blake lapthorn green breakfast with guest speaker ian curtis of the eci
DESCRIPTION
Blake Lapthorn held its second green breakfast of the Autumn 2011 series with guest speaker Ian Curtis of the ECI on 19 October 2011.TRANSCRIPT
ECI….Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute
……………..is “i” for international?
Inexplicable?Indulgent? Insolvent?
International?Interdisciplinary?
Inspiring?Innovative?
i‐green?
…created as ECU
in 1991
Became ECI in the late 1990’s
International Rescue
Tag Cloud for ECI’s
home page www.eci.ox.ac.uk
1st
October 2011 …ECI’s
20th
anniversary
“Oxford is on such a fast track to
environmental excellence because…..”
ECI’s
birth (Oct 1991) …a “soccer‐style transfer”
ECI’s Size now?
75 scientists60 graduate students£4m turnover
ECI Mission (from first Annual Report 1991‐92)
1.
ECU is an interdisciplinary unit dedicated to collaborative research on the nature, causes and impacts of
environmental change, and to the development of strategies to manage future changes.
2.
Environmental change refers to alterations of valued resources that have significant social and economic
implications. 3.
The Unit actively collaborates with a variety of institutions
in Oxford, the UK and throughout the world, and participates in major international programmes on the
physical and human dimensions of global change. 4.
The Unit is active in research, education, and policy.
Fun bits of “international”: High Society (1)
Fun bits of “international”: HighSociety
(2)
President of the Maldives HRH Duke of Edinburgh HRH Prince CharlesKofi Annan
‘Tropical briefings for Sir Richard Branson &
guests
July 1993ECU Research Report No.3
NATO Workshop Climate Change & World Food Security ....still for sale on Amazon
1992: a global story about climate change impacts on food
ECI: long history of international climate change, agriculture, & food interactions
…which continues today
“I”
is indeed for International
1.
300+ multi‐partner research projects completed
across Africa, South America,
Asia, Australasia, Europe
2.
Worked with 350+ Research Partner organisations in more than 40 countries
3.
Supported by 100+ Funders across more than 15 countries
ECI’s current Research Focus
1.
Climate Change: impacts, risk, adaptation, resilience
2.
Energy and Lower Carbon Futures: renewables, technology/policy interactions, demand management
3.
Ecosystems & Ecosystem services: carbon dynamics, natural resources and land use, food systems, tropical
forests, conservation
Climate change…
the world’s largest climate forecasting experiment, with over 350,000
participants in over 150 countries
And now “Weatherathome”
…climate prediction at more
regional scales
ECI is regularly
in the climate
media, taking on
both sides
And also studying the
media, and undertaking huge global opinion
surveys
Ecosystems: Tropical Forests eg RAINFOR monitoring the biomass and carbon dynamics of Amazonian rainforests
RAINFOR is an example of one of the many very large international consortia ECI often (co‐)leads
New work in Malaysian Borneo: one of the world’s largest ecological experiments
Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE) Project
How does forest modification impact local ecosystems?
One of the world’s largest ecological experiments to understand the
myriad ways in which logging, deforestation and forest
fragmentation modify the functioning of tropical rainforest, affect their
ability to deliver ecosystem services and conservation value.
Wide range of 100+ Funding Partners, including many substantial international investors
UK Europe InternationalBritish National Space Centre, Carbon Trust, The Co-operative Bank, Darwin InitiativeEconomic and Social Research Council, EcoSecuritiesEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council,Environment Agency, IBM United Kingdom TrustJackson FoundationJames Martin 21st Century School, University of OxfordLeverhulme Trust,National Trust, Natural Environment Research Council,Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Thames Water plc,UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsUK Government Department for International DevelopmentWorld Wide Fund for Nature – UK
Danish Energy Agency, Electrolux, European Commission ALTENER Programme,European Environment Agency, European Tropical Forest Research NetworkFrench Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME)
United StatesEnvironment Now FoundationFPL Energy, Andrew W Mellon FoundationMicrosoft Research, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, US Government Environment Protection Agency
Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU)International Energy Agency (IEA)International Geographical Union International Geosphere- Biosphere Programme (IGBP),International Human Dimensions Programme (IHDP), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)World Bank, World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), World Conservation Union- IUCN
ECI’s
MSc Environmental Change & Management‘Oxford’s most sought after graduate science course’
• International postgraduate training in environmental science and policy
• 12 months intensive study
• Aims to produce confident and aware leaders and decision-makers
• Broad-based, cross-disciplinary
The students • 600+ graduates
• From 60+ countries
• Varied student backgrounds: agriculture, chemical engineers, lawyers, foresters, international relations, energy policy,
•Careers in government, business, NGOs, research
The course
Su Zang, Sustainable Agricultural
Development Programme,
BeijingECI 2005
“I was astonished that 80% of my
fellow students were lawyers,
engineers, ex‐
McKinsey
consultants, accountants, and
from international relations..anelectrifying year.”Ayub Osman PricewaterhouseCoopers
“I owe immensely to
the ECI.s excellent
education and
managementtraining . A turning
point in my life.”Amin Aslam Former Minister of
State for the
Environment,Pakistan.
