Biggest ever countryside survey
29 Jun 2007 by Evoluted New Media
A team of over sixty specially trained scientists have begun the biggest and most comprehensive survey of the natural resources of the British countryside.
A team of over sixty specially trained scientists have begun the biggest and most comprehensive survey of the natural resources of the British countryside.
The team will survey in excess of 600 one kilometre squares of the English, Welsh and Scottish countryside in the hope that the results will provide a unique audit of “UK environmental assets” giving an overall picture of the current status of our countryside.
Professor Pat Nuttall, director of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology - who are carrying out the survey - said: “In the twenty-first century it is more important than ever to gather reliable data to underpin our scientific understanding of the environment. Countryside Survey is a key part of this process and I’m delighted that we are playing a leading role. I look forward to seeing the results.”
The 2007 survey is the fifth in a sequence that stretches back to 1978 and information will be collected on natural landscape features including plant communities and habitats within farmland, woods, heathland, moors, soils, small rivers and ponds.
The last survey, which reported in 2000, demonstrated the effectiveness of the survey system by confirming a reversal in the decline of hedgerows.
Barry Gardiner MP, Defra Minister for Biodiversity said: “The countryside is constantly changing. It is the product of millions of decisions by individual farmers and consumers, along with the policies of government, public and voluntary bodies. It is essential that we understand the effects of change, so that we can conserve its best features and guide the direction of change in the future.”
