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Professor Richard Aspinall joined the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in September 2006 from Arizona State University where he held the position of Professor and Chair of the School of Geographical Sciences from 2004.

Professor Aspinall previously worked at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute between 1987 and 1997 on a wide variety of land use topics.

Professor Aspinall's research addresses the interdisciplinary aspects of land use and related change - particularly in rural areas - and set within the context of sustainable development. This has included a particular focus on an understanding of coupled natural and human systems. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute is the largest organisation in Europe undertaking interdisciplinary research of this type.

His research interests are in environmental geography, land use systems, landscape ecology, GISystems and GIScience, remote sensing, and quantitative geography and he is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Land Project (GLP).

The status, condition and trends for habitats and ecosystem services in Scotland over the last 70 years are summarised in a synthesis of the benefits of natural services and healthy environments to individuals, communities and society. The material forms the Scotland chapter of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment.

A number of areas and issues needing further research and development are also discussed. These include work to a) understand the importance of scale, b) establish values, valuation and payments for ecosystem services, c) clarify the role of biodiversity related to ecosystem services, and d) demonstrate links to well-being. Research on these will not only serve to advance scientific understanding of ecosystem services but also inform and promote the utility of ecosystem services as part of a wider and inclusive set of policy and management decisions.

Understanding how grasslands and their management contribute to tradeoffs in ecosystem functioning across spatial and temporal scales is a key research challenge: for me at least. There is increasing emphasis on the need for multifunctional grasslands. Interdisciplinary and integrative research is key to understanding how these complex socio-ecological systems function. Kit will draw on his research experience from the plant to catchment scale one temperate grasslands in catchment systems and recent research on a semi-arid system at the Sevilleta LTER. Kit will report on his experience of designing and coordinating a science-policy bridging coordination role for Defra and the need for improved linkages between the science we carry out and societies needs.

Over the past few decades environmental economists have develop a number of novel approaches to estimating the economic value of biodiversity and other natural resources. As global biodiversity continues to decline, recent research effort has moved away from a focus of valuing an individual species or habitat to a more holistic assessment involving the identification and evaluation of the range of ecosystem services delivered by biodiversity. This new ‘ecosystems approach’ to valuation has attracted significant interest in both the academic and policy making communities. In his presentation, Dr Christie will: outline the history to the valuation biodiversity; provide a review of some recent applications of ecosystem service valuations (including the valuation of the UK BAP and the recent TEEB report); and conclude by discussing the merits and problems of the ecosystem service approach to valuing biodiversity.

Dr Mike Christie is an environmental and natural resource economist, specialising in the economic and social value of biodiversity and natural resources. He has published widely on the value of biodiversity, as well as a range of other environmental goods. Recently much of the focus of Mike's research has been the use of an ecosystem services approach to valuation, which includes research for Defra, as well as contributing towards TEEB and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. Mike also has relevant experience of research in developing countries in terms of economic valuation and welfare/vulnerability assessments. Other areas of expertise include: outdoor recreation, tourism, agri-environment and geo-diversity.

What skills and knowledge do rural practitioners and policy makers need in the contemporary world? Managing rural land and the rural economy involves complex demands and requirements. Equally there is no shortage of scientific information and research, but there is great dissatisfaction about the relevance of much of this knowledge and concern over its applicability to contemporary problems. Philip will review these issues, and suggest that we suffer from too much science and not enough expertise, i.e. too much emphasis on abstracted scientific knowledge generated by research scientists, and not enough on socially distributed, embodied, contextualised and skilful expertise. The address will illustrate this point by reference to recent work on interdisciplinary science, knowledge exchange, and field-based knowledge systems of land mangers and their expert advisors.

Professor Philip Lowe OBE AcSS is Director of the Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) Programme of the UK Research Councils. In 1992 he founded the Centre for Rural Economy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he holds the Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy. He has played an active role in rural policy development at the national and European levels and in the North of England. For his contribution to the rural economy he was appointed OBE in 2003. Between 2007-2009 he was Chair of Defra's Vets and Veterinary Services Working Group.

Peter Russell joined the then Scottish Office in 1973 from University. Early jobs were in education, central services, private office and the Royal Commission on Legal Services in Scotland. Peter worked for 6 years on urban renewal and economic development, before moving to Justice on entry to senior civil service. 4 years in civil law were followed by 4 dealing with the police, then a move to prisons. Over 10 years Peter was successively Operations Director and HR Director in the Scottish Prison Service, and then Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service. Since December 2004 has been first head of the Efficient Government Delivery Group in the Scottish Government, and then, since August 2006 Rural and Environment Director.

