Natural England - Landscape, historic environment and geodiversity

Landscape, historic environment and geodiversity

In this area Natural England’s aim is to ensure that our diverse landscapes continue to provide inspiration and enjoyment for people, and enable our wildlife to adapt to the challenges of the future.

The focus of our evidence programme is in two main areas: firstly, to ensure that we know how England’s landscapes are changing, in both character and quality, and how those changes relate to ecosystem service delivery; and secondly, to develop a landscape-led approach to conserving the natural environment.

Key projects in our current programme

Monitoring:

  • Monitoring the character and quality of England’s landscapes (RP092)

  • Monitoring natural environment outcomes in protected landscapes (RP310)

Wider research:

  • Landscape – an Integrated Approach for Natural England (RP303)

  • Seascape characterisation (RP311)

Looking forward – areas of work in our draft future programme

  • Revised guidance on the management of geodiversity features that takes account of adaptation to climate change

  • Articulation of the nature and value of ‘geosystem services’ and their importance in planning for environmental change

  • Establishment of a monitoring scheme for Local Geological Sites.

  • Evaluating the impact of the European Landscape Convention

Connections

A number of other projects within Natural England’s evidence programme will also contribute to our understanding of landscape, historic environment and geodiversity, including:

  • The place of rewilding in future landscapes (RP001)

  • Developing new ways of valuing ecosystem services (RP009)

  • A vision and strategy for the natural environment in 2060 (RP287)

  • Guidelines for prioritising woodland work at a landscape level (RP121)

  • Nature After Minerals (RP241)

