Presentation given at the Collaborative by Nature event (#gecoenv) in Cardiff on 11th November 2011.

1. Wales Environment Research Hub
Collaborative by Nature: Interoperable
Geospatial Approaches to the Environment
Tim Pagella,
WERH

2. The purpose of WERH is to:
“Provide coordination and promote
collaboration in the environmental research
sector, to strengthen the evidence base for
practical policies and actions in support of
the Wales Environment Strategy”

3. The Wales Environment Research Hub (WERH) is located on the ground
floor of the Environment Centre Wales building in Bangor

4. WERH is sponsored by:
The Welsh Government, Department for Environment and
Sustainability (DES)
Countryside Council for Wales (CCW)
Environment Agency Wales (EAW)
Forestry Commission Wales (FCW).
WERH also receives in-kind
support from:
Bangor University and CEH

5. Hub’s Overarching Roles
(from Hub legal agreement, 2011-2013)
 informing the science-policy Interface
 identification of immediate evidence needs and futures-
orientated assessments
 developing an overview of collaborative ventures and
identification of opportunities
 Contributing to Welsh datasets
 knowledge translation and exchange

6. Head of SEED
Sustainability & Environmental Evidence Division
Welsh Government research programme priorities
a) Ecosystem Services and Valuation;
NEF (Natural Environment Framework),
Defra NEA (National Ecosystem Assessment)
b) Climate change – Mitigation, Impacts and Adaptation;
c) Environmental monitoring in Wales;
d) Water resources and aquatic environments HEIs
(freshwater and marine)
Wales Environment
Wales rural Research Hub observatory CEH Bangor
observatory
EAW
CCW
FCW

7. WERH products and services:
 Databases of environmental research, organisations and funding
opportunities
 Website to disseminate information about environmental research in
Wales
 Themed reviews and reports
 Hosting of workshops and
conferences, including joint-use
of Environment Centre Wales
(ECW) facilities
 “Hot-desks” in Hub office
for use by visiting researchers

8. Hub Priority Work Themes
 1) Ecosystem Services and Valuation
 2) Climate Change – Mitigation, Impacts and
Adaptation
 3) Environmental Monitoring in Wales
 4) Integrated Land and Water Management

9. Ecosystem services
Ecosystem Services • Ecosystem services are benefits
people derive from nature
Supporting Provisioning • Where human activity has
modified natural ecosystems the
services derived from them has
Regulating changed and most often been
degraded
Cultural • The total land area of Wales is
2.1m ha of which 81% is in
some form of agricultural use

10. “...in defining what the „significant‟ functions of an ecosystem are and
what constitutes an „ecosystem service‟, an understanding of spatial
context (geographical location), societal choices and values (both
monetary and non-monetary) is as important, as knowledge about the
structure and dynamics of ecological systems themselves.”
(Haines-Young and Potschin , 2009)
Managing landscapes for ecosystem services requires spatially explicit
understanding of the flows of services from one area to another.

11. Moorland slows run-off
Opportunity & locks up carbon Hills provide recreation &
Mapping –our life drinking water
Wind and water power for
support system renewable energy
Woodland for
recreation, biofuels, Trees and green spaces
carbon store and in town improve quality
education of life
Allotments
provide food
Country park
Trees improve air quality provides:
around motorway •Healthy leisure and
exercise
•Urban wildlife
Pond balances storm flow
Food
production Green Infrastructure around
business park
Sustainable
drainage system

12. UK National
Ecosystem
Assessment

13. Delivery of Ecosystem Services

14. Environment Agency: Land use and Environmental Services Report - 2009

15. Spatial relationships between Social Deprivation and Environmental
Quality in Wales
Index of Multiple Deprivation (8 variables) Index of Environmental Quality (13 variables)
Dr I Durance at Cardiff University for WERH

17. A Living Wales: Natural Environment
Framework
Based on an Ecosystem Approach
Guiding Principle
To ensure that Wales has increasingly resilient and diverse
ecosystems that are managed to deliver economic, social and
environmental benefits.
Workstreams
 Ecosystem Health
 Valuing Ecosystems
 Social Science and Behaviour Change
 Geographical Information Systems
 Regulatory and Management Approaches
 Engagement and Communications

19. DATA LAYERS

20. WERH Report:
A review of the
potential use of
spatial tools for
decision making
in ecosystem
service provision
Output from InVEST (Nelson et al., 2009)

22. Mapping requirements for assessing ecosystem service requirements
expanded from the stock-flow-receptor conceptual framework

23. Summary of the
relationships between
ecosystem mapping
approaches (n=52) and
the conceptual
framework
The studies are
disaggregated by scale
where blue = national
scale, green =
landscape scale and
orange = local scale).
1

24. Current focus is
at National and
Regional scales
There is a strong
need to implement
policy at local scales
for effective
ecosystem
management.

25. Mapping requirements for assessing ecosystem service requirements
expanded from the stock-flow-receptor conceptual framework

26. Dr Shaun Russell
Director, Wales Environment Research Hub (WERH)
 Website: www.werh.org
 E-mail: info@werh.org
 Tel: 01248 382918