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Headlines from week beginning 13 February 2017 |
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A round up of the top countryside, conservation, wildlife and forestry stories as chosen by the CJS Team.
Parks face threat of decline with severe consequences
- The Communities and Local Government Committee,
UK Parliament The Communities and Local Government (CLG)
Committee report on public parks warns that parks are at a tipping point
and face a period of decline with potentially severe consequences unless
their vital contribution to areas such as public health, community
integration and climate change mitigation is recognised. The Public parks report highlights considerable
challenges for the sector including reduced council spending, with parks
management budgets cut by up to 97 per cent, the need for parks to
compete with other services for funding, and planning policy not giving
them enough weight, particularly as a result of pressures to increase
housing supply. The Committee call on councils to publish
strategic plans, which recognise the value of parks beyond leisure and
recreation and set out how they will be managed to maximise their
contribution to wider local authority agendas, such as promoting healthy
lifestyles, tackling social exclusion and managing flood risk. It is
hoped these plans will open up parks to support and funding beyond their
usual budgets and service areas. The Government should issue guidance to councils
to work with Health and Wellbeing Boards and other relevant bodies to
publish these joint plans and consider making producing such a strategy
a legal requirement if the guidance proves ineffective, the report adds. Findings, conclusions and recommendations include:
View the
interactive report summary Read the full report: Public parks HTML or PDF Response:
LGA responds to CLG committee report about public parks Responding to a new CLG Committee report about
public parks, Cllr Ian Stephens, Chairman of the Local Government
Association's Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said: "Councils
understand how important parks are to residents and the value they have
in promoting health and fitness, local heritage, public art, festivals
and wildlife walks. Councils are taking innovative approaches to
using park spaces, such as providing pop-up spaces, hosting local events
and giving communities a say in how their parks are run. Ensuring parks
remain open and accessible to our communities is a key concern for
councils. However, over the previous parliament central government
funding for councils was reduced by 40 per cent in real terms and they
continue to experience funding pressures. Despite this difficult
backdrop, councils are doing everything they can to provide the best
possible park services."
Click through for case studies
The Parks Alliance, the UK’s voice of parks,
responded to the Communities and Local Government Committee’s report on
their inquiry into public parks by calling on the government to take a
joined up approach across Departments to fund them. Over half the UK population regularly use their
local park, yet the challenge of managing our parks and green spaces is
increasing due to the continued reduction in funding and loss of staff
and skills. We have to find a solution now before the improvements made
over the past 20 years are lost and our parks, once again, go into
decline and become places that require significant investment. Matthew Bradbury, Chairman of The Parks Alliance,
said: “We welcome the report but just see this as the start of the
process to protect and enhance our parks. It gives all of us, the
public, park professionals, local and central government the opportunity
to seek solutions and avoid merely nursing our parks into a managed
decline. It’s important that the Committee has recognised that parks are
central to our wellbeing but it is bitter sweet to read a report which
confirms what we have believed for some time that parks are at a tipping
point. They are at the heart of British life yet are a cinderella
service set against competing financial demands." Response:
Fields in Trust response to Public parks inquiry report Fields in Trust Chief Executive, Helen Griffiths,
comments of the Report findings and recommendations: "I welcome the
Communities and Local Government Committee report into the future of
parks and particularly the recommendation that their wider value should
be recognised, beyond leisure and recreation, to include promoting
healthy lifestyles and tackling social exclusion; the CLG Committee
suggest parks should maximise their contribution to wider local
authority agendas."
Response:
Groundwork response to CLG Select Committee Public Parks Report Responding to the CLG Select Committee public
parks report, Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury,
said: "The select committee recognises that protecting our parks and
green spaces is enormously important but increasingly difficult.
Councils can be creative with their budgets but there are limits.
