We are pleased to share our Annual Review 2020, which celebrates some of the important work that has happened at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) during our first year as an independent, not-for-profit research institute.
Despite the many challenges created by the pandemic, we continued to deliver excellent science with impact both nationally and internationally, as well as contributing expertise and equipment to the UK’s emergency response. Highlights included:
- Our Biological Records Centre received 1.77 million records from over 20,000 contributors, covering over 24,000 species, informing annual UK biodiversity indicators.
- We maintained the operation of our UK air quality monitoring sites and reported on CO2 emissions during national lockdowns.
- The South Asian Nitrogen Hub, led by UKCEH, informed the UN Environment Assembly’s first ever Resolution on Sustainable Nitrogen Management.
- We co-developed a world-leading approach to safeguarding genetic diversity (Aichi Target 13), which won the Nature of Scotland Innovation Award 2020.
- We developed a free web-based environmental planning tool to enable farmers across Great Britain to deliver environmental improvements to their land.
- We launched the UK Water Resources Portal – an interactive web portal which provides the most up-to-date available data on river flows, rainfall, soil moisture and groundwater levels – designed for use by government agencies, water companies, river trusts and others.
We were fortunate to be in a strong enough financial position to retain all our staff on full pay throughout the year, and our commitment to supporting and developing people was recognised when we were accredited with the Investors in People Silver Award.
You can read more about how we helped to tackle ten key science challenges by downloading our Annual Review 2020 (pdf). We look forward to 2021 with optimism.