State of Nature report
Geographical coverage
| Geographical scale of the assessment | National |
|---|---|
| Country or countries covered | United Kingdom |
| Any other necessary information or explanation for identifying the location of the assessment, including site or region name |
Geographical scale of the assessment
National
Country or countries covered
United Kingdom
Any other necessary information or explanation for identifying the location of the assessment, including site or region name
Conceptual framework, methodology and scope
Assessment objectives
Provide an authoritative assessment of the status and population trends of animals and plants in the United Kingdom and its Overseas Territories
Look at how these patterns vary between habitats and taxonomic groups
Place these patterns of species change in the context of a changing environment, looking at both the key pressures faced and the conservation work being undertaken.
Mandate for the assessment
Monitoring and recording programmes are well developed for many taxonomic groups in the UK and these are used by a variety of organisations to report on species status and population trends for individual species or taxonomic groups.
This means that the government and the public get a variety of messages about wildlife conservation, telling them of both areas of concern and recent conservation successes.
In order to communicate effectively the need for conservation action we need clear, consistent messages about how our wildlife is faring. This realisation led to 25 of the UK’s wildlife organisations coming together to synthesise data on species status and trends across taxa and habitat type and produce the State of Nature report.
Conceptual framework and/or methodology used for the assessment
Other (please specify)
No exisiting framework or methodology was used
URL or copy of conceptual framework developed or adapted
System(s) assessed
- Marine
- Coastal
- Island
- Inland water
- Forest and woodland
- Cultivated/Agricultural land
- Grassland
- Mountain
- Dryland
- Urban
Species groups assessed
All taxonomic groups were included
Ecosystem services/functions assessed
Provisioning
Regulating
Supporting Services/Functions
Cultural Services
Scope of assessment includes
Drivers of change in systems and services
Yes
Impacts of change in services on human well-being
No
Options for responding/interventions to the trends observed
Yes
Explicit consideration of the role of biodiversity in the systems and services covered by the assessment
Yes
Timing of the assessment
Year assessment started
2012
Year assessment finished
2013
If ongoing, year assessment is anticipated to finish
Periodicity of assessment
Repeated
If repeated, how frequently
We plan to repeat the report every three years
Assessment outputs
Report(s)
Communication materials (e.g. brochure, presentations, posters, audio-visual media)
Journal publications
Training materials
Other documents/outputs
Tools and processes
Tools and approaches used in the assessment
- Indicators
Process used for stakeholder engagement in the assessment process and which component
Key stakeholder groups engaged
The report was a product of 25 wildlife organisations, listed below. Data for the report was collated from a range of other organisations, including research bodies and statutory government agencies.
Amphibian & Reptile Conservation; Association of British Fungus Groups; Bat Conservation Trust; Biological Records Centre; part of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Botanical Society of the British Isles; British Bryological Society; British Lichen Society; British Mycological Society; British Trust for Ornithology; Buglife; Bumblebee Conservation Trust; Butterfly Conservation; Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland; Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew; Mammal Society; Marine Biological Association; Marine Conservation Society; NBN Gateway; People's Trust for Endangered Species; Plantlife; Pond Conservation (now the Freshwater Habitats Trust); Rothamsted Research; RSPB; Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust; Wildlife Trusts
The number of people directly involved in the assessment process
10-100
Incorporation of scientific and other types of knowledge
- Scientific information only
- Citizen science
Supporting documentation for specific approaches, methodology or criteria developed and/or used to integrate knowledge systems into the assessment
Assessment reports peer reviewed
No
Data
Accessibility of data used in assessment
The majority of the data synthesised in the report was previously published and by and large freely available on partner organisation websites.
Policy impact
Impacts the assessment has had on policy and/or decision making, as evidenced through policy references and actions
Much effort has been put into communicating the main findings of the report to government, but it is too early to assess the impact on policy and decision making.
Independent or other review on policy impact of the assessment
No
Lessons learnt for future assessments from these reviews
Capacity building
Capacity building needs identified during the assessment
Actions taken by the assessment to build capacity
How have gaps in capacity been communicated to the different stakeholders
Knowledge generation
Gaps in knowledge identified from the assessment
Our assessment illustrated taxonomic bias in data availability and as well as variation in how well we understand the pressures driving the patterns of species change observed. These are key work areas for the partnership in the coming years.
