Natural Environment Valuation Online (NEVO) Tool
Visit Tool
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 reduction and sequestration, 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.
Information Requirements
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;
Resource Requirements
Access to internet.
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).
Detailed Information
Terrestrial, freshwater or marine focus?
- Terrestrial
- Freshwater
- Marine Focus
User Time Requirements:
After defining the area to be assessed by clicking on the map, web reports are generated in just a few seconds.
Developer Organisation
Developed by the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute at the University of Exeter with support from DEFRA and NERC.