The nature of today's policy challenges increasingly requires integrated policy development, and these in turn need an integrated evidence base to underpin them. Peter Russell will speak about a number of Scottish Government policy developments in the Rural and Environment portfolio which aim to deliver multiple objectives. He will discuss some of the areas where science is currently providing or has the potential to contribute the integrated evidence needed, as well as some of the ongoing challenges involved, concluding with a forward look at opportunities over the coming years to develop closer integration of policy and science.

Scientists face a major challenge in making visible contributions to the solution of societal problems while safeguarding their scientific integrity and independence. Effects of new communication media require a rethink of current scientific procedures. A plea is made for establishment of: `Communities of Scientific Practice` where emphasis is not only on publication of peer reviewed papers but also on mobilization and channelling of tacit knowledge and on new forms of communication with stakeholders, the public and the policy arena. Non committal babble about the need for inter- and transdisciplinarity needs to be urgently specified, requiring soul searching within separate disciplines to define core competences to be emphasized in research, very much including basic research, and to be contributed to transdisciplinary studies. A discussion for soil science will be presented.

Johan Bouma received his MSC and PhD degree at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and served as a postdoc at the Soils Dept. University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA, studying soil disposal of septic tank effluent. In 1973 he became a UW Associate Professor with tenure. In 1975 he returned with his family to the Netherlands where he started the Deptartment of Soil Physics at the Netherlands Soil Survey Institute (STIBOKA), becoming Deputy Director in charge of research in 1983. In 1986, he joined Wageningen University as Professor of Soil Inventarisation and Land Evaluation, a position from which he retired in 2004. His research covered water and solute movement in structured soils, relating soil morphology to flow patterns; development of pedotransferfunctions; effects of soil management defined in terms of phenoforms, to be derived from a given taxonomic soil-genoform; land use policy; and interactive research with stakeholders and policy makers . From 1998 to 2003 he was a member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy, a think-tank in the prime minister’s office. He is a fellow of the SSSA (1983), an elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (1989) and a Korrespondierender Mitglied Deutsche Bdenkundliche Gesellschaft ( 1989).

In England, up until 2007, we have focused soils policy and research on mineral soils as they cover about 90% of the country. With increasing interest in the role of organic soils in carbon storage, the degradation they have already undergone and their vulnerability to future pressures our attention has shifted to these soils. In 2007 Defra launched the Partnership project to protect and enhance peat soils and the habitats they support. This aimed to develop a shared evidence base on the issues faced by peat soils and how these could be addressed, and this enhanced evidence base is now being used to develop future soils and peat policy.

Some consider there to be a significant paradigm shift in the management of the natural environment. This is typified in the elaboration of the Ecosystem Approach under the Convention on Biological Diversity and attempts to roll out the concept at national and supranational levels. The opportunities,challenges and constraints in achieving the delivery of new holistic approaches are examined. A tool for the functional analysis of wetland ecosystems is examined as one way of achieving more integrated and balanced management decisions at the landscape scale,including strategies to combat the impacts of an elevated carbon economy. Finally the case of peat-forming ecosystems is examined to illustrate some of the potential dilemmas facing policy-makers.

Robert Gray is a Chartered Town Planner and Chartered Landscape Architect with more than 30 years experience in both the public and private sectors. He has been in his current post of Head of Service (Planning Policy and Environment) for the last five years. During that time he has been involved in the Aberdeenshire Local Plan, the Aberdeen City and Shire Structure Plan, the emerging Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan, the Core Paths Plan and numerous environmental programmes and projects. Part of his remit is in driving forward the Sustainability Agenda both within the Council and throughout Aberdeenshire.

Forestry has the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting the UKâ?Ts challenging emissions reduction targets. Woodland creation provides highly cost-effective and achievable abatement of GHG emissions when compared with alternative abatement options. This is leading to increased government support for woodland expansion for carbon gain. However, land use change and developments in energy forestry in particular, present a number of risks to soil and water that could threaten sustainable forest management. This presentation will focus on the potential impacts on water quality and quantity, as well as consider opportunities for new woodlands to aid water and flood management. Work underway to quantify the water benefits and trade-offs will be described.

Tom Nisbet obtained a joint honours BSc degree in biology and geography at the University of Strathclyde in 1980 and a PhD in soil science at the University of Aberdeen in 1984. The subject of his PhD was a study of the effects of soil water regime on the growth of Sitka spruce. He then spent 3 years at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen on a Department of the Environment post-doctoral fellowship studying the transfer of acidity through vegetation and soils.

