Defra has published a policy paper setting out the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA). This is a science innovation and transformation programme, spanning land and water environments, including marine. It has been set up to collect data on the extent, condition and change over time of England’s ecosystems and natural capital, and the benefits to society.
The objectives across terrestrial and marine are to:
- increase the spatial scale of some data (for example, species distribution, biodiversity)
- provide reliable data to help account for carbon stocks within England’s soils, peatlands, trees, and marine habitats
- carry out an assessment of ecosystems in inland and coastal waters, marine environment, and on land including soil ecosystems
- draw together existing data streams, (including from UK Research and Innovation and UK Hydrographic Office)
- provide tools (for example, datasets, indicators of environmental status, models) to understand how we impact nature both positively and negatively
The NCEA programme is a partnership programme managed by Defra, with contributions from:
- Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas)
- Environment Agency
- Forest Research
- Natural England
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee
- Marine Management Organisation
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
- UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
For more information follow this link.
