Impact case study database

Bangor’s research into microbial pathogen transport in catchments and estuaries has stimulated initiation, and informed direction of, regulatory development work undertaken by regulators (Food Standards Agency [FSA], Environment Agency [EA]) and industry (Seafish, Shellfish Association of Great Britain [SAGB]), on potential for risk-based assurance schemes for shellfish, linking environmental risk predictors (e.g. rainfall) to temporal controls of shellfish harvesting.

Accumulation of human enteric pathogens in filter-feeding shellfish is a potential human health risk that is regulated through monitoring of E. coli as an indicator of faecal contamination. This is a significant regulatory burden for industry, with periods of poor water quality leading to restrictions on harvesting or closure of production areas. In 2016, Professor Le Vay chaired a large stakeholder meeting (industry, FSA, EA, Public Health England, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) investigating industry concerns about the regulatory system, following an unprecedented and unexplained high E. coli event and closure of shellfish production across SW England. Bangor’s fundamental research into the processes governing the transport and fate of viruses and bacteria in coastal waters and shellfish receptors [3.d-3.f] was then used by the FSA to devise a policy roadmap and new active management systems for minimising shellfish contamination and public health risk. The Director of Operations at Seafish reported “without doubt the underpinning research and support provided by Bangor University has been... instrumental in driving change and improvements across the shellfish regulatory and production landscape” [5.1].

Professor Le Vay provided science advice to the UK Shellfish Stakeholders Working Group (SSWG), a UK-wide body formed to address industry concerns about impacts of frequent closures and public-health downgrades of shellfish production areas. This led to Bangor being commissioned to undertake a full-scale proof of concept of adaptive management of shellfish waters (Developing an Assurance Scheme for Shellfish and Human Health – DASSHH [3.g]) and advising Seafish (Le Vay, Seafish Expert Panel) and FSA, in review of potential for changes to regulation of shellfish waters. Based on this work, the development of a risk-based approach to the classification of shellfish production waters via DASSHH was identified as a critical action in the English Aquaculture Strategy 2020 (Le Vay is member of Seafood 2040, Aquaculture Leaders Group) [5.1, 5.2].

Half of EU aquaculture production comes from live bivalve shellfish, with a value of over €1200,000,000 (01-2016), supporting over 8000 companies and over 60,000 jobs. Bangor research focused on detecting and quantifying pathogenic viruses in various environmental and animal matrices including wastewater and shellfish. It also highlighted the inability of the approved Norovirus testing method to discriminate between active and inactive virus leading to inaccurate quantification of Norovirus in environmental samples. This work informed effective industry rebuttal of amendments to Regulation (EC) 854/2004 to include statutory limits for Norovirus in shellfish harvested for human consumption (tabled in 2015). This helped secure thousands of jobs and live shellfish to continue to be sold safely to the market by avoiding a projected 50% reduction in sales during winter months over 5 years [5.3].

Bangor’s research directly led to the creation and implementation of the national wastewater surveillance programme for tracing COVID-19 in the UK [5.4, 5.5, 5.6]. This programme is run by UK Government via the Joint Biosecurity Centre, Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. UK Government has invested over GBP40,000,000 into the programme. It directly supports decision making (e.g. success of non-pharmaceutical interventions; NPIs) and the targeting of resources in the Test and Trace programme (e.g. where to deploy surge testing). Bangor provided the proof-of-concept and validated viral analysis methods which were subsequently adopted by the national programme [5.4]. Defra’s Project Manager reported that ‘ Bangor University’s work has significantly impacted our work as part of the national response to COVID-19’, adding that the ‘ Pioneering research of Bangor University early in the pandemic formed the basis of the establishment of the English national COVID-19 Wastewater Monitoring Programme’ and that the Programme’s success has depended on the ‘early engagement with the [Defra] Programme team to understand and embed policy response needs into Bangor’s research service at the outset, coupled with clear communication of progress and codesign of solutions to complex or sensitive issues surrounding handling of the pandemic response’ [5.4] .