Some parks have the potential to benefit from private income but not
all, especially those smaller neighbourhood parks that people visit
most. If we’re going to keep our communities green and well, the
people who use and care about the green spaces on their doorstep are
going to have to do more." Click
through to read in full
Related news
Newcastle explores transfer of parks to trust – Heritage Lottery
Fund Newcastle City Council (NCC) is set to test a new
model for looking after its parks, thanks to Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)
support. A groundbreaking scheme, funded by the National
Lottery, will help NCC to develop and test a new funding, management and
maintenance model for 33 of the city’s parks and allotments - over 400
hectares of land. Such a proposal could see Newcastle’s parks and
green spaces remain the property of the city council but transfer
day-to-day responsibility for funding, managing and maintaining them to
a new charitable trust whose sole purpose is to manage the parks. The scheme has been designed to help tackle the
financial challenges facing the local authority, where park budgets have
been dramatically reduced. Parks are not a statutory service for local
authorities; however many, like NCC, recognise their vital importance to
the health and wellbeing of local communities. The money has been announced as the Communities
and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee Parks Inquiry calls for
strategic local parks plans and innovation in management models and
funding sources. Public engagement starts 13 February, running until 21
April. Find out more on the
Let's Talk
Newcastle website. NCC is launching a consultation on the detail of
the plans but if implemented, the charitable trust would independently
manage approximately 33 parks across the city and possibly over 50
hectares of allotment land. It would explore new ways of best using the
current facilities, space and buildings to bring in revenue for the
successful running of the parks, without undermining free access to
parks. NCC will also explore whether an endowment could be put in place
to support the Trust. Case Study:
New Public Park improves community health and wellbeing
– Fields in Trust The creation of a new public park on derelict land
in Newbold, Rugby has resulted in local residents feeling healthier,
happier and becoming more active. The findings in a report published by
Fields in Trust come as Parliament's Communities and Local Government
Committee recommend the wider value of parks, beyond leisure and
recreation, should be recognised, suggesting parks should maximise their
contribution to comprehensive local authority agendas, such as promoting
healthy lifestyles, and tackling social exclusion. The research assessed the way Centenary Park,
Rugby is used and shows that three times as many people visit parks
daily than before it opened with 60.2% visiting once a week or more.
Over 60% of park visitors reported feeling happier and better about
themselves and half said they had significantly more access to nature as
a result. Crucially more than two-thirds of respondents said the most
important reason for visiting the new park was for physical activity.
This data reinforces the view that local green space is vitally
important in meeting the government's aim of creating a more active
nation; an ambition which requires all kinds of formal and informal
recreational space to be accessible. The Centenary Park case study
demonstrates that despite the lack of traditional formal sports
facilities the majority of respondents cite physical activity as the
primary reason for visiting.
Download the Centenary Park Case Study report (PDF)
“A better and fairer approach” to public access for outdoor recreation
– Welsh Government Wales needs a better and fairer approach to public
access for outdoor recreation according to the Cabinet Secretary for
Environment and Rural Affairs. The Welsh Government asked the public for its
opinions in 2015. Many of the 5,800 who responded said the current
system is too complex and burdensome with some strong, and sometimes
polarised, views on how it might be improved.
Restoring fifty hectares of rare and threatened habitats in Doncaster to
benefit all – Environment Agency Almost 50 hectares of nationally-important habitat
is being restored in Doncaster as part of an Environment Agency-led
project benefiting communities and wildlife.
The work across seven woodland areas, including
two Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), will help improve water
quality, reduce flood risk, and enhance natural habitats for protected
species. Beginning in September last year, the Inspiring Water Action in
the Torne project is creating, restoring and improving up to 46.5
hectares of wet-woodland priority habitats – and involving local
communities in doing so. The 46.5 hectares represents 11 per cent of the
Environment Agency’s national target for habitat creation. Measures include selectively thinning the
woodland, re-wetting areas that have dried out, improving access for
visitors, and sowing native plants that will help filter pollutants from
the environment. As well as providing for one of the nation’s most
threatened bird species – the Willow Tit – the restored wet-woodland
will act as a natural aid to reducing flood risk by creating more room
for water. The estimated 4,000 cubic metres of extra storage space will
help naturally interrupt and soak up the flow of rising waters, reducing
the risk to around 1,000 nearby properties, as well as to agricultural
land.
