Submit Response to Consultation on ‘Guidelines on Scientific Analysis in Policy-Making’
The BES and Biochemical Society have together prepared a response to the UK Government Office for Science consultation on ‘Guidelines on Scientific Analysis in Policy-Making’. Following on from the dismissal of Prof. David Nutt as Chairman of the Government’s Advisory … Continue reading
Conserving the Chagos
The BES Policy Team last night attended a meeting and reception organised by the Chagos Environment Network, highlighting the importance of designating the Chagos Archipelago (otherwise known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, or ‘BIOT’) as a highly protected marine … Continue reading
Defra Launches Consultation on the Future of UK Food Policy
The Government today launched a consultation on what a secure food system in the UK should look like by 2030. After last year’s sudden jump in food and oil prices, as well as growing appreciation of the future impacts of … Continue reading
England’s Most Famous Lakes to Receive New Attention
At the ‘Lakes for Living, Lakes for Life’ conference being held on the shores of Lake Windermere this week, the Environment Agency has announced that it will assess the 730 most important lakes in England & Wales which need to … Continue reading
RSPB Launches ‘Our Rivers’ Campaign
The Our Rivers campaign has recently been launched by the WWF, RSPB, Angling Trust and the Association of Rivers Trusts and is calling on the Government to be more ambitious if it is to deliver the positive change needed to … Continue reading