In the period Aug-Dec 2020, the national programme has provided near real-time information on levels of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in all the major towns and cities in the UK (4 samples/week at 44 core sites) [5.4]. This is used to evaluate the success of NPIs and also to track the spread of newly emerged variants of concern in the UK (e.g. Lineage B.1.1.7., Kent variant). Viral analysis was undertaken jointly by the Environment Agency and Bangor University laboratories. The Director General for the Joint Biosecurity Centre, UK reported that Bangor’s Wastewater programme enabled them “to respond to sometimes rapidly emerging situations as part of our national Test & Trace Efforts” confirming that the Bangor team made “a very critical difference at this time of national crisis” [5.6].

In addition, wastewater testing in the suburbs of 20 UK cities (in-sewer monitoring) has been used to directly inform decision making on a local scale. Together with United Utilities and the Department of Health and Social Care, Bangor undertook the pilot programme in Liverpool where data was collected from 8 suburbs and the information used to geographically target surge testing and introduce non-pharmaceutical interventions. Following the pilot, it was subsequently rolled out to all major UK cities [5.4].

Bangor is the central analysis laboratory for the Department of Health and Social Care’s critical infrastructure COVID-19 prevention programme which aims to protect national supply chains. This programme collects wastewater from 25 key industrial facilities (e.g. meat processing plants, distribution depots) daily and reports within 24 hours on levels of COVID-19 incidence within the workforce. This has successfully identified COVID-19 outbreaks within the workforce, followed by surge testing to identify infected individuals and the introduction of effective control measures.

In addition to SARS-CoV-2 the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales have used the Bangor laboratories to monitor other infectious diseases of public health concern (e.g. influenza A/B, Respiratory syncytial virus, Enterovirus D68) to inform planning [5.5]. Professor D. Jones chairs the Welsh Government COVID technical advice group and sits on the UK Parliament SAGE sub-committee, Transmission in the Wider Environment which has produced many guidance documents to UK and Welsh Government on COVID-19 related environment issues and its mitigation, including those associated with wastewater. The Chief Scientific Advisor for Health in Wales reported that Bangor’s research “has had a major impact on Welsh Government’s response to Covid-19”, and added that “the epidemiological analysis enabled by this work has provided vital insights to Welsh Government…..Ministers to inform the response to Covid-19” [5.5].

Bangor’s research on the social impacts of biodiversity offsets has been influential in Madagascar and internationally:

1) One of the largest nickel mines in the world (Ambatovy, Madagascar) has changed its implementation of biodiversity offsets to try and achieve better outcomes for poor local communities “Work done by Bangor University and the University of Antananarivo … was very interesting. … Following the publication of this research (and informed by other information) we have made changes to how we address social impacts of our biodiversity conservation efforts.” (Senior Manager, Sustainability, Ambatovy, [5.1]).

2) Bangor-led research fed into the development of industry Good Practice Principles that have been widely used. In 2018 (via an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account award) Bangor led the development of industry good practice principles: “Ensuring No Net Loss for people as well as biodiversity” [5.2]. (A) In 2019 the Ugandan government launched its national offset strategy for 2020 to 2030 which requires biodiversity offsets to address potential impacts on people (citing the principles and Bangor research [5.3]). (B) In 2019 it was decided that a major mine and associated offset in Myanmar would not go ahead unless the social impacts of the offset could be addressed. “I relied on your recent publications (primarily the good practice principles document and the Con Bio article) to inform Finding 5 on social dimensions. Thank you for producing such useful materials.” (Senior Environmental and Social Analyst USAID [5.4]; see also the final report citing Bangor work [5.5]). (C) A major French Development Agency-funded project strengthening capacity for mitigation of biodiversity impacts from development with governments of 4 African countries (Guinea, Mozambique, Uganda, Madagascar) used the principles (including translating them into French) to ensure impacts on people are properly considered alongside biodiversity [5.6]. “The Principles [5.2], as well as the Bidaud publications [3.1, 3.2], were very useful in convincing several participants to an Environmental and Social due-diligence meeting of the importance of considering the social impacts of the offsets being discussed for a hydropower project in Madagascar; the documents were known to several of the biodiversity specialists around the table including representatives of the European Investment Bank and CDC Group plc” (Lead consultant Biotope [5.6]). Working in partnership with a biodiversity consultant funded by Professor Jones’s second ESRC Impact Acceleration Account project in 2019, extensive engagement with a wide range of industry stakeholders was possible. New guidelines produced by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for project developers aiming to mitigate biodiversity impacts associated with solar and wind energy development [5.7] use the Bidaud publication [3.1] to highlight the potential for negative social impacts from biodiversity offsets. They refer to the good practice principles [5.2] as the place to go for further guidance on addressing social impacts saying, “This guidance provides a framework for defining measurable social outcomes and assessing whether the social considerations of biodiversity no net loss measures have been sufficiently accounted for ”.

