Topic: Environmental Statistics

Schedule:

13:30 - 14:15 - Madeleine May (DEFRA) - Environmental statistics: producing robust data and evidence to support decision making

Following the UK's exit from the EU, Government is designing and delivering new and different environmental policies, which need to be underpinned by robust data and evidence. Find out how Defra's Environmental Indicators, Statistics and Reporting team is contributing to the UK's environmental statistics, including through a new interactive dashboard, and take the opportunity to provide your own thoughts and feedback on how to further expand and develop them.

14:.15 - 15:00 - RSS local group AGM

15:00 - 16:00 - Caitlin Clark & James Foley (DEFRA) - Shaping the future of agri-environmental schemes in England: end to end modelling for real world impact

This talk will discuss how we are using data science to design a new approach for the agricultural industry, moving away from the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy. We’ll explain our modelling strategy for the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which will pay farmers for actions that bring about environmental benefits.

The modelling strategy is a complete modelling toolkit dynamically modelling the scientific, economic and behavioural aspects of ELM in advance of full scheme rollout so we can optimise the outcomes of the programme. These models allow us to explore appropriate payment rates for actions, uptake at different payment levels and environmental impacts of the scheme. It will also allow users to explore how to adapt to particular scenarios, such as climate change and work towards the government’s long-term goals, such as Net Zero.