Project type: Research | Monitoring

Research

IDTitleDescriptionDateContact
RP017Geodiversity and landscape - case studies and thematic linksTo identify approximately 20 case studies illustrating the common themes and linkages between geodiversity and landscape and the associated practical benefits of making these links to delivering landscape and geodiversity objectives. The project will develop guidance that will inform the development of National Character Area (NCA) objectives (RP 018) and the review of NCA descriptions (RP 172).31/03/2010Jonathan Larwood
RP018National Character Areas (NCA) - developing interim objectivesTo develop interim integrated objectives for National Character Areas to provide a landscape framework for integrated delivery. It will also provide supporting guidance and a basis for the development of long term NCA objectives.31/03/2010Chris Bolton
RP019Identifying challenges relating to management of geodiversity in a changing climateTo explore the current levels of evidence we have and identify evidence gaps and action required to develop a strategy to meet these challenges. In the second year (2010-2011) to produce guidance on the principles and methods of geodiversity adaptation to climate change. This is a cross-agency initiative with the support of the Geoconservation Commission of the Geological Society and the UK Geodiversity Action Plan.31/03/2010Colin Prosser
RP020Rock, fossil and mineral collecting - good practice evidence and guidanceTo gather up-to-date information on good practice relating to rock, fossil and mineral collecting in order to inform Natural England guidance on collecting.31/03/2010Hannah Townley
RP021Establishing a national Local Geological Site (RIGS) data setTo establish a national, spatial data-set that maps the distribution of all Local Geological Sites (known as RIGS) for England. Associated information collected will include brief details of site interest, level of accessibility (accessible green space) and information on site condition. The information will be used by Local Geoconservation groups, Local Authorities, Planners and Land Managers. Elements of the data set may be made publically available (to be agreed).31/03/2011Jonathan Larwood
RP022Peat Project: partnership initiative to protect and enhance peat soilsThe Partnership Project to Protect and Enhance Peat Soils is a joint initiative of Defra, Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, English Heritage, Welsh Assembly Government, Countryside Council for Wales, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Cadw, and DECC. The project aims to improve coordination between these partners in our efforts to manage and restore peatlands, to gather evidence on peatlands and promote peatland research, and to develop policy and guidance to ensure sustainable use of peatlands into the future.31/12/2010Matthew Shepherd
RP172Updating England’s National Character Areas: pilot studyA pilot project to inform a longer-term programme of revising England's 159 National Character Area descriptions, so that they continue to be fit for purpose for a wide range of strategic and contextual uses. Some information is out of date and we now have a better understanding of the pressures for landscape change. This pilot is also an opportunity to explore whether National Character Area descriptions can have an enhanced role, for example by setting out forward looking strategic objectives.12/03/2010Andy Wharton
RP189Conserving the historic environment in England’s uplandsTo fill gaps in the evidence base used to help decide how to manage the upland historic environment. It is specifically designed to support the implementation of Environmental Stewardship. It covers all England's uplands and will: (1) collate past research on the management of upland archaeology; (2) determine the impacts of upland change on the archaeological resource; and (3) provide a decision making framework for upland archaeological management. A Defra funded project.30/09/2010Victoria Hunns
RP225UK Geodiversity Action Plan (UKGAP)To provide evidence (through a range of case studies) to illustrate how the UKGAP is currently being delivered across its objectives. It will also undertake new research on existing delivery monitoring measures for Local Geodiversity Action Plans (LGAPs) in order to develop a standard mechanism for measuring progress that can be adopted by the UKGAP and LGAPs.31/03/2010Hannah Townley
RP226Dudley Stamp 1930s land use mapping digitisation pilot projectPioneering geographer Professor Sir Laurence Dudley Stamp was the first to attempt to systematically plot agricultural land use in Britain. This joint pilot with the Environment Agency will explore the methodology for and, costs of, digitising his pre-war land use maps with the eventual aim of digitising the complete coverage of the 1932 land use maps for England and Wales as an accessible pre-war baseline for the extent of agricultural land and some Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats.31/12/2010George Hinton
RP298Capturing the cultural services and experiential qualities of landscape (Phase II)To capture and present the range of experiential benefits and cultural services that landscapes provide to people in 6 additional National Character Areas and synthesise the analysis and findings with the conclusions of the existing research (Phase I) to create a typology of cultural services and experiential qualities across a range of landscape types. The resulting information should be capable of being transferred across all NCAs will be accessible as an evidence base for other work.31/03/2010Andy Wharton
RP303Landscape - an Integrated Approach for Natural EnglandTo produce practical, evidence based guidelines to enable our staff to take an integrated landscape approach, at the appropriate scale, whenever and wherever this is necessary, in pursuit of the objectives for each character area. Key Workstrands (1) evaluate existing landscape-scale biodiversity projects; (2) review & confirm Natural Character Area objectives and (3) produce guidelines on Natural England's integrated approach.31/03/2011Val Kirby
RP311Seascape characterisationTo a) devise a method, and b) undertake a comprehensive characterisation of England''s coastal zone (both terrestrial and marine elements and the interactions between them).30/06/2011Christine Tudor

Monitoring

IDTitleDescriptionDateContact
RP092Monitoring the character and quality of England's landscapesTo monitor the character and function of England's landscapes and combine evidence on actual changes with information about the condition and quality of the ecosystem services provided by these landscapes. The work will support our proposed strategic monitoring framework and the results will be used to help increase the understanding of, and actions to conserve, our landscapes and geodiversity.01/10/2012Andrew Baker
RP289Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England: Stage 3SHINE is a dataset of archaeological sites worthy of management through Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) options. Previous uncertainties surrounding this type of environmental feature have been overcome through research in Stages 1 and 2. Stage 3 provides the tools to automate submission of new SHINE data for regular updates into the ELS operating system. This will provide a sound evidence base to support the delivery of ELS.28/02/2010Jez Bretherton
RP310Monitoring natural environment outcomes in protected landscapesTo assess whether National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty demonstrate an increasing level of exemplary management of our finest landscapes: including local character, cultural heritage,tranquillity, biodiversity in favourable condition, exemplary access management, resilience in adapting to climate change. This project will deliver robust, consistent monitoring data, recognising the differences between National Parks & AONBs.31/03/2013Val Kirby