3) The Biodiversity Consultancy (TBC, Cambridge), one of the best-known consultancy firms working on biodiversity offsets, have strengthened their focus on social impacts and are applying this with clients. “The idea for producing an Industry Briefing Note [Social considerations when designing and implementing biodiversity offsets: opportunities and risks for business [5.8]] stemmed from these initial discussions [about Bangor’s research in this area]. We went on to organise a very well attended session on Biodiversity Offsets and People at the International Association for Impact Assessment in Durban in May 2018. We believe that this session helped key people in the industry more explicitly consider the social impacts of biodiversity offsets (many companies still tend to consider environmental mitigation and social mitigation separately) … The work we are doing in this area represents a new strength for our business … and is central to ensuring the best possible outcomes for people and biodiversity.” Technical Director TBC [5.9].

Greater awareness of social impacts of protected areas has resulted in changes in policy and project design in Madagascar:

1) The Government of Madagascar is reforming its policies on the social impacts of protected areas, including new requirements for how impacts are evaluated, compensated and monitored. Madagascar’s Minister of Environment, and Sustainable Development is leading the reforms and said “Thanks to research carried out by Bangor University and ESSA-LRA [a Malagasy research institution]…, we are carrying out profound reforms of our social safeguard policy in protected areas to ensure that conservation does not impoverish local populations and that their human rights are preserved. [This will] directly benefit the hundreds of thousands of local communities who depend on the resources of our protected areas…. With this letter, I would like to express my gratitude for the effort that researchers contribute to enrich the country with practical knowledge that helps in better decision-making in the choice made by our policy makers *.*” [5.10].

2) Bangor-led research has influenced donors to better account for local costs. (A) “One direct result of Bangor University’s research and associated policy engagement is the £10.2 million [GBP10,200,000] DEFRA project: Achieving sustainable forest management through community managed protected areas in Madagascar. The recently launched tender for this refers explicitly to research by Bangor University, and requires those who bid to acknowledge local costs and demonstrate how their proposed activity will address them.” (British Ambassador to Madagascar [5.11]). (B) A USD74,900,000 (12-2019) endowment for biodiversity conservation in Madagascar (Fondation pour les Aires Protégées et la Biodiversité de Madagascar; FAPBM) has used Bangor-led research in the development of their new social safeguard system. The director of FAPBM said "FAPBM is developing a new Environmental and Social Management System, which will govern all our commitments to support Madagascar's protected areas. This system was informed by research carried out by ESSA-Forêts [a Malagasy research institution] and Bangor University on the socio-economic impacts of conservation and the state of play of the social safeguards currently in force in the Protected Areas of Madagascar.” [5.12]. (C) The World Bank recently conducted a major review of their environmental investments in Madagascar over the past decade. One of the reviewers (from the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank said “I would like to thank you for your important contributions to the report regarding the socio-economic impacts of biodiversity conservation. First, the interviews we had to discuss the environmental sector, biodiversity degradation, and the EP3 in Madagascar have been very useful in shaping the evaluation. Second, the scientific research published by you and your colleagues at Bangor University has been crucial to a better understanding of the complexity to design and implement social safeguard policies for restricted forest access. The World Bank’s approach in the EP3 has been flawed and has initiated a dialogue on why and how safeguards should be implemented for biodiversity projects. The findings of the evaluation – based on robust – evidence will shape this dialogue and provide critical evidence to inform the design of future World Bank projects….. I have used [your] data in the evaluation to get a better understanding of the complex farm realities of households that were eligible for compensation (or not). This is truly unique data that reviewers rarely have at their disposal” [5.13].