Banned chemicals from the 70s found in deepest reaches of the ocean
– Newcastle University Crustaceans from the deepest ocean trenches found to contain ten
times the level of industrial pollution than the average earthworm,
scientists have shown.
A study, led by Newcastle University’s Dr Alan Jamieson has uncovered
the first evidence that man-made pollutants have now reached the
farthest corners of our earth. Sampling amphipods (pictured) from the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana and
Kermadec trenches - which are over 10 kilometres deep and 7,000 km apart
- the team found extremely high levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants
- or POPs - in the organism’s fatty tissue. These include
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs) which are commonly used as electrical insulators and flame
retardants. Publishing their findings today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, the
study team – from Newcastle University, University of Aberdeen and
the James Hutton Institute - say the next step is to understand the
consequences of this contamination and what the knock-on effects might
be for the wider ecosystem. Lead author, Dr Jamieson, said: “We still think of the deep ocean as
being this remote and pristine realm, safe from human impact, but our
research shows that, sadly, this could not be further from the truth. In
fact, the amphipods we sampled contained levels of contamination similar
to that found in Suruga Bay, one of the most polluted industrial zones
of the northwest Pacific. What we don’t yet know is what this means for
the wider ecosystem and understanding that will be the next major
challenge.” Reference: Bioaccumulation of
persistent organic pollutants in the deepest ocean fauna. Alan
Jamieson et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-016-0051.
Marine bacteria produce molecule with links to climate
– University of East Anglia Scientists from the University of East Anglia and Ocean University
China have discovered that tiny marine bacteria can synthesise one of
the Earth’s most abundant sulfur molecules, which affects atmospheric
chemistry and potentially climate. This molecule, dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is an important
nutrient for marine microorganisms and is the major precursor for the
climate-cooling gas, dimethyl sulfide (DMS). DMS, produced when microorganisms break down DMSP, is thought to have
a role in regulating the climate by increasing cloud droplets that in
turn reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the ocean’s surface. These
same clouds are vital in the movement of large amounts of sulfur from
oceans to land, making the production of DMSP and DMS a critical step in
the global sulfur cycle. It was previously widely thought that only eukaryotes – ‘higher’
organisms with complex cells, such as seaweeds and phytoplankton –
produced DMSP. However, researchers have discovered that many marine
bacteria also produce this sulfur compound, and have identified the key
gene in the process. “Our finding that DMSP is produced by many marine bacteria could mean
that scientists have been significantly underestimating both the
production of this molecule and the effects it is having in the
environment” said Dr Jonathan Todd from UEA’s School of Biological
Sciences. “Since these bacteria do not require sunlight for growth, the
production of DMSP need not be confined to the surface ocean waters
which receive the most light energy, as was thought to be the case.” The paper ‘Dimethylsulfoniopropionate
biosynthesis in marine bacteria and identification of the key gene in
this process’ is published in the scientific journal Nature
Microbiology.
Appeal to lift ban flies in the face of logic
- Buglife
Buglife is dismayed that the National Farmers
Union (NFU) is ignoring the compelling evidence that neonics have
damaged wild bee populations and has again asked Defra to temporarily
lift the EU wide ban on using neonicotinoid seed treatments on insect
pollinated crops. There is abundant scientific evidence that neonic
seed treatments do not consistently improve crop yields. The ADAS study
associated with the NFU’s 2015 derogation showed that there was no
difference in oilseed rape establishment between treated and untreated
fields. Matt Shardlow, Chief Executive of Buglife
commented. “It is a significant change of tack for the NFU to ask to
only apply to use neonic treated seeds in areas of moderate flea beetle
presence, and not in areas with high presence, because they say that
neonics are “less likely to be of benefit” in those areas. Surely
this is an acknowledgement, of the very limited efficacy of neonic seed
treatments in controlling flea beetles. This application should be
given short shrift by Defra.” Counter to another NFU claim, pyrethroid
resistance in flea beetles pre-dates the partial neonic ban and may well
have been triggered by the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments because
more than half of the oilseed rape seed treatments contained
beta-cyfluthrin a pyrethroid, and prophylactic use over millions of
hectares is the most likely way to foster pesticide resistance. Buglife is hopeful that the EC will take action
this year to address the harm neonics are causing to aquatic wildlife by
extending the ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments to all crops.
