Funding for a new round of projects under the UK Environmental Regulation Programme (ERP) has been approved by the three UK environment agencies; Scottish Environment Protection Agency; the Environment Agency (England & Wales) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Funding for a new round of projects under the UK Environmental Regulation Programme (ERP) has been approved by the three UK environment agencies; Scottish Environment Protection Agency; the Environment Agency (England & Wales) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
The Programme delivers an annual portfolio of projects and knowledge exchange activities designed to meet the joint interests of the agencies and others in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. SNIFFER has been managing this programme on behalf of the UK agencies since 2002 and is enthused by plans to make this more dynamic and develop stronger strategic links with other relevant research programmes and knowledge networks.
ERP has recently produced reports spanning a varied range of key environmental and sustainability issues, including air pollution, carbon losses from peatlands, and the regulation of marine renewables.
Reports resulting from recently-completed projects include:
ER04: Development of site-relevant critical loads for APIS (Air Pollution Information System). The objective of this project was to develop, test and deliver an enhanced, online interactive interface for presenting site-relevant critical loads (SRCL) and providing deposition and source attribution data for UK sites of special interest (e.g. SSSIs). This replaces the former, more limited, SAC/SPA SRCL tool.
Final outputs are available at:www.sniffer.org.uk/Resources/ER04/Layout_Default/0.aspx?backurl=http%
ER07: Air pollution tracking methodology
The aim of this project was to develop an appropriate methodology and set of indicators to identify and summarise the impacts of air pollutants on ecosystems. The key objectives were to (a) Develop a methodology which:
• Identifies the effects of air pollution on the ecosystem(s) under scrutiny;
• Identifies the potential sources of air pollutants affecting the ecosystem(s) under scrutiny;
• Facilitates long-term trend monitoring and analysis of the effects of air pollution on ecosystems so that the effectiveness of regulatory measures can be assessed;
• Assists regulators (and other relevant bodies) in determining annual air pollution improvement targets or identifying issues of concern requiring improvement; and
• Provides the public with a simple, easily understandable and user-friendly means of assessing air pollution effects on ecosystems of interest.
(b) Demonstrate the utility of this methodology and visualise how the outputs could be presented if a classification tool is fully developed.
Final outputs are available at:http://www.sniffer.org.uk/Resources/ER07b/Layout_Default/0.aspx?backurl=http%
ER18: The impact of aquatic carbon fluxes on carbon losses from UK peatlands
The goal of this project was to provide outputs that could feed into future modelling efforts of carbon fluxes and influence the design of future monitoring efforts. The primary objectives were to (1) Develop a meta-database of existing data holdings relating to the aquatic pathway of carbon loss from peaty soils; and (2) Use existing data in combination with complementary data on parameters (e.g. the extent of peaty soils in a catchment, catchment area, land management regimes, atmospheric deposition, and changes in rainfall and snow cover) to illuminate the drivers for changes in aqueous fluxes of carbon from soils.
Final outputs are available at: http://www.sniffer.org.uk/Resources/ER18/Layout_Default/0.aspx?backurl=http%
ER20: Regulating marine renewables
The purpose of this research was to clarify the objectives, roles, responsibilities and opportunities for engagement of the UK environment agencies for planning and development of tidal and wave technologies.
The report contains an examination of the targets, technologies, the areas of Scotland involved, and the regime of incentives designed to help the industry. Potential environmental impacts arising from the generation of power using wave and tidal devices were identified by pooling evidence from previous reviews, modelling studies, information on the functioning of physical and ecological processes in marine environments, and experience from other marine industries such as offshore wind, oil and gas. This review identified several key environmental considerations that should be taken into account by regulators.
Final outputs are available at: www.sniffer.org.uk/Resources/ER20/Layout_Default/0.aspx?backurl=http%
A full list of ERP projects is available on the SNIFFER website at www.sniffer.org.uk/our-work/environmental-regulation.aspx