There is information on over 360,000 chemicals on the European Chemicals Agency chemicals information platform. Many of these chemicals support and are beneficial to everyday life, however, some make their way into the environment and have adverse effects on nature. JNCC is working in partnership with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) on a Defra-funded project to develop a tool which will communicate the state of the environment, in the UK, in relation to chemical pollution.
Figure 1. Visual representation of how data integration will improve our understanding of the effects of chemical pollution on the environment.
There are a lot of data available for chemicals in the environment and their effects on biodiversity. Currently the data are collected and stored for specific purposes, such as reporting against the Water Framework Directive or for a monitoring scheme. By integrating the data we already have we will be able to improve our knowledge about the state of the environment in relation to chemical pollution.
Aims of the project
This project aims to integrate existing data and visualise it in a way that is simple to understand, to show the state of the environment in relation to chemical pollution in the UK.
As well as providing some high level interpretation of the data, users will also be able to interrogate the data and look at multiple data layers simultaneously to investigate their own areas of interest.
This initial phase of the project started in January 2023 and runs until March 2025, it will show proof of concept through a series of case studies.
Project team
JNCC is leading the System Level Indicator project, funded by Defra, in partnership with the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH).
JNCC is leading the project management and stakeholder engagement;
UKCEH is collating data, building code for data integration and visualisation of the tool.
As funders, Defra is providing governance and quality assurance.
Systems thinking
Figure 2. The range of data areas being considered for inclusion in the tool.
This project takes a holistic or systems approach because there are many factors that influence the use of chemicals and their distribution in the environment (Figure 2). There are also contributing pressures such as climate change, which influence the effect of chemicals in the environment through concentration or dilution of chemicals. The amount of a chemical alone does not tell us much about the effect it is having on the environment, we need to know what that means for nature. Integrating the data from the different components of the system will improve our understanding of the state of the environment and help to prioritise interventions and management options to help nature recovery.
Stakeholder engagement
Alongside data collation and tool development we are engaging with a wide range of experts with different areas of expertise from across government, academia, research organisations, industry representatives and NGOs.
May 2023
The project team held a workshop to introduce wider stakeholders to the project and hight upcoming engagement opportunities.
October 2023 to January 2024
A Delphi survey (method of reaching consensus between experts using a series of anonymous surveys) was distributed to gather expert opinion as to which factors are contributing most to the effects of chemicals on the environment. The Delphi method of survey is a structured communication method for systematic and interactive forecasting whereby a panel of experts is relied upon. There were three rounds of questions to investigate responses in more detail and build consensus.
The first round was comprised of three sections – background information and then two questions about data. The data questions were comprised of a set of sub-questions and were designed to seek personal views and opinions. The second survey round looked to start prioritising the areas of data to be included in the initial phase of the communication tool development and welcomed input into prioritising areas of focus in terms of their significance for impacting the state of the environment in relation to chemical pollution (i.e. sources of chemicals, contributing pressure, and effects on biodiversity). The third and final round sought to build consensus on the questions posed in the second round, and key in on the answers in more detail.
November 2023
A workshop was held to update wider stakeholders on project progress, including presenting the results of the first two rounds of the Delphi survey and reviewing existing tools and features that could be incorporated into this tool.
March 2024 to October 2024
Discussions with stakeholder groups were held to identify case studies for demonstrating proof of concept.
October 2024
A workshop was held to update wider stakeholders on project progress, this included sharing the results of the third round of the Delphi survey, the approach the project will take to the overall state of the environment feature and a demonstration of the tool.
Upcoming activities
- UKCEH will continue working on developing the visualisation tool.
- There will be a period of quality assurance before the end of this phase of the project in March 2025.
- There will be further stakeholder engagement and workshops towards the end of this phase of the project.
Get in touch
If you are interested in finding out more or attending a future workshop about the project please contact us.
Categories:
Published: .