Commission warns Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom of
continued air pollution breaches The European Commission sends final warnings to
Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom for failing to
address repeated breaches of air pollution limits for nitrogen dioxide
(NO2). NO2 pollution is a serious health risk. Most emissions result
from road traffic. The European Commission urges 5 Member States to
take action to ensure good air quality and safeguard public health. EU legislation on ambient air quality (Directive
2008/50/EC) sets limit values for air pollutants, including nitrogen
dioxide. In case such limit values are exceeded, Member States are
required to adopt and implement air quality plans that set out
appropriate measures to bring this situation to an end as soon as
possible. Today's reasoned opinion concerns persistent
breaches of NO2 limit values in:
Possible measures to lower polluting emissions, at
the same time accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy,
include reducing overall traffic volumes, the fuels used, switching to
electric cars and/or adapting driving behaviour. In this context,
reducing emissions from diesel-powered vehicles is an important step
towards achieving compliance with EU air quality standards. While it is up to the Member State authorities to
choose the appropriate measures to address exceeding NO2 limits, much
more effort is necessary at local, regional and national levels to meet
the obligations of EU rules and safeguard public health. If Member
States fail to act within two months, the Commission may decide to take
the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU. Response:
UK receives "final warning" from Europe for breaching air pollution
limits – Friends of the Earth The UK government must introduce Clean Air Zones
across the country and commit to cleaning up the UK’s air faster says
Friends of the Earth Jenny Bates, Friends of the Earth air pollution
campaigner said: “It’s shameful that the EU has to take legal action
against the UK government to get it to deal with the dangerous levels of
dirty air across the country. Air pollution is responsible for tens of
thousands of early deaths every year and is harming the health of an
entire generation of children. Current government plans have been shown
to be too little too late. With road traffic the biggest problem, and
diesels worst of all, the government must fund Clean Air Zones in
pollution hot spots across the country. This would help to restrict the
most polluting vehicles and save lives. We also need a new Clean Air Act
in place to protect the public from air pollution post-Brexit, when we
can no longer rely on European rules and courts to kick the UK
government into action.”
Alien species on the rise worldwide – Senckenberg, world of biodiversity The increase in numbers of alien species does not
show any sign of saturation at a global level, an international team of
45 researchers led by scientists from Senckenberg, Germany, and
University of Vienna, Austria, has discovered. They found that during
the last centuries the number of new introductions has continuously
increased worldwide, with more than a third of all first introductions
recorded between 1970 and 2014. Although individual trends differ among
taxonomic groups, the ongoing increase in alien species numbers is still
visible for all groups of organisms.
Although it was known that the number of alien
species increased during the last decades, it remained unclear whether
or not the accumulation of alien species has already reached a point of
slow-down. Dr Hanno Seebens from Senckenberg, Germany, first author a
new study on the topic has an answer now: “For all groups of organisms
on all continents, the number of alien species has increased
continuously during the last 200 years. For most groups, even the rate
of introduction is highest recently. Barring mammals and fishes, there
are no signs of a slow-down and we have to expect more new invasions in
the near future.”His outlook comes at the end of a large collaborative
effort in which 45 scientists from all over the world established a
database of the date an alien species was first detected in a region
outside the species’ native range. Using more than 45.000 of these first
records of more than 16.000 alien species, they analysed the development
of alien species accumulation during the last centuries. They found that 37% of all recorded alien species
have been introduced between 1970-2014 and thus recently. At its peak
585 new species were recorded within one year. This corresponds to more
than 1.5 new alien species per day globally. “As the date of first
record is not available for most alien species, these numbers are
clearly underestimating the full extent of alien species introductions”,
says Dr. Franz Essl from the University of Vienna, Austria, senior
author of the study. Read the paper (open
access): Seebens, H. et al. (2016):
No saturation in
the accumulation of alien species worldwide, Nature Communications,
doi:10.1038/ncomms14435
The Gruffalo brought to life in the forest with new augmented reality
app – Forestry Commission In the first development of its kind, Forestry
Commission England and Magic Light Pictures bring The Gruffalo
characters to life in the forest through a new augmented reality app. The Gruffalo Spotter has been designed for
exclusive use at 26 forests across England where visitors can join the
adventure through the deep dark wood.
