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Research hot topics
The global impact of a new Research Institute
2022-11-10
By Professor Heiko Balzter, Director of the Institute for Environmental Futures
The Institute for Environmental Futures is one of five new research institutes recently launched at the University of Leicester. While all the institutes are undoubtedly important, the Institute for Environmental Futures is arguably the most timely. As the Climate Crisis continues to fill newspapers and websites ahead of COP27, the University is bringing together environmental researchers from different subject areas to tackle these huge global challenges.
The climate emergency and global species extinction crisis call for urgent action to ensure the future habitability of our planet. The world must achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to stay below the threshold for dangerous climate change of +1.5°C. According to the latest UN report on the greenhouse gas emissions gap, this is unlikely to be achievable with current policies and pledges by governments around the world without an “urgent system-wide transformation [that] can deliver the enormous cuts needed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.”
Building on a world-class track record, the Institute is carrying out research into human-environmental systems, working together with stakeholders and partners to change the world. Institute members are working on policy solutions and innovations towards an environmentally sustainable future for humankind.
To ensure that the world we live in remains habitable, we need to find ways of living in a much more environmentally friendly way. Extreme climate change will put an end to our lifestyles unless we drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere within the next decades.
Examples of our research that changes the world:
Reducing deforestation in East Africa
Over the past eight years, my team and I have worked together with the Kenya Forest Service and the REDD+ Round Table on a satellite-based forest alert system. The Kenya Forest Service and its sister organization, the Kenya Wildlife Service, are using it in two counties to reduce illegal tree cutting and poaching in protected forest areas. The Kenya Forest Service won a ‘Special Achievements in GIS’ award from ESRI in 2021 for its innovation in using a combination of satellite-based and community-reported forest alerts.
Identifying a new, human-driven epoch
People have changed the biology and chemistry of Planet Earth. Geologists in the Institute for Environmental Futures have examined how geological epochs, events and episodes in Earth’s history can be identified. Their work shows how humans have altered the chemical composition of the air by burning oil and gas and deforesting large parts of the planet, leaving traces in the geological record that are even visible from space. This epoch is called the ‘Anthropocene’, which means the geological time in which human impacts have changed the Earth. Professors Jens Zinke, Mark Williams, Jan Zalasiewicz and co-authors from around the world have published a ground-breaking paper in the journal ‘Earth Science Reviews’ on this topic.
Protecting valuable peatland
The first comprehensive assessment of human impacts on tropical peatland biogeochemistry by Professor Susan Page and colleagues has investigated deforestation, drainage and land use conversion in the tropics. People’s interference with tropical peatlands has resulted in high carbon losses and reduced carbon storage, mainly by draining the land. Degraded tropical peatlands can increase greenhouse gas emissions rather than absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. They also lead to ground subsidence that can destroy infrastructure such as pipelines, and a higher risk of flooding in towns and cities. A warming climate will likely intensify these impacts. This research describes the need for improved measurement and observation of carbon pools and fluxes in tropical peatlands.
More environmental futures research
- How can we reduce methane emissions from cattle grazing? Professor Pat Heslop-Harrison from the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology is studying just that by investigating how native tropical forage grasses can improve digestion through plant breeding experiments.
- Where can biofuel processing stations be located in Africa? Research on agricultural systems by Professor Kevin Tansey and his group has invented new application of satellite technology from space. Supported by funding from InnovateUK, his research seeks to find the best locations for biofuel processing stations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- How do climate protest movements use information and communication technology? Media and communications research by Professor Athina Karatzogianni over the past three years in the Horizon 2020 funded programme has engaged with Extinction Rebellion to find out how the organisation uses technologies, social media and civic participation.
There are no simple solutions to the climate crisis, but the research being undertaken in the Institute for Environmental Futures is contributing directly to scientific understanding that underpins political, social and economic actions needed to find ways of surviving the rapidly accelerating global changes we are witnessing.
Research Institutes at Leicester
Our Research Institutes address global challenges: not just those facing the world today but also those which future generations will encounter. These Institutes are the current incarnation of a proud history of world-changing, life-changing research at Leicester that stretches back more than a century. Analysis of the REF2021 results placed Leicester’s research within the top 30, with 89% of our research designated ‘world-leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*).
The current six Research Institutes are: