The UK Terrestrial Biodiversity Surveillance Strategy
The Strategy is not just one document, but a series of related
documents and collations of information. The overview is
contained in the Surveillance Strategy (July 2008
version).
Understanding the surveillance needs within different policy
areas
An important part of the Strategy is an analysis of surveillance
requirements; current coverage, gaps and overlaps; and
recommendations for the future development of surveillance.
This analysis is derived from the Surveillance
Framework, and updates to the Surveillance Framework are fed
through to the Strategy.
JNCC is in the process of reviewing a range of policy areas, and
more detailed analyses and explanation can be found under Using the
Strategy. These detailed analyses are used to update the
Surveillance Framework.
Accessing an overview of current biodiversity surveillance
schemes
In order to be able to analyse surveillance coverage, JNCC has
collated information on known current biodiversity surveillance
schemes into the UK Terrestrial Biodiversity Surveillance
Schemes Database. The database can be used to assess
whether current schemes are already likely to provide sufficient
information for particular user needs; or whether evidence needs
could be incorporated through relatively minor changes to existing
surveillance schemes.
Designing a surveillance scheme at the appropriate scale
Once an evidence need has been identified, a key design question
is the scale at which surveillance or research should be
deployed. JNCC has produced a Surveillance
Hierarchy to help with these design decisions. For
example, is a simple, well-evidenced correlation between a driver
and a pressure on a component of biodiversity required? If so
a research project may be sufficient. Are there uncertainties
or complexities over the relative impacts of one or more drivers,
or a need to establish the relative importance of any relationship
over different spatial and temporal scales? If so a
surveillance scheme may be necessary.
Understanding how the Strategy has evolved, and how it will
continue to develop
There have been a number of early versions of the Strategy that
have been made public. These versions are still available,
with explanations of how they have been used in Developing the
Strategy. This also includes ideas about how to develop a
surveillance rationale and needs analysis, with further ideas on
how the Strategy should continue to develop in the future.
Using the Strategy – analysing needs, evaluating coverage
JNCC has been putting the Strategy to work, and the examples
found in Using the Strategy illustrate how the
strategy can be employed. As work continues, more examples
will be added, but there is currently information on: impacts of
chemical pollution, coverage of UK BAP species and habitats,
understanding the need for vegetation surveillance, and reviewing
the coverage of mammal surveillance.
The policy analyses and review of coverage set out in these
documents are also used to further refine the Surveillance
Framework and the Strategy itself.
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