Work laying out a vision for delivering global No Net Loss of biodiversity while ensuring social equity, is influencing international policy:

Global No Net Loss of ecosystems was included as a target in the draft text of the post-2020 framework to be agreed in 2021 by the Convention on Biological Diversity; 3.6 was referenced in the formal scientific advice on ensuring social equity [5.14].

Bangor University research has directly influenced the sustainable management of the global GBP27,000,000,000 bottom fishing industry, by: a) informing the evidence-based policy requirements of Welsh Government (WG) and the EU (policy impact), while b) enabling a sustainable fishing industry by informing evidence-based management plans (WG, EU) and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for consumers (economic impact), and c) ensuring a biodiverse and resilient seabed (WG, EU and MSC, environmental impact), by providing science end-users with quantitative evidence-based tools to assess the ecosystem effects of bottom fishing.

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is the largest independent non-profit organization that sets international standards for sustainable fishing, certifying 17% of global catches. Bangor science critically guided the scoring of the impact of bottom fishing on habitats (Principle 2.4.1) in 19 MSC accreditations, totalling 1,871,000t of landings per year, representing 9.8% of global bottom fishing landings volume [5.1]. The way the science was translated into scores, however, did allow a great deal of subjective interpretation. Hence, MSC identified in its Standard Review that an evidence-based standardised tool was required to determine the impact of bottom fishing on habitats, because objective assessments were hampered by the paucity of quantitative understanding of impact and recovery. The MSC standard has been under intense scrutiny, from UK Parliament and NGOs like Greenpeace, who believe that bottom fishing is an inherently destructive fishing method and cannot be considered sustainable. To avoid undermining the credibility of their certifications, MSC commissioned Bangor to develop a tool that translates the research-evidence base presented in Section 2 for use by fisheries-certification bodies worldwide to assess habitat impacts of bottom fishing of individual fisheries [3.f]. An interactive web-based tool that translates Bangor’s methods to estimate bottom fishing impacts into a suggested score for the ‘Habitats outcome’ was delivered to the MSC in October 2019. This tool has already revolutionised the way the MSC assesses PrincipIe 2.4.1. The Senior Fisheries Standards Manager at MSC stated that “the impact of Bangor’s research translating into this tool is significant … to ensure a highly evidence-based and credible tool for labelling in relation to certifying sustainable fisheries and permitting the consumer to make sustainable choices” [5.2]. MSC certifies about 17% of global fisheries, with approximately 35% of global fisheries catches by weight coming from bottom trawls [5.3]. Therefore, the tool is available to approximately 5.95% of global fisheries to assess their seabed impacts (estimated value of approximately GBP4,700,000,000 per year). Bangor’s research has directly benefited the MSC by increasing the credibility of the standard with the public, and therefore avoids a loss of market share for the ecolabel and its certified high-standard fisheries - as well as guiding consumers to make informed choices benefitting the environment, fishers and suppliers.

