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Deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) techniques have been pioneered in Papua New Guinea (PNG): a mining reliant economy in a seismically active region, facing major environmental challenges in the safe handling and storage of mine tailings on land. Dr Shimmield's team researched impacts of DSTP on the marine environment specifically to inform and develop guidelines for the use of DSTP to reduce environmental impact, thereby lowering risk and increasing private sector investment. Guidelines have been established as regulation by the PNG Government providing reassurance to private investors, facilitating an increase in mining exports to 60% of total export (2010).
A large body of University of Liverpool (UoL) research on climate and nutrient impacts on aquatic ecosystems has had two notable impacts. 1) Adoption by the Broads Authority in 2008 of new water salinity targets that were proposed by UoL to manage nutrients levels, improve badly affected water quality, and hence raise conservation and amenity value. Ongoing improvements affect many of the 7 million visitors per year, who contribute c£400m to the local economy. 2) Incorporation into public documents by governmental and environmental bodies in the UK and US that warn water users of the UoL finding of the likely increase in the threat posed by an invasive water weed under climate warming. The weed constitutes a serious danger to amenity, tourism and conservation on several continents.
Managing and conserving the marine environment requires defining what constitutes healthy ecosystems and understanding the effects of pollution. Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) research defining `undesirable disturbance' allowed the United Kingdom (UK) to mount a successful defence at the European Court of Justice in 2009 against alleged infraction of UK obligations under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. This saved UK taxpayers £6 billion in estimated additional costs. The European Union (EU) Marine Strategy Framework Directive uses a definition of good status for pelagic habitats derived from work at ENU, which benefits policy makers and marine stakeholders by facilitating the establishment of Marine Protected Areas.
Research from the Department of Zoology has been instrumental in identifying residues of the veterinary painkiller diclofenac in cattle carcasses as responsible for catastrophic declines in vulture populations across the Indian subcontinent. As a result, the drug has been banned for veterinary use in the relevant countries, and an international conservation effort (SAVE) to Save Asia's Vultures from Extinction has been set up. Declines have since slowed, captive breeding programmes have been introduced, and local people have been trained in monitoring work and advocacy. There has also been inter-government collaboration to support conservation efforts, the first example of such collaboration on the subcontinent.
The Lake Naivasha region is a globally-important wildlife sanctuary, international tourism destination and the world's centre for cut flower export. Professor David Harper has led sustained ecological research over a number of years, and this has led to significant impact in terms of helping to resolve massive ecological degradation at Kenya's Lake Naivasha. The research has inspired the creation of a Lake management agency through involvement of HRH Prince of Wales — `Imarisha' — and which incorporated Leicester's recommendations into its Sustainable Development Action Plan (2012-17), in turn underpinning increasing sales of Fair Trade products and ensuring the sustainability of Naivasha's ecosystem services for future generations.
Irish, UK and European policy and legislation intended to mitigate the ecological damage and economic costs of invasive alien species (IAS) has been influenced by our inter-governmental Invasive Species Ireland project. Legislation was enacted through the Wildlife Order (NI) 1985 (as amended) and the EC (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2010. Our assessments on the `Killer Shrimp' Dikerogammarus villosus contributed to the EU strategy on IAS. Our Controlling Invasive Riparian Species project removed invasive plants from over 600 km of riverbank in Ireland and Scotland, restoring native biodiversity, and is cited as a best practice case study in the IAS Strategy for Northern Ireland.
The Large Blue butterfly, formerly extinct in the UK, was successfully reintroduced over two decades to sites in south-west England. New research at the University of Oxford has greatly improved its conservation status and identified key factors that determine the ability of this extreme specialist to survive, especially in the context of climate change. Since 2008 this has led directly to new, larger and more stable populations, to significant expansion of the butterfly's range into cooler regions, and to new `races' with greater environmental tolerance. The research has thus contributed directly to the positive upgrading of this species' global conservation status.
Amphibian population declines are recognised as one of the largest biodiversity crises in modern history. Professor Andrew Cunningham, Institute of Zoology (IOZ) headed the team that identified a novel chytrid fungus as the major cause of amphibian population declines and species extinctions. Our work is the basis for the scientific and conservation responses to this disease, and led to the fungus being listed by the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health). We have established national surveillance programmes for the pathogen across the EU and elsewhere, identifying species at risk and developing mitigating measures to prevent pathogen introduction and species extinction.
The research described has contributed to the design and testing of an environmental risk assessment (ERA) methodology as part of the licensing system for the import and release of non-native invertebrate biological control agents (IBCAs) in EU countries. Both the ERA and a wider protocol are now used in a number of EU countries, and have been recently adopted as a `Standard' viz. `Import and release of non-indigenous biological control agents' by the European Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) — Standard PM 6/2(2). This research programme has enabled the ERA information requirements in licence application dossiers for the release of non-native biocontrol agents to be standardised across national regulatory authorities in different European countries, thus reducing costs of commercial production and use.
Research on the population biology of the stag beetle at Royal Holloway has created impact on the environment (species conservation through an increase in available habitat and in known breeding sites), impact on public policy (production of a species action plan and an EU Directive and the management of woodland habitats), and impact on society (change in public understanding). Using a `Citizen Science' approach, over 250 volunteers have engaged with this research in population surveys and over 1,000 have helped to create breeding sites. The research has helped to implement conservation policy decisions in the UK and EU and has produced many public information guides. It also has resulted in a radically revised Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) national Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for the species. Furthermore, the research has created impact on practitioners (through enhancement of teaching practices) and brought practical conservation biology into schools, improving the teaching of the National Curriculum at KS2 and 3.