Presentation by Sir Mark Walport at the Crop Protection Association (CPA) conference on 14 May 2015. Read an extract of the speech on the current science around neonicotinoid insecticides: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/crop-protection-managing-risk-not-avoiding-it

1. Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Sir Mark Walport
Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government

2. 2 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Wellbeing, health, security & resilience
• Knowledge translated to economic
advantage
• The right science for emergencies
• Underpinning policy with evidence
• Advocacy and leadership for science
Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser
Credit: iStockphoto

3. 3 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
GCSA Themed Annual Report
• Topic of report all pervasive in work as
GCSA.
• Growth driven by science and
innovation.
• Innovation to deal with global
challenges (ageing populations, scarce
resources, infectious diseases, carbon
emissions).
• Innovation held back by poorly framed
discussions about risk
• If governance of risk goes wrong, miss
out on major potential benefits, or suffer
needlessly.

4. 4 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Where does risk come in?
Natural
events
Credit: US Agricultural Research Service
Credit:Jeff Pettis/CC BY 3.0
Credit: iStockphoto
Credit: Maccheek/PD

5. 5 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Where does risk come in?
Human
Credit: AP Credit: Robert Campbell/CC BY-SA 3.0

6. 6 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Hazard
• Exposure
• Vulnerability
• Risk
• Uncertainty
• Threat
Using common principles about language to
raise the level of conversations
Credit: Warren Photographic

7. 7 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Innovation has got us where we are
• Widespread electrification
• Improvements in healthcare
• Mass production systems
• Better transport links Credit: A_Werdan/PD
Credit: Foodcollection RF

8. 8 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
A growing global population requires innovation
The challenges we face include:
•Climate change
•Water security
•Food and agriculture
Credit: Lindsey Bengtson/PD
Credit: stockphoto
Credit: ‫גיאן‬‫שר‬ ‫גאל‬‫י‬/CC BY 2.5

9. 9 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
1) High level of acceptance but who pays?
Credit: Sponge/CC BY-SA 3.0 Credit: Fluzone

10. 10 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
2) Science meets values
Teosinte Zea mays
Credit: Daniel Goehring/CC-BY-2.0

11. 11 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
3) My risk, your benefit
Credit: Sunil060902/CC-BY-SA-3.0
Credit: istockphoto
Credit: US Dept of Energy/PD

12. 12 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of innovation and risks
4) Unintended consequences
Credit: Dalbera/CC BY 2.0 Credit: istockphoto

13. 13 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Forms of Innovation and Risks
5) New challenges
Credit: Walterdenkens/CC BY-SA 3.0Credit: US Air Force/CC BY-NC 2.0

14. 14 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Holding a Wider Conversation about Risk
• Risk – a societal issue
• Language
• Values and lenses
• Who benefits and who
carries the risk
• Transparency
• Widening the conversation
is a democratic necessity
Credit: Focus Features

15. 15 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
What can science contribute?

16. 16 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
What can science contribute?
Credit: himajin/PD

17. 17 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Vector Control is 60% of the .
Global Malaria Prevention
Budget
Only 4 classes of insecticide
are approved for mainstream
vector control
Recent scale up of vector
control has reduced malaria
by >50% in many countries.
Insecticides in disease control
Credit: IVCC

18. 18 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
Insecticide Resistance is Growing
A decade ago pyrethroid
resistance was almost
unknown in Africa. Scaling
up insecticide-based
prevention has saved
millions of lives but
resistance is now
increasing and new
insecticides are needed.

19. 19 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
GMOs
•What organism?
•What gene?
•What purpose?
•The specific application
– not the generic technology
Risk Discussions Require Specificity
Credit: IRRI/CC BY 2.0
Credit: Rosalee Yagihara/CC BY 2.0 Credit: Sarah Usher/Rothamsted Research

20. 20 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
The policy challenge:
Viewing difficult issues through varied lenses
Parkhill et al, Transforming the Energy System – Public Values, Attitudes and Acceptability, 2013 (UKERC)
Credit: Thomas Shahan/CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0

21. 21 Innovation: Managing Risk, Not Avoiding it
• Investment: Aligning national priorities
for investment on resilience,
infrastructure and innovation with an
evidence and risk-based approach;
• UK coordination: Ensuring a more
coherent and structured approach to
assessing impact of risk in policy,
regulation and crisis management;
• Regulators: Putting in place the right
governance structures and incentives in
relation to our regulators and regulated
industries;
• Science-based EU: Rooting the
approach to policy and decision-making
in EU in robust scientific evidence.
Call to Action
STOP CONFUSING SCIENCE
AND VALUES

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