The UK national ecosystem assessment, what next?

Professor Terry Marsden has been appointed a member of the Expert Panel providing advice on the next stage of the UK national ecosystem assessment.

In 2011 the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) delivered a wealth of information on the state, value (economic and social) and possible future of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems across the UK, but also identified a number of key uncertainties. The Government has committed to adding to this knowledge base and is therefore supporting a two-year long follow-on phase of the UK NEA.

The overall aim of the follow-on phase is to further develop and communicate the evidence base of the UK NEA and make it relevant to decision and policy making at different spatial scales across the UK. 

Speaking about the follow on phase, Terry said: "It will continue to be a collaborative effort between experts from a wide variety of specialisms and aims to help address important scientific evidence gaps, as well as practical challenges. The overall goal is to develop an improved evidence base to implement the ecosystem services paradigm within the ecosystems approach, and thereby facilitate more informed decision-making."
The information generated by this follow-on phase will also provide some of the evidence needed for the Natural Capital Committee.

The follow-on phase will be funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), The Welsh Government and three research councils: the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and coordinate with and leverage numerous ongoing research activities throughout the UK.