NEVO (Natural Environment Valuation Online tool)

Overview

Description:

NEVO is a freely accessible online tool that allows users to select an area anywhere in England or Wales, from the scale of a county or catchment down to a 2km grid cell, and then view estimates of the value of that area for delivering a range of ecosystem services (agricultural production, timber production, greenhouse gas emissions, recreation, water quantity and water quality) and its value for biodiversity (estimated number of species present).

Users can explore the data, alter the land cover or market prices to see how that affects the ecosystem services both now and in the future (taking into account mid-range climate change projections from UKCP09), and optimise land cover to deliver particular services.

Input:

All input data is provided internally by the tool – the user just has to choose an area by clicking on the map, or specify an alteration of the land cover to test.

Output:

Maps

Quantitative data on ecosystem services

Tables / statistics / reports

Economic assessment

Scale:

Local scale

Landscape scale

Regional scale

National scale

Cost of the tool (and guidance):

Open access (free)

Context:

Any land use.

Resource requirement (software):

Access to internet.

Level of technical expertise required:

Internet use skills

Types of ecosystem service included:

Regulating

Provisioning

Supporting

Cultural

Habitat type (UK NEA habitats):

Mountains, moors and heaths

Semi-natural grasslands

Enclosed farmland

Woodland

Freshwater, wetlands and floodplains

Urban

Coastal margins

How does it work?:

The user can zoom into a map of England and Wales (based on OpenStreetMap) and select either a 2km grid cell, a local authority district, a county, a river catchment or sub-catchment, a national park, a region (e.g. East of England) or a whole country. The model displays the land cover for that area (split into woodland, agriculture, semi-natural, urban and water) and uses underlying models to estimate the flows and monetary values of six ecosystem services. For example, for agriculture it estimates the area of different crops and grassland types, number of livestock, crop production, average annual farm profits and the use of fertilisers and pesticides. The recreation model is based on the OrVAL tool. Users can step through the four decades from 2020-2030 to 2050-2060 using a slider, to see estimates of how values would change under climate change.

The Alter mode allows users to consider how the flow of ecosystem services would change if they were to alter the land use or agricultural prices in the area. The Optimise mode allows users to find the best locations to change land use in order to achieve a particular objective. Users can specify the type of land use change (from what, to what) and the total amount of hectares to be changed, as well as the overall objective, which can be to maximise particular quantity outputs (e.g. greenhouse gas emissions) or value outputs (e.g. timber and agricultural profits).

Where can I get it?:

https://www.leep.exeter.ac.uk/nevo/

Case Studies

Number of case studies in the uk:

One

Examples of case studies in the uk :

River Wey near Cranleigh.
NEVO was used to identify the opportunity for natural flood management in the Cranleigh sub-catchment by using the ‘Alter’ mode to test the effect of increasing tree cover in different 2km grid cells. NEVO estimated increased flood protection and water quality benefits (reduction of nitrogen and phosphorous concentrations downstream of the new woodland blocks) as well as greenhouse gas reduction, though farm production was decreased due to conversion of farmland to forest. The user was also able to see that allowing access to the new forest would dramatically increase the recreational value from £900/year to £37,000/year (for footpath access) or £170,000/year for full access. Demonstrating this additional recreational value was felt to be useful for helping to leverage funding for natural flood management schemes.

Detailed information

Key data sources:

The following can be downloaded from the website https://www.leep.exeter.ac.uk/nevo/documentation/:

Video tutorial
Technical reports on the underlying models (agricultural production, forestry, greenhouse gases, recreation, biodiversity and water quantity/quality)
River Wey case study

Original purpose:

NEVO aims to help explore, quantify and make predictions about the benefits that are derived from existing and altered land use across England and Wales.

User groups:

Local authorities
Land managers
Local communities

Original geographic scope:

England and Wales

Terrestrial, freshwater or marine focus?:

Terrestrial

Freshwater

Specific ecosystem services modelled:

Food production
Wood production
Carbon sequestration
Recreation
Biodiversity
Flood control
Water quality regulation

Datasets (required):

None – all provided by the tool

Datasets (optional):

None required

Time requirements:

Low

Estimated working days to complete a project:

After defining the area to be assessed by clicking on the map, web reports are generated in just a few seconds.

Tool accessibility:

Free webtool

License information:

Not required.

Technical support provided?:

An email contact is provided nevo@exeter.ac.uk

Developer (organisation):

Developed by the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute at the University of Exeter with support from DEFRA and NERC.

Developer (organisation type):

Academic.

Developer (individuals):

Amy Binner, Nathan Owen, Brett Day, Patrick Collings, Louis Haddrell, Greg Smith, Lorena Liuzzo and Ian Bateman, University of Exeter.

Primary contact:

nevo@exeter.ac.uk

Publications:

None

Number of case studies outside the uk:

None

Examples of case studies outside of uk:

None

Tool limitations:

NEVO provides predictions based on models, e.g. the estimated agricultural land use in an area based on climate, food prices and other factors, rather than measured data.
The smallest scale available is a 2km grid cell, so the tool is not appropriate for smaller sites.
The biodiversity model estimates only one aspect of biodiversity – the predicted number of species out of a list of 100 key species that are likely to be present in an area. This is limited by the quality of the underlying species observation database used to develop the model, which is sparse in some areas and for some species.
As with most valuation tools, the estimates monetary value of GHG emissions uses government carbon prices, which do not reflect avoided climate damages, and have not been updated to reflect the more stringent climate targets under the Paris agreement.