Environmental Audit Committee
Inquiry into DEFRA’s National Pollinator Strategy
Executive Summary
1. The Field Studies Council welcomes this inquiry into England’s Pollinator strategy, as well as the
strategy itself. The strategy provides a positive step in addressing knowledge and evidence gaps
and promoting public engagement in pollinator and biodiversity. This submission focuses on
some of the significant gaps within the strategy, notably: the need for critical investment in skills
and training of professionals and volunteers; the importance of schools and environmental
education in delivering the strategy, and the need for identifiable outcomes to support
museums in the storage of insect specimen collections and data sets.
Introduction
2. The Field Studies Council (FSC) is an education charity committed to bringing environmental
understanding to all. We currently welcome 145,000 visitors every year on courses to our
national network of 17 Field Centres. These include groups from nearly 3,000 schools, colleges
and universities. Established in 1943, FSC has become internationally respected for our national
network of education centres and is the UK’s leading provider of curriculum focused field
courses.
3. FSC provides informative and enjoyable opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to
discover, explore, be inspired by, and understand the natural and built environment. We believe
that the more we know about the environment, the more we can appreciate its needs and
protect its diversity and beauty for future generations. We feel that fieldwork should be a vital
element of an imaginative and contemporary education.
Information
4. FSC welcomes the Government’s National Pollinator Strategy as both important and timely. The
strategy provides a positive step to addressing certain knowledge and research gaps, and
recognises the need for evidenced-based actions. Furthermore, we welcome the
communication and sharing of knowledge between scientists, conservationists and NGOs, and
we aim to be a key part of this process.
5. With this in mind, we take this opportunity to highlight the apparent absence of three significant
considerations within the strategy and consultation document. These are: the need for
investment in skills and expertise for both professionals and volunteers; the expansion of public
engagement to include schools and environmental education in the delivery of the strategy, and
the need for identifiable outcomes to support museums in the continued storage of insect
specimen collections and data sets.
6. Skills and expertise: We welcome the recognition of the importance of both professionals and
volunteers (through citizen science and volunteer recording groups) within the pollinator
strategy. This role, however, must be supported and expanded through quality skills and
training provision. There is a wealth of evidence underlining the current critical skills gap within
the UK’s environmental sector, with a particular shortfall in practical monitoring and data
gathering skills, including taxonomic and identification skills1.
7. FSC’s own experience with professionals and volunteers supports this evidence. FSC is not alone
in this experience and this critical skills gap within the environmental sector directly impacts on
the Government’s capacity to deliver its national pollinator strategy. FSC courses and contacts
demonstrate that there is a link between high quality training and long-term engagement in
biodiversity monitoring and recording.
8. FSC has previously run a biodiversity training project where 5,000 volunteer training days
resulted in over 70,000 biological records being obtained. This type of training and engagement
with a wide range of interested, knowledgeable and competent individuals would further
support the establishment of baseline data and continued monitoring, as well as increase public
involvement in, and the profile of, the pollinator strategy. We have also run more specialized
taxonomic training initiatives looking at pollinators and other invertebrates (through the HLFfunded Invertebrate Challenge and currently through the DEFRA-funded Biodiversity Fellows
project).
9. DEFRA’s proposed actions on knowledge, research, and monitoring must be underpinned with
strong investment in skills and training for professionals and volunteers at all levels. The lack of
identified leads or participants is concerning (evidence action 4), and as such FSC is happy to
share its expertise with DEFRA to bridge this gap.
10. Environmental education and schools: The strategy misses an ideal opportunity in engaging
schools and young people to play an active role in delivering the actions and outcomes of the
pollinator strategy. Through outdoor learning and extra-curricular activities, schools could
develop pollinator friendly environments (for instance within and around school grounds) and
encourage young people and their families to explore opportunities where they can play an
active and beneficial role in their local communities. Well designed projects can provide an
effective cross-over between formal and informal education, and between science and public
understanding.
11. Such environmental education could involve, for example, curriculum led practical conservation
work and/or participation in making observations and producing records for local pollinators.
These activities could be modelled on the OPAL project, the highly successful citizen science
1
Research by the Environment Research Funders’ Forum (2010) to identify the 15 most critical skills gaps the
environment sector faces in the coming decade highlights fieldwork as one such critical skills gap. In particular,
specific skills such as species identification, sampling techniques, collection and recording protocols and
methodologies, and technology use are in high need. Yet the ERFF found a decrease in the number of people
available to conduct skilled field research which has meant that employers are finding it difficult to recruit
individuals with fieldwork skills. Environment Research Funders’ Forum (2010). Most wanted: Postgraduate Skills
Needs in the Environment Sector.
For further examples, see: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (2009). Strategically Important
and Vulnerable Capabilities in UK bioscience; Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM, 2011).
Ecological Skills: Shaping the profession for the 21st Century - Phase 1 research report; DEFRA (2013) Tree Health
and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce: Final Report; Lantra (2014). The UK Land-based and Environmental Sector:
Skills Assessment Update Spring 2014.
project for which the Field Studies Council produced 240,000 education packs and easy to use
identification keys (see http://www.field-studies-council.org/supporting-you/fscprojects/current-projects/opal-open-air-laboratories.aspx ). One of the national surveys – the
bug count – is directly relevant to this strategy.
12. Museums collections: We welcome the overdue recognition and action to address storage
concerns of insect specimens (evidence action 6). Museums and collections are vastly
underfunded and many have lost most (if not all) of their natural history experts. This has a
worrying impact on a museum’s ability to maintain its specimens and high quality datasets. It is
therefore concerning that the outcomes identified for this action do not address the
storage/collection issue. Through this pollinator strategy and engagement with citizen science
and volunteer recording groups, DEFRA have an ideal opportunity to link museums to biological
recordings and environmental education and training.
Recommendations
 Training in biological recording and environmental monitoring (for example) for professionals
and volunteers should be implemented and promoted to ensure enough expertise and capacity
is available.
 Bursaries for community groups who are currently under-represented in biodiversity-related
work should be made available (for example, to recruit volunteers and leaders from urban and
minority groups).
 Funding for specialist recording societies should be made available.
 Schools participation in monitoring and recording through schemes such as the OPAL projects
should be encouraged and supported.
 Provision of engagement and training at all levels should be evaluated within the strategy
progress report, along with the impact of the ‘Call to Action’ public engagement programme
(and in particular the role of schools).
 Funding for museums’ maintenance of specimen collections and data sets should be made
available, and initiatives (such as apprenticeships) to support these nationally-relevant
collections should be promoted.
For further information, please contact Dr Steve Tilling (Director of Communications, Field Studies
Council) – steve@field-studies-council.org
June 2014