Environmental News: New Government Centre To Tackle Environmental Risk
A new centre of excellence dedicated to helping the Government understand natural and environmental risk has started work.
The collaborative Centre of Excellence in Understanding and Managing Natural and Environmental Risk is based at Cranfield University and will provide world-leading evidence and expertise on environmental risks such as flooding, animal and plant disease, and adapting to climate change.
The centre will work closely with Defra to assess the probabilities and impacts of these risks and feed this improved information into Defra’s policy development. It will also develop and communicate best practice across organisations involved in environmental risk management.
The centre is one of the first activities to be accredited under the new Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) programme. LWEC is a new research initiative, with participation from all major government funders, such as research councils and government departments. It aims to provide decision makers with the best natural and social science information to address climate change, and the management of ecosystems and biodiversity focusing on: food and water; animal, plant and human health; transportation and the built environment.