“The perfect means to
make a career change,
exposing me to thelatest thinking in
environmentalmanagement and policy.”Craig HansonWorld Resources Institute, Green Power Market.
“Through the MSc I gained a
deep understanding of
complex scientific and socio‐
political systems. After the
MSc I worked for
McKinseys, before helping
found a technology services
company that attracted
over $120 million in private
equity”
Patrick Cheung
“A fantastic grounding
in environmental
matters”.Gareth Morgan MPDemocratic Alliance
Environment
Spokesman, South
Africa,
“I couldn’t find a better
program than this MSc in
Environmental Change and
Management to prepare
myself for future career
advancement.”Lan Luan, (former) Chinese Ministry of
Water Resources
Masters of Science in
“Environmental Change &
Management”Environmental
Change Institute,
A few examples of International Businesses and Governmental Organisations employing ECI graduates
Business
Accenture Balfour Beatty plc AREVA Booz Allen HamiltonEricsson EnterpriseErnst & YoungHalcrow China LimitedHSBC plc Intel Corporation KPMGLloyds of LondonMcKinsey and Company Mott MacDonald India Limited Procter & Gamble plc Reuters Ltd Rio Tinto plcTokyo Electric Power Company
Government and International Organisations
Australian Government, Leader of the OppositionEuropean Commission Japanese Government, Ministry of EnvironmentPakistan Government, Ministry of Environment UK Govt Department for International DevelopmentUN Development Programme China UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative UN Framework Convention on Climate ChangeUN Institute for Training and Research US EmbassyWorld BankWorld Food Programme, UNWorld Resources Institute
And now: Oxford’s International Graduate Environment School
in the School of Geography & Environment
• 230+ international students, more than 50 countries
• Doctoral research programme
• Master of Science (MSc) Courses in:
– Environmental Change and Management
– Water Science, Policy, and Management
– Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management
– Nature, Society, and Environmental Policy
“E”
is for Europe (inc. UK)
MACIS: What might
be the impacts of
climate change
adaptation and
mitigation policies on
Europe’s
biodiversity?
In the built
environment, human
health, energy,
flooding, tourism,
agriculture, forestry
UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) An acknowledged global pioneer in its work with stakeholders
One of UKCIP’s many legacies: regional network of adaptation and risk management
consortia
Energy & Lower Carbon Futures: European energy labelling
Energy & Lower Carbon Futures
Leading the UK Energy Research
Centre’s theme on demand
reduction
The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) ECI hosts the international Meeting Place
ECI hosts a G8 conference on
energy innovation
THE MOST IMPORTANT SLIDE? Is Ecosystem Services the emerging REALLY BIG GAME?
ECI wrote the England chapter
“C”
is for creative ..even crazy…working with “unusual partners”
on the ground
“E”
is for elsewhere in the University: environment research is growing very fast
(and Brookes)
Oxford Martin School: Energy & Environment
www.futureenergy.ox.ac.uk
Energy Research across Oxford
80+ lead researchers across 15+ departments
..so, what’s in it for us?
FEAR! GREED!
“CAMBRIDGE SAVES PLANET”
FEAR!
• 1st science conference on what 4 degree warming will mean for the world
• Topics: food & water security, vulnerable populations, human health, migration, wild fires, sea level rise, wildlife conservation,
ecosystem services.
• Regional case studies: Amazonia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, Finland, Mauritius, Siberia, Vietnam, and the monsoon
region.
FEAR! ECI hosts first “4 degrees science conference”
FEAR! The SUN reports on ECI
44
Oxfordshire’s land area
260,500 ha
Oxfordshire’s ecological footprint area
3,539,358 gha
Our ecological footprint is terrible too: we need nearly 14 times Oxfordshire’s area to meet our demands
A
a
FEAR …. 1 : 13.5
Opportunity: ECI Advisors to exotic places
But missing words in ECI’s tag cloud!! (business ..??)