Families can follow clues on an interactive trail
and track signs of their favourite characters based on The Gruffalo,
best-selling picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by
Axel Scheffler. Their photos are automatically added to the
device’s gallery, from where it can be shared via social media with the
hashtag #GruffaloSpotters. Taking family forest walks to new heights, the app
mixes technology with the real world, encouraging children to get
exploring, firing their imaginations and enabling them to have an
all-new forest experience. The Gruffalo Spotter’s app has been developed and
animated by Nexus Studios and is available for free with no in-app
purchases from the App Store and Google Play.
Butterflies declining faster in urban areas – Butterfly Conservation Butterflies are declining more rapidly in urban areas than in the
countryside, a study published in the journal Ecological Indicators has
revealed.
Urban parks, gardens and brownfield sites and farms act as important
refuges for butterflies and other wildlife but in recent years these
areas have come under increasing pressure from development, habitat loss
and climate change. The study compared trends for 28 species in urban and countryside
environments. Over a 20-year period urban butterfly abundance fell by
69% compared to a 45% decline for butterflies in rural areas. The Small Copper and Small Heath declined much more dramatically in
towns and cities than in the countryside. From 1995 to 2014 Small
Copper abundance fell by 75% in urban areas compared to a 23% decline in
rural areas. The Small Heath experienced an abundance decline of 78% for
urban areas, compared to a smaller decline of 17% in rural areas.
The causes of these changes require further research but it is likely to
be due to the combined effects of habitat loss, intensification of land
use and climate change. Butterflies are sensitive to environmental change. Declines in
abundance in urban areas follow ongoing butterfly declines in the wider
countryside. The study found that butterflies in urban areas
emerged on average two days earlier than their countryside counterparts
with urban Brimstones emerging five days earlier than those found in
rural locations. Flight periods for many of the species studied
were also found to be slightly longer for urban butterflies than their
rural counterparts. The probable cause behind the earlier emergence and longer flight
periods of urban butterflies is the ‘urban heat island’ effect –
conditions in which towns and cities are slightly warmer than the
surrounding countryside due to human activities Read the paper: Dennis, W. B., Morgan, B. J. T., Roy, D. B. &
Brereton, T. M. (2017)
Urban indicators for UK butterflies. Ecological Indicators.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.01.009
New antibiotic from bacteria found on an ant could beat MRSA
– John Innes Centre A new antibiotic, produced by bacteria found on a species of African
ant, is very potent against antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ like MRSA
according to scientists. Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the John
Innes Centre (JIC) discovered a new member of the Streptomyces
bacteria family, isolated from the African fungus-growing plant-ant
Tetraponera penzigi. They have named the new species Streptomyces
formicae and the antibiotics formicamycins, after the Latin formica,
meaning ant. Lab tests have shown these new antibiotics are effective against
methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and
Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci (VRE), bacteria which are resistant to
a number of common antibiotics and can cause life-threatening
infections. Almost all of the antibiotics currently in clinical use come from a
group of bacteria called actinomycetes that were isolated from soil
between 40-80 years ago, the ‘golden age’ of antibiotic discovery.
Inappropriate use of these antibiotics since then has led to widespread
antimicrobial resistance (AMR), where disease-causing bacteria and fungi
have become resistant to one or more antibiotics. Read the paper: Z. Qin, J. T.Munnoch, R. Devine, N. A. Holmes, R.
Seipke, K. A. Wilkinson, B. Wilkinson and M. Hutchings, Chem. Sci. 2017,
Formicamycins, antibacterial polyketides produced by Streptomyces
formicae isolated from African Tetraponera plant-ants DOI:
10.1039/C6SC04265A.
