Human wellbeing is dependent on the benefits – or natural capital – which we obtain from the environment such as food, fresh water, tourism, spirituality and protection from flooding and erosion. Yet these benefits and the trade-offs made between them are often not considered when economic decisions need to be made. Values – both monetary and non-monetary – can be assigned to this natural capital which allow us to make longer-term, more strategic, decisions about how to manage them both now and for future generations.

Publicly funded projects require that their data are made accessible and available to the public. In order to do this there needs to be some sort of infrastructure which is able to check that the data are up-to-date and quality assured, and that the dissemination tools are intuitive and reliable.