…but in 2020?
GREEN JOB SECTORA
A
A
It is taking time for OU to bring its
environmental expertise to the surface
..something business needs to see
1999: ECI publishes the first attempt to capture the University’s cross‐
departmental environmental expertise
BUT NOW: New Oxford University Networks
Oxford is on the point of establishing major new multi‐department
environment networks:
•ENERGY, led by Professor Sir Christopher Llewellyn‐Smith, Vice‐
President of the Royal Society, (and President, Synchrotron Light
for Experimental Science and its Applications in the Middle East)
•WATER, led by Professor David Grey, former World Bank Special
Advisor
•CLIMATE, led by Professor Myles Allen, founder
climateprediction.net, the world’s largest climate forecasting
experiment for the 21st
Century
•BIODIVERSITY, led by Tasso Leventis Professor Kathy Willis
•FOOD, led by Professor Charles Godfray, Chair of the UK Govt’s Foresight Project on Food Security
COMING SOON! Increasing flow of major Oxford conferences
Energy and People: Futures,
complexity and challengesInternational Conference Oxford20th/21st
September 2011
(plus ECI has a key organising role in this
huge international conference)
“With the joint working agreement between our
organisations now coming into effect, we are
determined to deliver a true health sciences
partnership that provides high‐quality healthcare for
patients backed by the latest in world‐leading medical
research.”
It is hoped Oxford University’s global reputation
should attract extra millions in grants and funding for
clinical research, while boosting the trust’s ability to
attract leading clinicians.
Meanwhile, it is claimed the merger would also
provide more opportunities for joint training
programmes and developing specialist services not
widely available in the UK.
“Whether on the level of international government and business or that of individual human beings we are increasingly recognising that going it alone will not work. Instead, in our search for solutions, the most significant contributions will come from better, more innovative and more diverse partnerships between researchers, decision-makers, entrepreneurs, practitioners and ordinary people”
Vice‐Chancellor, Oxford University1999
TOWN/GOWN: It’s happening in health. How about environment?
ITRC: UK Infrastructure Transition Research Consortium Breadth and scale in a new ECI national
research/business/government consortium
UniversitiesCardiff UniversityNewcastle UniversityUniversity of CambridgeUniversity of LeedsUniversity of OxfordUniversity of SouthamptonUniversity of Sussex
ContractorsBam NuttalCostain
Engineering & multi‐
disciplinary consultantsAEA TechnologyArupAtkinsBlack & VeatchHalcrowJBA ConsultingMott MacDonaldMWHParsons BrinckerhoffRoyal HaskoningSwanbarton
Engineering InstitutionsInst. of Civil EngineersInst. of Engineering and TechnologyInst. of Mechanical Engineers
Government Depts, agencies, and
local authoritiesAssociation of North East CouncilsCABE – the Commission for
Architecture and the Built
EnvironmentCabinet OfficeDepartment for Communities and
Local Government� (DCLG)Department of Energy & Climate
Change� (DECC)Department for Evnironment, Food
and Rural Affairs (Defra)Department for Transport� (DfT)Environment AgencyHampshire County CouncilHighways AgencyInfrastructure UKTransport Scotland
InsurersWillis
NGOsLocal Government AssocnTown and Country Planning Assocn
Research organisations &
data providersMet OfficeOrdnance Survey
UtilitiesBP GlobalBTE.ONNational GridNetwork RailNorthumbrian WaterScottish and Southern EnergyUnited UtilitiesVeoliaYorkshire Water
Project Leader: ECI Budget: £5m+ Object: The future of national infrastructure systems (energy,
transport, water, waste and ICT) in response to risk and uncertainty
BUSINESS
Oxford Centre for Tropical Forests a model of international green enterprise on our doorstep
“Town”BioDiversity
International LtdC‐QuestorCentre for Ecology and Hydrology
(CEH)EarthwatchEcoPlanet
BambooEcoSecuritiesEnvironment and Development GroupGlobal Canopy ProgramHelvetaThe Living RainforestOxford BiocharProforestThe Rainforest ClubSe‐PerúStockholm Environment InstituteSumatran Orangutan
SocietyTrack Record
Oxford University – “Gown”Environmental Change Institute (ECI)Institute of Social and Cultural
AnthropologyOxford Martin SchoolPlant SciencesSaid Business SchoolSchool of Geography and the
EnvironmentPro‐NaturaWildCRU
–
Wildlife Conservation
Research UnitZoology
What might be the proposition with Oxon plc?
C is for …crazy…