Underwater seagrass meadows dial back polluted seawater
– Cornell University Seagrass meadows – bountiful underwater gardens that nestle close to
shore and are the most common coastal ecosystem on Earth – can reduce
bacterial exposure for corals, other sea creatures and humans, according
to new research published in Science Feb. 16. “The seagrass appear to combat bacteria, and this is the first
research to assess whether that coastal ecosystem can alleviate disease
associated with marine organisms,” said lead author Joleah Lamb of
Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, where she is a
Nature Conservancy NatureNet fellow. Senior author Drew Harvell, Cornell professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology and an Atkinson Center fellow, had been running an
international workshop and examining the health of underwater corals
with colleagues near small islands at the Spermonde Archipelago,
Indonesia. But after a few days, the entire research team fell ill with
dysentery, and one scientist contracted typhoid. “I experienced
firsthand how threats to both human health and coral health were
linked,” Harvell said.
CEH experts contribute to new Environment Agency report aimed at better
protecting the UK from flooding - Centre for
Ecology & Hydrology
Image: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology CEH scientists joined collaborators, including those from the
University of Bath and the University of Aberystwyth, to update and
improve existing flood frequency estimation techniques with the addition
of more local data. This new set of enhanced methodologies is already being incorporated
into guidance to practitioners and dedicated software tools to help
inform decisions on the design and operation of flood defences, flood
mapping and building in flood-risk areas. The updates are intended to reduce the uncertainty associated with
flood frequency estimation and as such increase the confidence of
residents, government policy-makers and flood risk planners, industry,
developers and insurers.
Don’t cut your hedge between March and August to help Glasgow’s house
sparrows - RSPB RSPB Scotland is calling on gardeners in Glasgow to put down their
shears and take the hedge-pledge this summer in an effort to save the
city’s struggling house sparrows. These once common birds are in decline across the UK, but the
population in Glasgow is thought to have dropped by 90% since the 1970s. Since 2014, RSPB Scotland has been working with the University of
Glasgow and a team of dedicated volunteers to track down any remaining
sparrows and investigate reasons for the sudden decline. One thing the project has uncovered so far is that remaining sparrow
strongholds are clustered around gardens that have a particular sort of
hedge. RSPB Scotland’s Sarah-Jayne Forster said: “Our volunteers found
little groups of sparrows living in all the areas that they surveyed,
which is great news as it means there’s definitely hope for a long-term
recovery. But the other thing they found was that 85% of the gardens
where sparrows were recorded had lots of hedges or bushes.
Scientific publications Mangonea, G., Capaldi, C. A., Van Allen, Z.M. & Luscuere, P. G.
(2017) Bringing
Nature to Work: Preferences and Perceptions of Constructed Indoor and
Natural Outdoor Workspaces. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.02.009 Donovan, G. H. (2017)
Including public-health benefits of trees in urban-forestry decision
making. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2017.02.010
Hedblom, M., Ode Sang, Å. & Gunnarsson, B. (2017)
Evaluation of natural sounds in urban greenery: potential impact for
urban nature preservation. Royal Society Open Science.
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170037
Sharps, K. et al (2017)
Comparing strengths and weaknesses of three ecosystem services modelling
tools in a diverse UK river catchment. Science of The Total
Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.160
Daniel R. Richards, Peter J. Edwards,
Quantifying street tree regulating ecosystem services using Google
Street View, Ecological Indicators, Volume 77, June 2017, Pages
31-40, ISSN 1470-160X, DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.01.028.
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CJS is not responsible for content of external sites. Details believed correct but given without prejudice. Disclaimer: the views expressed in these news pages do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of CJS. |
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The
Environment Agency is leading a project to improve 7 wet woodland areas.
(Image courtesy of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, via Environment Agency)
Hirondellea
gigas are voracious scavengers that consume anything that comes down
from the surface. Photo credit: Dr Alan Jamieson
Bombus
Humilis Queen (image © S.Falk via Buglife)
Gruffalo
spotter app (image: Forestry Commission)
Small
Copper Butterfly (image: Peter Eeles
Specialists
in flood frequency estimation at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
(CEH) have made a major contribution to a new Environment Agency (EA)
report aimed at better protecting UK residents and property from
flooding.
