Research has the greatest impact when it reaches the people who can use and benefit from it. Alongside informing policy and practice, CREW is committed to ensuring that its research delivers tangible benefits for communities, businesses and the next generation of researchers.
A CREW project is calling for natural capital to be placed at the heart of River Basin Management Planning (RBMP) in Scotland, helping to better connect water management with climate resilience, biodiversity recovery, public health and sustainable land use.
CREW, in partnership with ClimateXChange, hosted an event on the 2nd June, bringing together researchers, policymakers, practitioners and third sector organisations to explore the growing impacts of climate change, including flooding, on mental health and wellbeing.
A recent CREW project led by The James Hutton Institute, in collaboration with Scotland’s Rural College, the University of Aberdeen, and the British Geological Survey, highlighted a pressing issue for Scotland: the increasing likelihood and duration of water scarcity events due to climate change. This project, focused on the impact of these changes on three critical sectors—crop production, livestock farming, and distilleries.
There is no escaping the fact that we are facing serious global challenges when it comes to water. Growing populations, climate-change driven extreme weather events that result in shocks to our natural and built environment, depleted groundwater supplies, pollution from agriculture, industry and sewage… the list goes on.
In February 2023, CREW attended the two-day Flood Risk Management Conference hosted by Sniffer in Perth. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Water Resilient Places’ both from a policy and on the ground actions perspective. The hybrid conference included attendees from local and national government, research and higher education institutes, as well as relevant experts from consultancies.
CREW’S partnership with Scottish Canals supports transformation of these amazing assets, promoting sustainable growth, and access to opportunities for health and well-being. Crucially Scotland’s canal network offers solutions to climate change impacts such as managing surface water and sustainable transport routes.