While many businesses and public sector organisations understand that natural capital is an important direct and indirect source of socio-economic prosperity, quality of life, and well-being, they frequently lack the capacity to quantify those benefits in either physical or economic terms. Such capacity exists in the often sophisticated models developed by natural and economic scientists, but the power of such models to estimate the benefits of maintaining or enhancing natural capital stocks has generally been unavailable outside the academic community. Since evidence of the size of such benefits may be fundamental for informing decision making2 and shaping policy design, developing tools that support better accounting and valuation of natural capital has been identified as a key requirement in bringing the environment into to the heart of public and private sector decision making. The central objective of this proposal is to create such tools. In particular, we will develop a web-based application that allows government, businesses, and the public to access the power of NERC-funded natural capital models through an easy-to-use map-based interface. This interface, the Natural Environment Valuation Online tool (NEVO), will allow users to explore and visualise the consequences of changes in natural capital management on flows of ecosystem services in the UK. In the first instance, NEVO will focus on quantifying and valuing carbon stored and absorbed by the natural environment and recreational uses associated with natural and semi-natural environments. Most importantly, NEVO will allow users to query the underpinning natural capital models in order to answer questions of their own design. To better understand the exact nature of those questions and so inform the development of NEVO, we will work closely with a number of partner organisations each of whom is engaged in the management and promotion of natural capital: 1. The Environment Analysis Unit at Defra, whose core interests include the development of tools to support the emerging 25 Year Plan for the Environment. 2. The Forestry Commission (FC), responsible for forestry in the UK, including administration of the Woodland Carbon Code, a voluntary code providing consistency, clarity and transparency in the accounting of woodland carbon projects. 3. Moor Trees, a charitable organisation dedicated to re-foresting Dartmoor with native trees and enabling people to re-engage with trees and natural environments. 4. Treeconomics, a social enterprise specialising in measuring and valuing the benefits of urban trees. Their mission is to raise awareness of the value of trees and woodlands as natural assets through engaging local people, businesses and public bodies in their projects. 5. GeoSmart Information Ltd, a data and services company that supports sustainable development together with a range of data products and innovative subscription services in areas of groundwater flood risk and sustainable drainage systems. NEVO will be co-developed with this set of project partners ensuring their direct input in deciding upon the nature of the user interface, which variables users have control over in querying the model and how the outputs are visualised and recorded. The project builds upon sophisticated models from NERC-funded natural and economic science including the National Ecosystem Assessment Follow On (NEA-FO) project and a Valuing Nature Network placement grant scoping user needs for natural capital tools. Moreover the project will build on the research team's experience delivering the Defra-funded proto-type Outdoor Recreation Valuation tool which has proved the feasibility of creating map-based web applications for natural capital valuation which are accessible to a broad audience (http://leep.exeter.ac.uk/ORVal). Keywords: natural environment, valuation, carbon, recreation, tool, mapping, web-based,

CASCADE will be a keystone in the current aerial robotics revolution. This programme will reach across a wide range of applications from fundamental earth science through to industry applications in construction, security, transport and information. There is a chasm between consumer level civilian drone operations and high cost military applications. CASCADE will realise a step change in aerial robotics capability and operations. We will be driven by science and industry problems in order to target fundamental research in five key areas; Integration, Safety, Autonomy, Agility, Capability and Scalability as well as overall project methodology. In targeting these six areas, CASCADE will free up current constraints on UAV operations, providing case study data, exemplars, guidance for regulation purposes and motivating links across the science and engineering divide. The landscape of aerial robotics is changing rapidly and CASCADE will allow the UK to be at the forefront of this revolution. This rapid change is reflected