Achieving ‘Seafloor Integrity’ in the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (Descriptor 6, MSFD) requires methods to assess the effect of bottom fishing activity on seafloor ecosystems at a European scale, but quantitative evidence-based methods were not available when the MSFD was put into EU law. The Directorate-General for Environment (EU-DGENV) requested the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) provide advice on how to quantitatively assess bottom-fishing impacts. ICES offers advice based on the best available science that is characterised by quality assurance, developed in a transparent, unbiased, and independent process, and relies on high quality science to underpin their advice. ICES advised the EU to use the bottom fishing assessment method developed by Bangor in 2016, 2017 and 2019 (“population dynamic approach” in the advice documents) [5.4, 5.5, 5.6]. Bangor’s science therefore benefitted ICES by underpinning their provision of evidence-based approaches to assessing 'Seafloor Integrity' [5.7].

As well as impacts at global scales, the science has underpinned changes in policy at the Welsh national level. King scallops are the third most valuable wild-caught seafood in Wales, at GBP1,400,000 for 800t, with Cardigan Bay providing most (66%) of the landings. Welsh Government has been under pressure, from both conservationists and fishers, over the correct trade-off between environmental benefits and economic costs of areas closed to scallop dredging in Cardigan Bay. In response to this pressure, WG consulted on opening an area previously closed to scallop dredging. WG arguments for opening the area were underpinned solely by evidence generated by Bangor research putting disturbance from scallop dredging into the context of natural disturbance levels due to waves and tides [5.8]. The consultation generated significant media attention and over 5500 responses were received. In October 2016, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs concluded that it was appropriate to proceed with the preparation of new legislation to introduce a flexible permit scheme within Cardigan Bay, explicitly citing Bangor’s research as underpinning this decision [5.9]. Bangor’s research therefore benefitted WG by allowing it to make evidence-based decisions that will increase the value of Welsh fisheries whilst not compromising the environment.

Bangor’s greenhouse gas (GHG) research has generated substantial impact on UK / international GHG policy and UK industry. The underpinning evidence provided by Bangor-led research has been synthesised with additional datasets to generate UK country-specific N₂O emission factors (EFs) for different fertilisers, manures, and urine and dung deposited by grazing livestock (cattle and sheep), resulting in many of these new EFs being much lower than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default N₂O EFs that the UK had previously been using [5.1]. This research led to key changes in the EF calculation informing the UK GHG inventory and IPCC policy guidelines.

The impact of these new Bangor-generated EFs on the reported UK agriculture greenhouse gas inventory emission for the 2016 submission (activity data year 2013) under the Framework Convention on Climate Change [5.2], was a reduction by approximately 11.6% (i.e. from 49.2MtCO₂e to 43.5MtCO₂e). Since then, these new EFs have been used to generate a more sophisticated N₂O emissions estimate that accounts for the influence of factors such as rainfall. This has resulted in a greater reduction in the inventory estimate, by approximately 18.5% (9.1MtCO₂e) compared with default EF methodology. The largest contribution to this reduction has been the reduction in N₂O emission estimates from soils, by approximately 30% (for 2013) [5.2]. Since the calculated methane (CH₄) emissions from enteric and manure management sources have only been decreased by approximately 4.5%, Bangor-led research has further highlighted the high relative contribution of GHG emissions from ruminant CH₄ [5.2] with implications for policy and industry to prioritise strategies to reduce this challenging source of emissions. Another significant impact of the research is that a lower total agriculture GHG emission means that a greater proportion of emissions can be offset by increases in carbon sequestration, improving the UK’s ability to reach the 2050 target of net zero carbon.

Through Bangor’s research, the introduction of the UK country-specific EF (for grazing livestock) has had the most impactful effect, with the InveN₂Ory project data resulting in a 75% reduction in the IPCC default N₂O EF for cattle, from 2% of applied/deposited N (lost as N₂O-N) to 0.44% [5.2]. The result was a reduction in estimated total N₂O emission from the excreta of grazing livestock from 15.62ktN₂O/year to 4.21ktN₂O/year, for the year 2013. These new data also contributed significantly to the 2019 Refinement of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines (see below).

