Valuing Nature Programme Coordination Team

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The concepts behind Valuing Nature are coming of age, emerging from the Millennium Assessment, and in the UK the subsequent UK National Ecosystem Assessment and the Natural Environment & Water White Papers published in 2011. Valuing Nature necessitates the bringing together of a wide range of disciplines: including the natural and social sciences, economics and the humanities. It also requires engagement from a broad range of business and policy interests. This presents significant challenges in cross disciplinary working. Building on lessons learnt in the first phase of the Valuing Nature Network (and through our Programme Advisory Goard, the RELU and BESS programmes and the HOPE initiative), this proposal aims to provide an innovative set of activities that will extend beyond the more traditional conference formats to include a) interactive sessions that build a shared understanding of concepts and vocabularies; and b) themed activities in partnership with other major consortia and initiatives in this field (e.g. NW+) (WP 1). We will also engage with key business and policy stakeholders designing events using interactive formats such as a) surgery sessions; b) dialogue sessions and c) 'unconference' events. The emphasis here is on mutual information exchange and learning, and will again be delivered in partnership with such organisations as NCI, Eftec and the KTN (WP2). Finally, our last work package (WP3) provides the behind the scenes building blocks to deliver such an interdisciplinary programme, including programme management, communications, data management, web site, monitoring and evaluating programme activies, and establishing a longer term legacy for Valuing Nature.The overarching aim of this programme is to provide the interdisciplinary science needed to put the value of nature at the core of the economy. This requires a truly integrated response to the research challenges posed involving the full range of constituents outlined in our proposal. If this is successfully implemented, then the impact of this research programme will be very significant in terms of the societal benefits it will bring.