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A new environmental strategy for a rapidly changing planet

15 November 2007

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) today launches a new strategy to tackle the major environmental challenges we face now and in the future.

'Next Generation Science for Planet Earth' takes into account recent authoritative reviews such as the Stern Review and the IPCC's Fourth Assessment report. It is a 'living' strategy that will evolve as the issues we are tackling change and new environmental concerns emerge.

Professor Alan Thorpe, NERC's chief executive, said, "The sustainability of life on Earth is now a major concern. Our new strategy puts NERC in a position to respond to the critical issues of the 21st century. It will help us meet many environmental challenges and allow us to gain a better insight into the future of the planet. The benefits of achieving the strategy will include better climate prediction on regional to local and daily to decadal scales, improved confidence levels on the safety of carbon capture and storage of nuclear waste, and better knowledge of the factors associated with the spread of disease."

NERC will fund and support cutting edge environmental research programmes and direct research funds towards seven priority themes. Each theme has a newly appointed leader to champion it and encourage partnership across the research and stakeholder communities.

Partnership will play an important part in delivering the strategy and ensuring that the outcomes of NERC's investment in environmental sciences is fully used for the benefit of society and the economy. Among the new initiatives being developed is the interdisciplinary programme 'Living with Environmental Change'. NERC plays a leading role in this unprecedented collaboration of research and policy partners and is driving the search for sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.

To ensure the strategic goals are met, the strategy also identifies a set of organisational aims that complement the scientific priorities. These cover research facilities and equipment, people, knowledge, partnership and delivery.

Further information

Copies of the strategy are available from the NERC press office.

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. The Natural Environment Research Council funds world-class science, in universities and its own research centres, that increases knowledge and understanding of the natural world. It is tackling major environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity and natural hazards. NERC receives around £400m a year from the government's science budget and provides independent research and training in the environmental sciences

Press release: 44/07

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