These Natural Capital Atlases follow on from the popular National Natural Capital Atlas (Wigley et al., 2020). The best available and nationally consistent evidence is used to map out indicators showing asset quality, quantity and location. Indicators for some flows of ecosystem services are also mapped.
These atlases provide an “off the shelf” natural capital evidence base for each county or city region. They can be added to and built on. They have a wide variety of uses with more information in the How to Start Using Your Natural Capital Atlas annex. Check the Atlas Key to see which atlas your place is covered by.
The data package contains the shapefiles for the indicators mapped in these atlases. The data package is available for all of England, enabling users to explore the data layers in more detail. The accompanying GIS User Guide and ArcMap package (which runs in 10.2.2 or later) will help basic GIS users to download, open and explore the map data further. The Map Presentation Resources can be used to create attractive maps, matching those in the atlases.
Understanding the state of our natural environment is the essential first step to improving it. Natural England’s Natural Capital Indicators (Lusardi et al., 2018) were designed to inform our understanding of the state of our natural assets. These indicators measure the quantity, quality and location of ecosystems, and the flow of ecosystem services from them. The indicators highlight which properties of the environment are important for delivering which ecosystem services and benefits. Understanding the state of natural capital is essential to enable the sustainable provision of multiple benefits, now and into the future. However, our natural capital assets, and the benefits they provide, face numerous risks that impact societal resilience. This is evidenced and discussed in the State of Natural Capital Report for England 2024: Risks to nature and why it matters.
The second editions of the Natural Capital Atlases: Mapping Indicators for County and City Regions have been updated to include some clarification notes at relevant points through the document regarding catchment services. These are services which are associated with freshwater but are provided by the land across the wider catchment: water supply, regulation of water quality and flood protection. There have also been some minor alterations to supporting text and images through the documents. However, it should be noted that all the maps, and therefore the underlying geospatial data, have not been updated.