Local Responses to Global Change
Introduction
Environmental Change
Globalisation, Trade & Demographics
Introduction: This theme reflects the external pressures and the need to respond to changes and impacts that are largely out with our control. Global events such as climate change, fluctuations in demand for globally traded commodities and demographic shifts can have a range of significant and differing impacts on societies and the environments surrounding them. Scotland will not escape from these challenges and policy-makers need to be able to understand the local impacts of events occurring at a global level to be able to take appropriate action to respond to them. Policy-makers and their stakeholders also need to be empowered to take advantage of opportunities that global change will present for Scotland and the Scottish people, communities and industries.
The interactions between climate, trade and demographic changes and the potentially conflicting pressures presented by these can lead to complexities that are particularly challenging for policy makers to address. The science relating to this theme will build an evidence base of biological, ecological, social and economic processes and how they interact at a local level to respond to, and benefit from, such external pressures.
The main policy challenges within this theme relate to Climate Change and Global Trade and related changes. Science needs to address the question of how Scotland can identify the major risks/opportunities and develop and adopt strategies to manage/exploit them. Associated with all of the examples identified above is a requirement to generate policy options that utilise an understanding of societal attitudes and awareness and, wherever possible, capitalise on these to achieve successful and positive outcomes.
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Environmental Change: The wider environment in which we live undergoes a continual process of change and evolution. However it is recognised that the rate of potentially damaging change is increasing mainly due to greater pressure from a wide range of human activities. Our global environmental assets provide the world's population with very many essential products and services including food, minerals and other primary products, water, clean air, energy. Ensuring that irreversible loss of such assets is avoided is an important context for policy development, implementation and regulation. Scotland contains a number of fragile yet important environmental landscapes and habitats and science has a major role to play in providing the knowledge and understanding that will protect these assets from external and far reaching effects while allowing effective and efficient use of them. Scotland also can play a role in demonstrating to others the importance of careful stewardship of environmental assets for the greater good.
It is now widely acknowledged that man-made climate change is a reality and that some potentially harmful impacts are inevitable. It is within this context that Scotland is seeking to be a world leader in facing up to the challenge of mitigating climate change through setting ambitious emissions reduction targets. Scotland also wants to embrace exciting new opportunities to create wealth and economic growth through opportunities to develop new technologies such as renewable energy.
Coupled with strategies to reduce emissions, the Government is adopting a suite of mitigation and adaptation measures to combat what are perceived to be the greatest risks for Scotland ( for more detail see: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/06/18103720/0; http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/03/06084507/0)
Science has a major role in contributing to the evidence that can help shape and refine these responses. Beyond simply measuring and observing changes this requires the development of tools that enable us to identify the greatest risks and where priority action should be targeted for maximum impact. Theories and methodologies from 'futures' thinking should inform our research as we apply science to our long term policy scenarios. A deeper understanding of the issues will be required if we are to ensure that we do not take actions that either exacerbate problems or generate new ones.
Improved confidence that science can forecast the impacts and provide the tools and technologies to cope with these will strengthen the ability of government to constructively engage with the public and private sectors to promote joint working and ultimately deliver outcomes of individual and collective benefit. One example of Scotland's ability to meet the challenge of climate change is through the potential for marine renewable energy technologies to be of significant benefit to Scotland (see report at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/08/26102551).
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Globalisation, Trade & Demographics: Scotland has to be in a position to respond to economic, financial, social and scientific challenges generated beyond its borders. Trade issues, for example, can generate plant or animal disease threats which threaten Scotland's economic development or present opportunities to enhance exports of our produce. The availability of tools that enable Scotland to quickly identify these and to understand how such external challenges will impact on our communities and industries and to allow them to react proportionately are essential. Issues are likely to be complex and multi-faceted, consequently the tools required are likely to draw on and integrate expertise from a wide and diverse knowledge base.
Scotland also needs to position itself to take advantages of opportunities arising from new boundaries and demands associated with changes in global trade, international regulation and marketing, travel and demographic movement. Scotland's knowledge and expertise base in many areas including agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, forestry, tourism and the like has much to contribute to challenges across the world, and an outward looking approach to providing products and processes could return many benefits to Scotland.
There will also be a need to maintain a watching brief on technologies that do not currently contribute to policy choices in Scotland but may be making significant contributions at a global level, e.g. nuclear energy generation, genetic modification of plants and animals and cloning.
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