Bangor’s research has influenced policy in many countries. Specifically, the InveN₂Ory project team have been requested by international groups to advise on improving estimates in their National Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The countries specifically requesting Bangor’s assistance in improving the N₂O component of their inventories were:

• Chile (2016): Chadwick and the team trained 4 Chilean technicians and researchers, and 1 policy advisor in appropriate experimentation, inventory calculations, emission factors derivation, and greenhouse gas modelling, via the Newton Picarte, Institutional Skills Development project, Improving the Greenhouse Gas Inventory for Agriculture in Chile, between INIA (Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Chile), Bangor University (Chadwick) and Rothamsted Research [5.3].

• Denmark: Chadwick is an invited expert advisor on a 3-year Danish Administration-for-Agriculture funded project (2019 to 2022) Developing national emission factors for nitrous oxide from nitrogen fertilisers and crop rotations (NATEF).

International impact of the Bangor-led research was achieved via the 2019 Refinement of the 2006 IPCC Guidelines [5.4], which cites this research in its method modification for accounting for N₂O emissions from urine and dung deposited by grazing livestock. The 2019 IPCC Guidelines used Bangor-led research evidence to support the case for disaggregating the combined grazing excretal N₂O EF by separating N₂O EFs for urine and dung. This resulted in a much-reduced EF (comprising 0.77% for urine and 0.13% for dung, which are close to the average reported by Bangor of 0.69% for urine and 0.19% for dung), compared with the combined N₂O EF of 2% (for cattle) in the previous 2006 IPCC Guidelines. Moreover, data from the Bangor-led experimental research with real and artificial urine treatments were used by IPCC to confirm the use of artificial urine studies within the analysed dataset enabling an additional 63 observations (out of a total 326) to be included in the statistical analysis to derive the urine N₂O EF [5.4].

Bangor’s research will impact on the annual Agriculture GHG inventories of all countries using the Tier 1 EF_3PRP when submitting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (via their compliance with the updated 2019 IPCC guidelines). Ultimately, all Carbon-Footprinting tools will also be modified to take account of the improved N₂O EF resulting from Bangor-led research.

Impact on the Welsh Government (WG) and Welsh livestock industry has been via parallel engagement through knowledge exchange by the Bangor staff in this research group (Williams, Styles and Chadwick). Working with WG, Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, Bangor research co-identified and costed practical strategies for reducing GHG emissions from, and carbon sequestration within, Welsh farms via the Climate Smart Agriculture-Wales project [5.5]. Resulting impact was achieved by raising awareness of the potential levels of greenhouse gas mitigation across the meat and dairy sectors, and by co-producing a Welsh Government report reviewing the most appropriate Carbon-Footprinting tool to roll out across Welsh livestock farms [5.6] for future bench-marking.

Bangor’s research [3.b, 3.6] informed the WG’s multidisciplinary approach to the agriculture sector’s contribution to the challenge of meeting Wales’ national Carbon Budgets. Reflecting the close integration with this policy process, Williams was asked by WG to present this approach to the UK Climate Change Commission (the independent statutory advisory body for UK and devolved governments), which received positive feedback from the Commission. This culminated in Bangor’s invitation to contribute to Hybu Cig Cymru’s “Sustainability roadmap” for the red meat sector in Wales, outlining which strategies need to be implemented so that GHG emission-reduction targets are met by the Welsh livestock sector for the period 2020 to 2050.

A new aromatic-grained variety, Sunaulo Sugandha (translation ‘Golden Fragrant’), was a product of Bangor’s better-cross strategy [3.5, 5.1]. It has aroma, slender grain and higher yield traits that conventional breeding efforts in Nepal had failed to combine in a successful variety. Sunaulo Sugandha became the only modern aromatic variety to be grown in Nepal in 2014 when it was grown on over 3,000ha in 6 districts in the Western Development Region, accounting for 2.5% of the rice area [5.1], corroborated for Makwanpur district by a survey in 2015 [5.2]. This new variety has benefited the livelihoods of the poor in Nepal, from 2014 onwards. Its high market price (40% more than non-aromatic quality rice) has benefited Nepalese farmers by over GDP1,000,000 per year (based on the average yields of this variety on farmers’ fields). Sunaulo Sugandha has continued to be grown and to benefit farmers every year to 2020 as evidenced by certified seed production and sales by seed companies such as Anamolbiu Pvt Ltd (APL) [5.3.].

