Wildlife and Countryside Link is running a survey to review environmental data and the environmental data infrastructure in support of land use planning and environmental policies at local and national levels in England.
Although the Scottish Biodiversity Information Forum undertook a recent, important review for Scotland, this is the first such survey to cover England since the 1995 report on Biological Recording in the United Kingdom by Sir John Burnett, Charles Copp and Paul Harding – which led on to the NBN Trust’s establishment.
With the natural environment under ever greater pressures, being able to harness information to guide plans, actions and decisions to more positive outcomes, including in relation to new Environment Bill initiatives and in support of the Twenty-Five Year Plan for the Environment, will be critical. Contributing your views via the new survey could help make a positive and lasting difference.
The survey seeks to gather stakeholder views across interested sectors in order to:
- Identify and prioritise actions to improve and support environmental information infrastructure
- Guide the preparation of a Link briefing for Government on improving environmental data provision and use
The questions are grouped into 5 categories:
A. About you
B. Overview
C. Environmental data
D. Data infrastructure
E. Policies, actions and decision-making
You can fill out only the parts of the survey that apply to your work or on which you have views or ideas you particularly wish to convey. Examples, both positive and negative, will be helpful. All responses will be treated in confidence. Feel free to share the survey with interested colleagues as multiple responses from different roles and different perspectives within organisations are welcome.
Please complete the survey by Friday 9 July.