The UK National Ecosystem Assessment (UK NEA) is the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity. Coordinated by UNEP-WCMC and part of the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) initiative the UK NEA released its findings in June 2011. It was an inclusive process involving many government, academic, NGO and private sector institutions.

Funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Devolved Administrations and two Research Councils (NERC and ESRC), the driving force for the UK NEA came from the findings of the 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

The UK assessment provides a comprehensive picture of past, present and possible future trends in ecosystem services, their values and response options. The UK NEA demonstrates the potential use of ecosystem assessment in decision-making at many levels of governance.

The evidence base, a 1,450 page technical report, underpinning the key messages and findings in the Synthesis was the culmination of the most comprehensive ecosystem assessment undertaken by any nation and involved over 500 natural and social scientists as well as economists.

The UK NEA has influenced the The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature, the first white paper (in England) on the natural environment in 20 years. The paper stated that “the Government will support further phase of ground-breaking research..[and] develop practical tools to assist decision-makers in applying the lessons of the NEA.”

A follow-on phase of the UK NEA will start in early 2012 which will build on the innovative work to develop and promote the arguments that the UK NEA put forward and make them highly applicable to decision and policy making at a range of spatial scales across the UK.

For more details about the UK NEA and to download the Synthesis and technical report visit http://uknea.unep-wcmc.org/