Knowledge exchange for sustainable tropical landscapes

该项目将建立一个由学术界、工业界、政策和保护部门的利益相关者组成的KE网络，以便将NERC的研究成果转化为实践和政策，以确保气候变化下热带农业景观的可持续性。热带景观具有多种功能，包括提供食物，支持全球生物多样性的最高浓度，以及提供基本的生态系统服务，包括在雨林中储存大量碳。所有这些功能都对全球产生影响，并受到人口增长的压力越来越大。有大量且不断增长的科学证据有助于热带景观可持续管理方面的决策，但负责制定和实施最佳做法的决策者和从业人员很少能获得这些信息。经济学人的角色将是弥合学术界和其他部门之间的差距，以促进更明智的决策。可持续热带景观的开发依赖于多个不同的利益相关者，往往具有相互竞争的优先事项，因此，KE奖学金旨在为各部门提供强有力和一致的证据基础。该奖学金的第一阶段将侧重于改善东南亚以油棕为主的景观的可持续性。油棕是世界上植物油的主要来源，东南亚占全球产量的80%。他已经从以前的KE项目中获得了广泛的技术知识，并与重要的利益相关者建立了广泛的联系网络，包括：可持续棕榈油圆桌会议（RSPO）——可持续棕榈油的认证机构，联合利华——全球最大的棕榈油单一用户，以及Proforest——一个负责开发“高保护价值”（HCV）过程的非政府组织（见支持信）。该研究员将利用现有的知识和联系，针对紧急和新出现的问题提供有针对性的KE。该项目的第二阶段将扩大生态效益的范围，包括新的地区、作物和研究课题，以最大限度地提高由nerc资助的约克热带研究的生态效益产出。该项目的最后阶段将把KE活动置于气候变化的背景下，以确保在环境变化的情况下保障粮食安全、自然资源和生态系统服务。它还将通过建立机制来确保KE在项目生命周期之后继续在学术界和决策者之间流动，从而创造KE遗产。通过实现这四个项目目标，他将弥合学术界、工业界、政府和非政府组织之间的差距。这种方法将确保将NERC科学纳入政策和实践，从而在有效平衡热带景观的多种功能方面取得进展。KE活动将包括通过访问英国和重点热带国家的利益相关者建立联系，以及开发和维护有效的沟通工具。两个多部门研讨会将突出问题和挑战，同时鼓励跨部门合作。将确定KE的重点主题，并由研究员以各种方式（从综合报告到播客）综合和传播相关的科学证据。此外，计划借调三名人员。每次借调都将针对一个不同的部门，并将使该研究员能够与个别组织密切合作，根据目标需求提供量身定制的科学知识。通过这些手段，该计划将促进更有效地将科学证据纳入政策和实践，最终通过在不断变化的气候下保障粮食安全、生物多样性和生态系统服务来造福社会。

This project will build a KE network of stakeholders from academia, industry, policy, and conservation in order to translate NERC research findings into practice and policy for ensuring the sustainability of tropical agricultural landscapes under climate change. Tropical landscapes perform multiple functions, including providing food, supporting the highest concentrations of biodiversity globally, and providing essential ecosystem services, including storing vast amounts of carbon within rainforests. All these functions impact globally and are under increasing pressure from human population growth. There is a large and growing body of scientific evidence to aid decision-making about the sustainable management of tropical landscapes, but this information is rarely available to decision makers and practitioners charged with developing and implementing best practice. The role of the KE fellow will be to bridge the gap between academia and other sectors to facilitate more informed decision-making. The development of sustainable tropical landscapes relies on multiple and diverse stakeholders, often with competing priorities, therefore the KE fellowship aims to provide a robust and consistent evidence-base across sectors.The first phase of the fellowship will focus on improving sustainability of oil palm dominated landscapes in SE Asia. Oil palm is the world's primary source of vegetable oil, and SE Asia is responsible for 80% of global production. The fellow already has extensive technical knowledge of the subject from previous KE projects, and has developed a diverse network of contacts of important stakeholders, including: the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm oil (RSPO) - the certification body for sustainable palm oil, Unilever - the largest single user of palm oil globally, and Proforest - an NGO responsible for the development of the 'High Conservation Values' (HCV) process (see letters of support) .The fellow will use this existing knowledge and contacts to deliver targeted KE on urgent and emerging issues. The second phase of the programme will expand the scope of KE to include new regions, crops and research topics to maximise the KE output from NERC-funded tropical research at York. The final phase of the project will place KE activities in the context of climate change to ensure the safeguarding of food security, natural resources and ecosystem services in the face of environmental change. It will also create a KE legacy, by putting in place mechanisms to ensure that KE continues to flow between academia and decision-makers beyond the lifetime of the project.By delivering the four project objectives, the fellow will bridge the gap between academia, industry, government and NGOs. This approach will ensure the incorporation of NERC science into policy and practice, to achieve progress towards effectively balancing the multiple functions of tropical landscapes. KE activities will include building contacts through visits to stakeholders in the UK and in the focal tropical countries, and development and maintenance of effective communication tools. Two multi-sector workshops will highlight issues and challenges, while encouraging collaboration across sectors. Focus topics for KE will be identified for which the relevant scientific evidence will be synthesised and disseminated by the fellow in a variety of ways ranging from synthesis reports to podcasts. In addition, three secondments are planned. Each secondment will target a different sector and will enable the fellow to work closely with individual organisations to deliver scientific knowledge which is tailored according to targeted needs.By these means the programme will facilitate more efficient uptake of scientific evidence into policy and practice, ultimately benefiting society through safeguarding food security, biodiversity and ecosystem services under a changing climate.