Event report
On 15 September, 2021 POST held a closed briefing on Food insecurity and children’s health. As this was a closed event for Parliamentarians and parliamentary staff, questions and comments during the discussion have not been attributed.
POSTbrief
This POSTbrief summarises the evidence on routes of human exposure to pesticides and potential impacts on human health. It outlines the regulations and surveillance programmes in place to track exposures and minimise risk. Finally, it comments on how regulatory changes after EU withdrawal could affect trade, industry and consumers.
POSTnote
The UK Government is introducing Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) from April 2022 to map where local habitat improvement and restoration could address national-scale environmental objectives. This POSTnote summarises the LNRS approach, including mapping ecological networks, the opportunities for LNRSs to deliver wider benefits to nature and people, and the likely challenges associated with the strategies and their delivery.
POSTnote
Marine ecosystems around the UK can both increase and decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Carbon loss and gain globally by these ecosystems has the potential to influence climate change. This POSTnote summarises the marine ecosystems in the UK that contribute to these processes, their current and potential future extent, and pressures on them.
Event listing
Examining the impact of food insecurity on children’s health, and interventions to support access to healthy food for children.
POSTbrief
The resilience of water supplies and the water environment to climate change and the impacts of drought are areas of concern for the UK. Definitions of resilience vary, but in this POSTbrief it is the ability of the water supply system to recover from shocks. Projected changes in weather patterns and climate (increased temperatures and greater variability in rainfall) will reduce water availability. Increased water demand due to population growth means that, without action, water shortages could occur in future. These will impact the environment, society and the economy.
Horizon scanning
Experts have helped us find 30 areas of change to help the UK Parliament prepare for the future.
Horizon scanning
Transforming the food system, to achieve all the UN SDG long-term goals, is challenging and will require a comprehensive, longer term approach to outcomes.
Horizon scanning
The effective ways of increasing agricultural productivity while minimising environmental impacts are debated, such as if biodiversity gains can be integrated into farming systems.
POSTnote
Cooling is a process used across many areas of society. It is important for buildings, industrial processes and the supply of food and medicines. It is also needed for sustainable development. Yet some cooling applications contribute to climate change and the demand for cooling is rising. This POSTnote looks at UK and global demand for cooling. It highlights ways of meeting this demand that are more sustainable than conventional practices. It also outlines technology and policy options to promote these.
POSTnote
What does it mean to reformulate food and drinks? How does it support healthier diets and lead to public health benefits? This POSTnote gives an overview of the most recent food and drink reformulation policies in the UK, the evidence on public health benefits and the effectiveness of different policies. It also explores challenges and opportunities for reformulation and describes some of the complementary approaches to improve public health.
POSTnote
Large-scale woodland creation is being promoted internationally to mitigate climate change. It can also supply other benefits, such as improving biodiversity, air and water quality. This POSTnote summarises key factors influencing how much carbon is taken up by woodland, the different objectives of woodland creation, constraints to increasing UK tree cover and different finance options.
Horizon scanning
POST has published 20 COVID-19 Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) for the UK Parliament. ARIs were identified using the input of over 1,000 experts. They were then ranked in order of interest to UK Parliament research and select committee staff, following internal feedback. Each ARI comes with a series of questions aiming to further break down each broad area. The ARIs focus on the impacts of the global pandemic and range from economic recovery and growth, to surveillance and data collection, long-term mental health effects, education, vaccine development, and the NHS.
POSTnote
Evolving life sciences and agricultural research approaches may have a decreasing need to access physical resources in future, such as plant seeds or viral material. Information and genetic data may be all that is required for commercial exploitation of biological resources. This POSTnote summarises the challenge this creates for international discussions on the governance of genetic resources and the possible options for addressing these.
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