Tom joined Forest Research in 1987 as a project leader in forest hydrology. His primary interests are in studying the impacts of forestry on the quality and quantity of water resources, and evaluating the effectiveness of best management practices in protecting and enhancing the freshwater environment within forests. He has played a central role in the development of national forest and water guidelines and maintains strong links with end users through the provision of expert advice and involvement in key stakeholder groups.

Dr. Graeme Purves is an Assistant Chief Planner in the Scottish Government’s Directorate for the Built Environment. He has many years experience in the development of strategic planning policy, development management and the environmental assessment of policies and proposals. He has a strong background in urban regeneration and rural development and has been active in promoting community participation in environmental management. He has served as a member of a group of international experts advising on good practice in spatial planning in the Celtic and Baltic countries, is a member of the British Irish Council’s working group on spatial planning, and leads the team which prepared Scotland’s second National Planning Framework.

Dr. Purves will explain how the planning system is contributing to the achievement of Scotland's ambitious targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the programme of mitigation and adaptation set out in the Scottish Climate Change Delivery Plan.

Sir George Stapledon, perhaps the greatest agricultural scientist of the 20th century, believed that mixed farming with both crops and grazing livestock was the system best suited to British conditions. He considered it key, not only to a secure supply of quality food, but to a thriving rural economy. Like many western countries the UK has largely abandoned mixed farming and based its food supply on high-input grain crops. However, this system is highly dependent on fossil fuels in the form of agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers, and as diesel fuel. With the steady rise in oil prices it begins to look untenable. There's also evidence that it is damaging to soils and wasteful of scarce water resources. Perhaps the time has come to reinstate mixed farming with its fertility-building grazing pastures? Any such system would almost certainly require more labour than today's highly mechanised cereal systems, so there's a need to provide new opportunities for land-based business, through farm tenancies and share-farming, for example. There's also a case for giving land reform a higher place on the political agenda.

Graham Harvey has written on the countryside, food and environmental issues for a range of national publications including Country Life, Private Eye and New Scientist. He has written over 500 episodes of The Archers, as well as being their agricultural story editor. His first book Killing of the Countryside was published to critical acclaim in 1997 and won the BP Natural World Book Prize. His new book - We Want Real Food - explains how many everyday foods have been depleted in nutrients and how to find the sort of foods that will truly protect our health. He lives in West Somerset.

This presentation takes the livestock sector and its GHG impacts, as the focus. It briefly sets out what life cycle analysis has to say about livestock emissions, and the various LCA derived proposals made for reducing these impacts. I then argue that the merits of these approaches very much depend on the framework within which they are viewed and are in fact the products of a particular set of economic, social, and moral assumptions; given a different framework of assumptions, different approaches to GHG mitigation from livestock may be considered preferable. To illustrate this, I describe a set of scenarios for livestock production (based on systems that already exist worldwide), each of which takes as its goal the mitigation of GHG emissions but which sits within a different set of framing assumptions. I explore how successful each scenario might be in achieving reductions while also examining what the moral and social implications, for example with respect to human health or animal welfare, might be.

Tara's work focuses on researching the contribution that our food consumption makes to UK greenhouse gas emissions and the scope for emissions reduction. Her work focuses both on the technological options for tackling food-GHG emissions and at consumer behaviour around food and how this might be influenced in more sustainable directions.

Tara also runs the Food Climate Research Network. This brings together 760+ individuals from across the food industry, NGO, Government and academic sectors and from a broad variety of disciplines to share information on issues relating to food and climate change. The Network is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and is based at the University of Surrey's Centre for Environmental Strategy.

Until recently, there has been a widespread working assumption in many countries that problems of food production have been solved, and that food security is largely a matter of distribution and access to be achieved principally by open markets. The events of 2008 challenged these assumptions. Environmental change is providing added impetus to reconsider where and how crops should be produced and how food might be accessed and utilised. In this seminar I will demonstrate how global environmental and social changes are affecting food systems and suggest some of the challenges and opportunities locally and internationally.

Peter Gregory is Chief Executive and Institute Director of SCRI (the Scottish Crop Research Institute) based near Dundee. He has held this position for nearly 5 years, before which he spent most of his professional career at the University of Reading, England with 5 years in Western Australia in the early 1990’s. His research has involved studies of root/soil interactions, the use of water and nutrients by crops, and interactions of climate change and food security.