by the wide range of terminology used to describe aerial robots including; Drones, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems, and Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS). Supporting technologies driving the aerial robotics revolution include improved battery technologies, actuators, sensors, computing and regulations. These have all significantly expanded the possibilities offered by smart, robust, adaptable, affordable, agile and reliable aerial robotic systems. There are many environmental challenges facing mankind where aerial robots can be of significant value. Scientists currently use resource intensive research ships and aircraft to study the oceans and the atmosphere. CASCADE will focus on reducing these costs and at the same time increasing capability. Some mission types involve prohibitive risks, such as volcano plume sampling and flight in extreme weather conditions. CASCADE will focus on managing these risks for unmanned systems, operating in conditions where it is not possible to operate manned vehicles. Similarly, there are many potentially useful commercial applications such as parcel delivery, search and rescue, farming, inspection, property maintenance, where aerial robots can offer considerable cost and capability benefits when compared to manned alternatives. CASCADE will focus on bringing autonomous aerial capabilities to a range of industry applications. For both scientific and industry purposes, CASCADE will consider a range of vehicle configurations from standard rotary and fixed wing through to hybrid and multi modal operations. These will bring unique capabilities to challenging operations for which there is no conventional solution. At present, because of concerns over safety, there are strict regulations concerning where and how aerial robots can be operated. Permissions for use are granted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and operations are generally not permitted beyond line of sight, close to infrastructure or large groups of people, or more than 400 feet from the ground. These regulations currently restrict many of the potentially useful applications for aerial robots. CASCADE aims to undertake research into key underpinning technologies that will allow these to be extended or removed by working with regulating authorities to help shape the operating environment for future robotic systems. CASCADE will prove fundamental research through a wide variety of realistic CASE studies. These will be undertaken with academic and industry partners, focussing on demonstrating key technologies and concepts. These test missions will undertake a wide range of exciting applications including very high altitude flights, aerial robots that can also swim, swarms of sensor craft flying into storms, volcanic plumes and urban flights. Through these CASCADE will provide underpinning research, enable and educate users and widely support the aerial robotics revolution.

INTCATCH will instigate a paradigm shift in the monitoring and management of surface water quality that is fit for global waters in the period 2020-2050. INTCATCH will do this by developing efficient, user-friendly water monitoring strategies and systems based on innovative technologies that will provide real time data for important parameters, moving towards SMART Rivers. The business model will transform water governance by facilitating sustainable water quality management by community groups and NGOs using a clouds data linked to a decision support system and eco-innovative technologies. The INTCATCH project will use demonstration activities to showcase eco-innovative autonomous and radio controlled boats, sensors, DNA test kits and run-off treatment technologies. Actions which develop and evaluate these in a range of catchments will address the important innovation barriers to uptake, notably, a lack of knowledge of new technologies and their capabilities, identified by the European Innovation Plan (EIP) on water. By conceptually moving the laboratory to the ‘field’, the monitoring techniques that will be developed aim to supersede the inefficient, time dependent, costly and labour-intensive routine sampling and analysis procedures currently deployed to understand the quality of receiving waters. It will compliment routine monitoring that is required for baseline datasets, but also enable cost-effective impact and management investigations. INTCATCH will incentivise stakeholder innovation in monitoring and will facilitate new financing for innovation through its innovative franchise business model and empowerment of community groups and NGOs. The market ambition is that the INTCATCH business will facilitate an eco-innovative approach to deliver good quality water bodies across Europe and beyond. This will support green growth, increase resilience to climate change and capture greater market-share for Europe’s innovative industries.

