Habitat Innovation And Management
Lalo Scalf
Following the success of the book, Habitat Creation and Management for Pollinators, we have produced this summary leaflet containing new and detailed information on important plant species visited by a wide range of native bee species. We hope this will support improved management of farmland for pollinators.
It brings together practical skills with an in depth understanding of pollinator ecology providing farmers and other land managers with the best available advice on creating and managing habitats for bees on farmland.
The book is the distillation of a 20 year research partnership between Marek Nowakowski - a practitioner with a passion for wildlife conservation on farmland - and applied ecologists working for the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
-->Further informationThis book begins by describing the basic differences in biology between honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees, and then outlines the key stages of their life cycles in terms of mating, nesting habitat and food resources (flowers).
Chapter two gives details of the widespread plant species that provide food resources for bees in the countryside and describe the different types of seed mixes farmers can sow to create pollinator habitat.
Chapter three provides guidance as to where on the farm to create pollinator habitat and how much will be required, and describes the practicalities of when and how to sow pollinator seed mixes, and how to manage the problems of excessive soil fertility and weed pressure associated with farmland. The funding of wildlife habitat creation within a commercial farm business is discussed. Finally details are provided of the scientific research and field trials that underpin this wealth of practical advice.
In order to produce seed and fruit many plants, including crops, depend on insects to transfer pollen between flowers. Maintaining enough insect pollinators is therefore vital to ensure a diverse food supply and for biodiversity. Insect pollinators include honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, hoverflies, beetles, butterflies and moths. In this book we focus on bees because of their importance for pollination worldwide and our increasing awareness of their decline. However, many of the habitats and management techniques we describe are equally beneficial to other insect pollinators.
Richard Pywell - Richard leads research into sustainable land management at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). He has more than 20 years research experience in the restoration and management of habitats for wildlife conservation, with a particular focus on farmland. He has worked closely with Marek Nowakowski on many projects commissioned by Government departments to provide practical and scientific evidence for agri-environmental policies. In doing this he has also established strong collaborative links with university departments and the farming industry.
Marek Nowakowski - From childhood Marek has had a passion for both wildlife and farming. Since 1970 he has worked in agriculture as a research scientist and agronomist. In 1998 he helped set up the Wildlife Farming Company dedicated to improving farmland habitats through research, practical experience and training. During his career he has worked with Government, research, policy and commercial organisations. He has demonstrated that wildlife can co-exist with modern, profitable agriculture and has communicated this widely on both television and radio.
As Head of Nido, I am constantly looking to stimulate civil servants to innovate faster and smarter. I thrive on calculated risks, ones that we have dissected and are thoroughly understood. Unforeseen mishaps are not my cup of tea. This inclination can be traced back to my previous role as an Internal Control Manager (risk manager). This experience provided invaluable insights into how an organisation structures its aspirations and operations.
The public sector is traditionally characterised as a relatively risk-averse landscape, and even more so in the realm of innovation. Managers often face minimal push-back for adhering to the status quo, even though this approach may not necessarily epitomise optimal management practices. To foster a more effective and ambitious public sector, risk and innovation managers can play a crucial role in assisting management teams in identifying organisational risks and opportunities and guiding them in how to best deal with them. While today innovation management is correctly treated as a distinct public sector discipline, it also continues to be considered risky business. This is problematic.
When I first switched to the innovation domain, it seemed like a brave new world, a huge change, a major shift. Yet, with innovation nowadays being dealt with on a much more strategic level, risk management and innovation management surprisingly appear to have a lot more in common. For instance:
Both disciplines require effective and calculated decision-making processes. In risk management, decisions are made on how to respond to identified risks and opportunities, whether that be to avoid, mitigate, transfer, or accept them. In innovation management, decisions revolve around which challenges and solutions to pursue and experiment with, and in what way. It includes decisions on how to allocate resources as well as how to bring innovative products, services, or processes to the market. Therefore, both disciplines prefer to deliberately decide on managing risks rather than simply accepting or rejecting them completely.
Innovation management is the process of introducing innovative solutions, processes, and products, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness. This can include creating new strategies, technologies, or products. Innovation management helps to achieve ambitious goals.
Risk management and innovation management need to better align with the time horizon. Risk management tends to have a shorter time horizon, focusing on immediate or near-term threats and uncertainties. In contrast, innovation management often involves longer time horizons, as organisations invest in research, development, and implementation of innovative solutions that may take time to mature and yield results.
Yet, embracing risks and opportunities by exploring plausible futures is a discipline that the public sector is only just beginning to take up, and not yet entirely comfortable with. Future exploration and scenario building help to proactively understand uncertainty, explore plausible futures and shape a desired future. In other words, we should more systematically embrace uncertainties as opportunities to achieve stronger solutions and more positive outcomes. Good risk management goes beyond protecting what is there. It anticipates by exploring weak signals and taking them seriously.
We live in times of complex challenges and major societal and technological evolutions that demand a more anticipatory management approach, one that accepts, manages, and proactively explores risks and opportunities. A quick PESTEL and SWOT analysis will just not cut it anymore. Learning to deal with uncertainty over risks and opportunities is more key than ever.
Submission: Applicants shall submit their CFP response by email until the specified deadline above to the attention of Pontus Westerberg to this e-mail address: pontus.w...@un.org.
We are now looking for a non-profit organization to lead the innovation competition phase of the project. Applicant organizations should wish to participate as a partner in the Climate Smart Cities Challenge and should be able to contribute complementary in-kind resources (human resources, knowledge, funds, in-kind contributions, supplies and/or equipment) to achieve the common objectives of the project as outlined below and subsequently agreed in an Agreement of Cooperation between UN-Habitat and the organization. This call for proposals is addressing organizations that are specialized to carry out innovation management, challenge-driven innovation, challenge prizes and communications and who can take the lead on the innovation competition, including the following:
UN-Habitat, the United Nations agency for human settlements, helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer, healthier, greener places with better opportunities where everyone can live in dignity. UN-Habitat works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector to help build, manage, plan and finance sustainable urban development. Our vision is cities without slums that are liveable places for all, which do not pollute the environment or deplete natural resources. At the dawn of a new urban era, with most of humanity now living in cities, UN-Habitat is at the frontline of the battle against fast growing urban poverty and the scourge of climate change that is caused by poorly planned urbanization and threatens the lives and livelihoods of entire cities and communities. As the United Nations gateway for cities, UN-Habitat is constantly improving its focus and responsiveness to the aspirations of cities and their residents.
For UN-Habitat, innovation means embracing new ideas, up-to-date means and fresh approaches to our work. It is based on horizontal and collaborative working practices that consider diverse contexts and perspectives. Innovation can be digital or non-digital, and take shape as a process, a practical tool or application or as a culture. Approached from a collaborative perspective, it can help to efficiently deliver impacts at scale, put people at the centre of the development process and ensure that no one and no place is left behind.
To match the best solutions with the identified challenges, the competition is openly publicized, offering a reward to the team that comes up with the best solution. The open and participatory nature of the process allows stakeholders with different expertise in challenge definition, market dialogue, solution design and implementation and project bankability to the negotiating table. The solutions identified through the challenge competition are tested later, with results being used to design large-scale procurement and implementation processes. The final outputs are products and services that have been developed in a collaborative manner and that respond to the needs and targets of municipalities and residents, while they are designed with the expertise of the private sector and aligned to the economic goals of investors. The challenge-driven innovation process helps municipalities innovate and test new solutions while bringing them closer to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
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