{"id":6041,"date":"2014-07-08T07:38:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T07:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6041"},"modified":"2014-07-17T10:31:36","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T10:31:36","slug":"will-defra-now-run-an-environmental-learning-programme-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2014\/07\/08\/will-defra-now-run-an-environmental-learning-programme-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Defra now run an environmental learning programme in schools?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nature, as well as obviously being 'for itself', is essential to human welfare and crucial to our global economy. \u00a0Despite this, the value of natural capital is consistently taken for granted. \u00a0The UK's Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has recently published its second <em>State of Natural Capital<\/em>\u00a0r<a href=\"http:\/\/nebula.wsimg.com\/c6ad4eee0e78ff7c9145953b2225ab5f?AccessKeyId=68F83A8E994328D64D3D&amp;disposition=0&amp;alloworigin=1\">eport<\/a> which examines the risks to natural capital as well as the benefits of integrating its importance into policy-making. \u00a0The NCC was established in May 2012 to advise the Government on how to ensure England\u2019s \u2018natural wealth\u2019 is regulated both efficiently and sustainably.<\/p>\n<p>The report\u00a0has three key messages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>assets are currently not being used sustainably and the benefits we acquire from them are at risk<\/li>\n<li>there are economic benefits to be made from natural capital that should be integrated into policy-making; and<\/li>\n<li>a long-term renewal plan is necessary to preserve natural capital for future generations<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The report also proposes a framework for a 25-year plan aimed at improving and maintaining our natural environment. \u00a0It might help if more people understood the concept of natural capital \u2013 and what they can do to restore and enhance it. \u00a0A pity, then, that so little about this is taught in schools.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs\">Defra<\/a> could start running an environmental learning\u00a0programme to go alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learntogether.org.uk\/Resources\/Documents\/Department%20for%20International%20Development%20Global%20Learning%20Programme.pdf\">DfID's<\/a> global learning one. \u00a0Maybe <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2014\/06\/04\/good-news-for-educators-in-wales-thanks-to-pearson\/\">Pearson<\/a>\u00a0would want to be involved. \u00a0Perhaps the new secretary of state, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fwi.co.uk\/articles\/15\/07\/2014\/145552\/liz-truss-appointed-as-new-defra-secretary.htm\">Liz Truss<\/a>, will have it at the top of her agenda ahead of flood prevention, eliminating TB in cattle, killing badgers and beavers, and keeping the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nfuonline.com\/home\/\">National Farmers Union<\/a> on side.<\/p>\n<p>All this is unlikely, of course, but what a prospect ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nature, as well as obviously being 'for itself', is essential to human welfare and crucial to our global economy. \u00a0Despite this, the value of natural capital is consistently taken for granted. \u00a0The UK's Natural Capital Committee (NCC) has recently published...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications","category-news-and-updates"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}