The hydrology, soils and ecology of moorland are vulnerable to local environmental change, and in many areas uninformed management has increased erosion and flooding, and degraded the water quality and biodiversity of streams. Whilst much research has been directed at the terrestrial component of moorland, the aquatic habitats they support are rarely investigated. In particular, we know little about the structure of ecological communities in rivers and streams draining moorland (particularly heavily managed moors). A number of rivers that drain moorland in England, including the Eden, Wharfe, Cumbrian Derwent, Yorkshire Derwent, Camel and Wye, are designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), with some of these additionally designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the EU Habitats and Species Directive. Thus a more complete understanding of the communities inhabiting moorland streams, and their response to habitat variability and management pressures, is vital if agencies such as Natural England (NE) are to protect these sites and the wider network of upland streams, and guide sustainable restoration and management schemes. The main aim of this project is to understand how contemporary changes in UK moorlands influence the structure (algal and macroinvertebrate biodiversity) and function (production, trophic interactions) of stream ecosystems,and consider the conservation implications of these findings through collaboration with Natural England. Specifically, the project will examine the influence of spatiotemporal differences of moorland stream physicochemistry across 'intact' moorlands. Subsequent analyses will compare these intact 'control' sites with streams draining sites subject to controlled burning (utilising paired catchment approaches). Key objectives of this project will be: 1. To undertake detailed field investigations across North Pennine moorlands with minimal management, to gain a better understanding of how spatiotemporal differences in stream physicochemistry influence algal and invertebrate biodiversity, and aspects of ecosystem function (i.e. secondary production). 2. To undertake detailed field investigations across North Pennine moorlands with intensive burning, and compare these with results from Obj. 1, to gain an understanding of how elevated nutrients and organic particulates influence algal and invertebrate biodiversity, and secondary production. 3. To utilise a NE funded stream mesocosm facility at Moor House, Upper Teesdale, to experimentally examine the effects of elevated nutrient concentrations (using constant injections over fixed time periods), increased particulate concentrations (by adding a known weight of dried peat particles) and ash deposits (from combusted heather and peat) on stream ecosystem structure (primary producers and invertebrates). Experiments will be fully replicated to examine the individual and interactive effects of increased nutrient loads, organic particulates and ash on algae and invertebrate community structure. 4. To consider wider implications for environmental targets used in conservation objectives for designated upland streams and rivers by agencies such as Natural England. Fieldwork will be undertaken from Spring 2009-2011 across the North Pennines. The student will be trained in a range of methods including: (i) hydrological analysis, (ii) water quality monitoring, and (iii) stream ecology. The student will be based at the 5 RAE rated School of Geography, University of Leeds, and additional training will be provided through collaboration with Natural England and the University of Birmingham. The student will undertake a placement with NE in year 2, working for 1 month with local and national officers and gaining an appreciation of the practical implications of their research. In particular, the placement will provide training in translating research into conservation targets for rivers in areas designated as SSSI and SAC.

The uplands of Exmoor National Park receive a considerable proportion of the annual rainfall that supplies water to >500,000 consumers in the River Exe catchment. This area also contains large tracts of degraded peatland that were damaged by drainage and peat cutting in the 19th and 20th centuries. South West Water plc manage the water resources of the Exe Catchment and are investing in mire restoration for the purpose of improving the quality and quantity of water supplies. Amongst the numerous benefits of mire rewetting is the potential to alter the balance of trace gas exchange with the atmosphere to cause a net reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP). Landowners at present do not receive financial reward for converting degraded moorland back to a natural wet state. They receive no monetary benefit for improvements in water quality or quantity, nor are they paid for enhancing rates of soil carbon sequestration or a net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The motivation for this study is South West Water plc's need to quantify net changes in GWP and improvements in water quantity and quality due to rewetting of upland mires for the purpose of securing funds to reward landowners that make areas of degraded peatland available for restoration. A project operated by the Environment Agency and Exeter University (and funded by South West Water plc) is underway to address the water supply and quality questions. The Bristol Open CASE PhD student will study cycling of the infrared absorbing gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the same two headwater catchments that have been instrumented for the water study. The aim of this project is to quantify atmospheric and fluvial fluxes of these key greenhouse gases before and after ditch-blocking to determine the net impact of mire rewetting on GWP. An important aspect of the study will be to estimate errors and uncertainties in the flux data, more specifically, the timeline for establishing biogeochemical equilibrium in the soils after rewetting and the range of inter-annual variation in pre-restoration baseline fluxes. The former issue will be addressed using changes in the stable isotope composition of methane which varies with trophic and aeration status in peatlands and can be used to monitor the restoration of soil biogeochemical function. During the study, flux measurements will be made at stations in adjacent unrestored catchments to assess inter-annual variability in pre-restoration baseline fluxes because it will be possible to measure only one year of surface and fluvial fluxes before ditch-blocking begins in the test catchments. The PhD student will work with staff at South West Water plc to establish a monetary value (based upon trading of CO2 equivalents) for net changes in GWP. Pending the final outcomes of this study, the information may be used by the CASE Partner to negotiate monetary rewards for landowners in the 2015-2020 water price limits set by the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). The motivation is to establish a long-term system of incentives that will encourage more landowners to allow areas of degraded peatland to be restored for the wider benefit of society.