Globally, the Bangor-led research has had a significant impact on the activity of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)’s public-good rice breeding programme. This is documented by rice breeders at IRRI [5.4, 5.5] where the fundamental change of adopting Bangor’s better-cross strategy has led to a recent major paradigm shift . By 2019 IRRI had adopted the better-cross strategy as its mainstream approach and, as a result, had abandoned their previous high-cross number strategy. This paradigm shift was informed by the IRRI collaborative project, Transforming Rice Breeding (TRB), a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project (2014 to 2018), where the better-cross approach was introduced. In 2019, IRRI authors [5.4] cite only Bangor-led research to justify adopting the better-cross approach: “Several hundred crosses would be routinely performed each season prior to TRB however we reduced this number to about 100 crosses/year. Thus, our paradigm regarding the number of crosses shifted from quantity to quality… [3.3].” IRRI has acknowledged the significant impact of Bangor’s research in influencing their current breeding programme (2020) [5.5], which sets the agenda for breeding methods in the public sector in at least 30 developing countries. Seeds of advanced lines or released varieties with greater resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, better nutrition and higher yields are directly distributed to national breeding programmes globally.

Using the better-cross strategy to substantially reduce number of crosses is a huge change by IRRI that “freed up time and resources” [5.4]. Fewer, better crosses reduce land areas by 50% because simpler trial designs are needed to produce the same number of advanced breeding lines as a many-cross programme [3.3]. The better-cross strategy induces several-fold savings in labour for making crosses. These benefits should produce at least a 10% increase in breeding efficiency. The exact economic benefit of new breeding lines realised by IRRI through adopting the better-cross strategy is not available without extensive research. However, a 2016 review of the impact of IRRI’s rice improvement programme [5.6] estimated that average economic benefits (per year), would range from GBP194,600,00 to GBP735,000,000 for 3 key rice-growing countries combined. As 2 countries (Indonesia and the Philippines), account for 13% of the world’s rice production (with economic benefits of approximately GBP478,000,000 per year), the total economic gain from IRRI’s rice improvement programme can be extrapolated to approximately GBP3,677,000,000 per year globally, with an estimated 1-10% of this due to the adoption of Bangor’s better-cross strategy (GBP36,770,000 to GBP367,700,000 per year in 2020). A more recent meta-analysis (2018) on improving the efficiency of IRRI breeding by another method (rapid generation advance) concluded “for large breeding programmes benefits from improved efficiency can add up to several billion US dollars” [5.7].

The global impact of a paradigm-shift in rice breeding is an aggregate of the adoption of hundreds of economically beneficial, high-quality rice varieties across South and South-East Asia (and in other key rice-growing countries) by approximately 144,000,000 rice farmers, the majority of whom are smallholders.

Promotion of agroecological approaches using the options by context (OxC) approach, developed through Bangor’s research, has been adopted internationally by the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) in the context of food security and nutrition in 2019 [5.1] and by the Global Commission on Adaptation (GCA) with respect to climate resilience of agricultural and food systems in 2019 [5.2]. Both bodies recommend promotion of agroecological practices, citing Bangor’s underpinning research. The HLPE report forms the basis of an international policy convergence process initiated at the 46th Session of CFS at the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) in Rome in October 2019. The GCA report launched in September 2019 sets out a programme for governments and businesses to take urgent action to advance climate adaptation solutions in the light of Bangor’s research findings, including a commitment to improve access for at least 60,000,000 small-scale producers to agroecological practices. By adopting the OxC principles, enhanced policy and practice has occurred at an international scale for securing poverty alleviation, increasing food security and enhancing environmental restoration.

