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Environmental impact assessment: VALUES, the new tool [UK]
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A prototype geographic information system (GIS) tool, named VALUES (VAluing Land Use change and Ecosystem Services), has been created from a partnership between Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
What is the purpose of this new environmental management tool?
The tool allows organisations to place a value on changes in land use, particularly where wildlife or the wider environment is at risk.
The tool uses both publicly available environmental datasets and ecosystem service information for calculation of the value of changes in land use.
Innovate UK, the public body which provided the funding for the project, states that the tool ‘could be widely used by those undertaking environmental impact assessments.’
Red-on-line EHS Legal Specialist
Sources: News story: ‘Power company works with regulator to devise environmental tool‘, published on gov.uk on 2 July 2015. http://www.sepa.org.uk/ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/power-company-works-with-regulator-to-devise-environmental-tool https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/innovate-uk