DETECTING ENVIRONMENTAL d CHANGE Science and Society 17-20 July 2001 d t London, UK www.nmw.ac.uk/change2001 Organised by: UK Environmental Change Network NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Environmental Change Research Centre at UCL International Long-Term Environmental Research Network Supported by: Scottish Executive Environment Environment Agency Department for Environment, and Rural Affairs Department Food and Rural Affairs Notes This volum e includes all the abstracts received up to 30th June 2001. Changes notified after this date have not been included. As far as possible, all information in this volume is as supplied by the authors represented, and we cannot guarantee that the volume is free from errors or omissions. The information contained in this abstract volume does not necessarily reflect the views of the conference organisers or its sponsors. Detecting Environmental Change: Science and Society - 17-20th July 2001 - London, UK Oral papers 1 INFERRING CHANGES IN LAND USE IN GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE SURVEY DATASETS. C J Barr, D C Howard and J W Watkins Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Merlewood, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. LA11 6JU. UK. Land use is an event that has both temporal and spatial qualities. It is relatively straightforward to record the spatial aspects, i.e. the land cover, but the temporal part is much more demanding. Collecting information on use and changes in land use is time consuming and often requires one-to-one interviews with farmers and land managers. Response rates may be disappointing and resultant information can be variable in quality. Alternative means of gathering such information are worth exploring. Fortunately, there is a close relationship between land cover and land use. The primary purpose of the Countryside Surveys of 1978, 1984, 1990 and 1998 has been to make estimates of the national and regional stock of land cover, landscape features, vegetation, soils and freshwater biota, and changes in these over time. However, as part of the data collection, information is recorded which allows inferences to be made about the use to which different recorded land parcels are being put at the time of survey. Some land use data are recorded routinely as part of the survey protocol (eg livestock type, woodland use, building type), other data give good evidence for certain land uses to be in operation (eg certain habitats present, dominant tree species, presence of grouse butts) and some data infer something about the quality of land usage (eg gappiness of hedges, dominance of certain grass species, age of tree species). The potential of the CS database to quantify land use, as a driver of change, has not been fully explored until now. This paper describes a re-examination of the land in the 569 1 km CS sample squares throughout Great Britain to produce estimates of the area of land under different land uses, with additional information on the sub-types of land use and the quality or intensity of land management. Change in these metrics is computed over time and results are compared generally with independent sources of land use information (such as the MAFF June Returns, the Farm Business Survey and other, targeted surveys). It is concluded that the Countryside Surveys are able to detect change in some land uses but others are difficult to validate using external data due to differences in definitions, methodology and timing of surveys. 2 APPLICATION OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES TO ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND EDUCATION AT THE LOCAL LEVEL IN IWATE PREFECTURE, JAPAN Brendan Barrett, Fellow/Associate Professor Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University (UNU/IAS), 53-67 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8304, Japan Tel: +81-3-5467-2817, Fax: +81-3-5467-2324, Email: [email protected] URL:"http://www.ias.unu.edu/ecology" IEN, launched in September 1998, explores the local dimensions of environmental sustainability through the application of new information and communication technologies (ICTs). It is a collaborative project based on a partnership between UNU/IAS, Iwate Prefectural Government and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). IEN combines six basic elements – environmental monitoring, information system development, environmental education, research, capacity building and institutional networking. An information system has been developed which includes real-time sensors placed in the environment to monitor air (NO2, CO2 and SPM) and water quality (ten different indicators), linked to databases located at two NTT research facilities in Japan, seamlessly connected via the Internet. As part of this project, a number of activities have been implemented to promote local innovation in monitoring environmental change and in support of environmental education. Key achievements include the use of the Internet to support compulsory education with the online monitoring of Acid Rain levels. - 2 - Detecting Environmental Change: Science and Society - 17-20th July 2001 - London, UK Local teachers have been closely involved in the development of new teaching for environmental education using the Internet. For instance, they developed a sub-project that involved 200 schools in the monitoring of the Cherry Blossom across the prefecture. In addition, one teacher went diving on the local coastline and gave a real-time/interactive lesson to children in 5 local schools. Another gave a real-time environmental lesson using multipoint videoconferencing which linked three schools with experts from local environmental installations. These and other aspects of the project will be examined in the paper which will focus on the social implications of the Internet as a tool for environmental monitoring, information dissemination and public participation In order to better appreciate local environmental attitudes of young children and their views of the role of various information media, a survey was undertaken of the environmental attitudes of 1,000 high school students with the results disseminated online. Moreover, in June/August 2000, students from three local schools were given the opportunity to remotely observe via the Internet the nes ting of the Black-tailed Gull in a national conservation area. More recently, in September 2000, with cooperation from Iwate Prefectural University, preparatory work began on the development of demonstration modules for a web-based Virtual University on the theme of the environmental change. This environmental monitoring project has significant social implications for the locality and elsewhere. It has been extensively reported in the local press and on national television. In line with the goals of Agenda 21, the project seeks to strengthen local capacities and environmental decision-making while at the same time providing local stakeholders with access to relevant, reliable, and useful environmental information in a cost-effective manner. The project uses ICTs to build new links between local institutions and the wider community, as well as to promote environmental education and awareness. Through this action-oriented project, the United Nations University is developing a model for “networked digital environmental governance” that can be replicated in other parts of the world. A project website is available at: http://www.ias.unu.edu/ecology 3 DECADAL-SCALE CHANGE IN LAKE ECOSYSTEMS Richard W. Battarbee (1), Don T. Monteith (1), Roger J. Flower (1), Alan Jenkins (2) (1) Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP (2) Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB Lake ecosystems have been increasingly disturbed and polluted by human activity over the last two centuries. Consequently, the importance of conserving aquatic ecosystems by managing water resources in a sustainable way is widely recognised. In developing a strategy for the sustainable use of lakes it is crucial that we understand how lakes vary through time on different time-scales, past, present and future. Such understanding requires a combination of methods using data from monitoring programmes, from palaeoecological reconstruction and from dynamic modelling. In this presentation we illustrate our approach using data from the UK acid waters monitoring network. In particular we demonstrate the role of the monitoring programme not only for its own sake but also as the basis for verifying output from models used both for reconstructing (transfer functions) and predicting ecological change. 4 REVIEW OF BACKGROUND WATER QUALITY IN LATVIA FROM THE ICP-WATERS OBSERVATION RESULTS, 1946-1998 I.Lyulko, P.Berg, D.Leveika, M.Frolova, T.Ambalova, A.Kovalevska Environmental Quality Observation Department, Latvian Hydrometeorological Agency, 165 Maskavas str. LV-1019 Riga, Latvia The International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Acidification of Rivers and Lakes (ICP-Water) is one among the five ICPs established within the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution that cover freshwaters, forests, crops, materials and integrated monitoring. - 3 - Detecting Environmental Change: Science and Society - 17-20th July 2001 - London, UK The present review provides the systemised and generalised observation results obtained from the national background water quality network involved in the International ICP-Waters Programme aimed at: determining of pollutants in different compartments of the environment; detecting of the impact of pollutants on ecosystems and their components; predicting