UK NEA (2024)

FAQs

What is the UK National ecosystem Assessment Follow On? ›

The UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on (UK NEAFO) was produced in 2014, and sought to develop the work of the NEA and make the ecosystem service framework relevant for decision and policy-making at a range of spatial scales across the UK.

The UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) was the first analysis of the UK's natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity. Part of the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) initiative, the UK NEA commenced in mid-2009 and reported in June 2011.

Of the more 'natural' ecosystems, mountain, moorland and heath cover 11% of UK land and freshwater, wetlands and floodplains just 5%. The remainder of the UK consists of woods, grasslands and coastline.

Four Types of Ecosystem Services

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), a major UN-sponsored effort to analyze the impact of human actions on ecosystems and human well-being, identified four major categories of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services.

Centuries of farming, building and industry have made the UK one of the most nature-depleted countries in Europe. Extensive agricultural lands and road networks, in combination with other factors, have reduced the wildlife in the UK to a point hardly seen elsewhere.

Healthy natural ecosystems are essential to conserving biodiversity and providing ecosystem services to society. Ecosystem assessment takes many forms, but most commonly it involves documenting factors that affect the health and functioning of natural ecosystems.

Carried out from 2001 to 2005, the MA assessed the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. It comprehensively demonstrated the importance of ecosystems and the services that they provide to human well-being, and found that, at a global scale, many of these services are being degraded or lost (Box 1.1).

The immediate goal of ecosystem analysis studies is to understand ecosystems and ecosystem processes ; many of these goals are directly related to such applied problems as organic matter production or the influence of management practices on various ecosystem parameters.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) is an island country that sits north-west of mainland Europe. It is made up of mainland Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) and the northern part of the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland). It has numerous smaller islands.

Is the UK a biodiverse country? ›

The UK boasts more than 70,000 known species of animals, plants, fungi and microorganisms, but the majority of assessments indicate that the abundance of its wildlife is declining.

The colour-coded biodiversity map highlights the Highlands as the most biodiverse area in the British Isles. FORRES lies on the border of the most biodiverse area in Britain.

The five main threats to biodiversity are habitat loss, pollution, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change. Increased mobility and trade has resulted in the introduction of invasive species while the other threats are direct results of human population growth and resource use.

The most stable ecosystems are found in oceans because it is naturally liquid (saline), has dissolved oxygen, is light and temperature sensitive. Other terrestrial ecosystems experience modifications and biotic component succession. Oceans, however, are steady over a very long period of time.

One of the most important ecosystem services provided by soil is its ability to form and maintain soil fertility. However, soil fertility is under threat from a variety of factors. One of the biggest threats is soil loss due to erosion, which can be caused by human activities like deforestation and agriculture.

This includes provisioning services such as food and water, regulating services such as pollution removal, and cultural services such as recreation. In 2021, the latest year with complete data, the total annual value for the ecosystem services we are currently able to measure was £47 billion (2022 prices).

The type of information collected in an ecological assessment includes (but is not limited to) information about the physical environment, patterns of behavior and activity, interactions between the authority figure and child, interactions between children, and expectations of the child by parents, teachers, and peers.

Assessment of Ecosystem Services is the way to show importance of ecosystem in human life to the society. From the perspective of regional planners, it is a supporting instrument for planning the use of an area.

The UK has increased the extent of protected areas both on land and at sea, together with reducing air and sea pollution. The relative abundance and distribution of priority species, however, has not improved.