News

Securing a healthy natural environment: an action plan for embedding and ecosystems approach

4th January 2008

Defra recently published ‘Securing a healthy natural environment: an action plan for embedding and ecosystems approach’.

The action plan sets a new strategic direction for government policy on the natural environment. Defra has identified 37 actions that will be delivered mainly over the next two years and which represent an ambitious and wide-ranging agenda for Defra, the Defra network and their partners.

Launching the plan, Joan Ruddock, Minister for Climate Change, Biodiversity and Waste said:

“This Action Plan sets out a new direction for protecting and enhancing the natural environment. It is intended to help us to deliver a number of important benefits, including better-informed decisions, more efficient use of resources, and a greater awareness of the value of our natural environment.”

An Introductory Guide to Valuing Ecosystem Services has been published alongside the action plan. The aim of this Guide is to provide an introduction to the valuation of ecosystem services. It builds on previous approaches to valuing the environment but takes a more systematic approach to the assessment of impacts on the natural environment.

Further information and electronic copies of both publications are available to download.

The Ecosystems Approach Project – Action Plan

Introductory Guide to Valuing Ecosystem Services

Comments and feedback on the action plan can be emailed to ecosystems@defra.gsi.gov.uk