Application of the OxC approach directly associated with Bangor’s underpinning research has led to development of new national and sub-national policies and incentives to promote agroecological options in Vietnam [5.3], Peru in [5.4] and Rwanda [5.5]. In the private sector, Barry Callebaut, one of the largest buyers of cocoa in the world, has adopted the OxC approach for cocoa agroforestry, explicitly derived from Bangor’s underpinning research [5.6]. In Vietnam, OxC trials of agroforestry options to increase farm income and control soil erosion on slopes, have led to implementation of new provincial level policies to promote agroecological transitions [5.3]. In 2015, Yen Bai provincial Resolution (15/2015/NQ-HDND) and Decisions (27/2015/QD-UBND and 2412/QD-UBND) provided financial support for households to establish fruit tree agroforestry practices and agroecological soil and water conservation measures to sustain maize production on sloping land. The Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) Decision (2477/QD-BNN-HTQT) created MARD’s Agroforestry Working Group set up to review, improve, and propose agroforestry-related policies in Vietnam [5.3]. In Peru, regional implementation of a national agroforestry concession policy incorporates the OxC approach explicitly based on Bangor’s underpinning research [5.4]. This policy grants formal land-title to farmers, provided that they commit to maintain, or establish agroforestry on 20% or more of the land. With the OxC approach thus adopted in national policies, it is estimated that up to 120,000 households in the Peruvian Amazon are benefiting from the OxC rollout affecting over 1,000,000ha [5.4].

Several major development initiatives have adopted the OxC approach as a direct outcome of the underpinning Bangor research. The Global Climate Fund, together with the Government of Sri Lanka, have invested approximately USD49,000,000 (03-2020) [5.7]. The development work aims to strengthen the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers to address climate-induced irrigation and drinking water shortages by improving the resilience of farm- and land-management practices using the OxC approach, targeting at least 1,343,216 beneficiaries and protecting approximately 346,000ha of land [5.8]. The Netherlands invested USD49,461,485 (06-2015) in the Dryland Development project (2014 to 2019) [5.9] in Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso(DryDev), which had the OxC approach at its core. Success was validated by associated planned comparisons funded through the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Dryland Restoration project EUR3,845,630 (04-2015) and USD1,500,000 (04-2015) [5.10] with key impacts for individual farmers being realised at the project delivery and evaluation stages. They showed DryDev reached 219,694 farmers who rehabilitated 122,850ha of common land, practiced improved soil and water conservation on 90,058ha and other climate smart practices on 52,994ha; household resilience was higher in all 5 countries as a result, with dietary diversity of women in Kenyan project sites increased by 15% [5.9]. External mid-term evaluation of this IFAD development project stated that “upscaling of best options by voluntary farmers on their farms and by other farmers (especially neighbours) is very impressive…. the project is currently reaching the impressive number of about 10,000 households, or more than 50,000 beneficiaries in the four action countries which are directly benefiting for their livelihoods from the land restoration project”. Main findings report that “the project may significantly contribute to the achievement of [United Nations Development Goals] SDGs, especially ‘no poverty’ and ‘zero hunger’” [5.10]. The EU and partners have invested EUR21,379,310 (09-2017) in the Regreening Africa project (2017 to 2022), which operates the OxC approach developed from Bangor research across 8 African countries, including Ghana, Rwanda and Senegal in addition to those in DryDev. It targets at least 500,000 households and restoration of at least 1,000,000ha with 145,274 households already actively engaged in restoring 162,697ha by 2019 [5.11]. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) have invested AUD10,390,000 (01-2017) in two phases of the Trees4FoodSecurity (T4FS) project (2012 to 2020) in Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda that uses OxC to scale-up agroforestry. A 2019 evaluation of the impacts of the ACIAR projects identified the first phase (FSC/2012/014) as 1 of only 3 projects out of 15 evaluated that had contributed to transformational development impacting over 30,000 farmers in 2019 reaching over 48,000 in phase 2 [5.12].