BEST-AVAILABLE SCIENCE AND RESEARCH HELPING THE MANAGEMENT OF ESTUARIES
The UK’s estuaries are under increasing pressure from development as well as from rising sea level and climate change.This has encouraged one leading marine research organisation to launch an on-line guide to identify how UK estuaries will change over time and promote better sustainable management of these rich, biodiverse areas.
ABP Marine Environmental Research (ABPmer) has set up www.estuary-guide.net to share information and findings it has learned from undertaking extensive research into the behaviour of estuaries.The guide is written to try and help those working on estuaries to find their way to main sources of knowledge and information.Recognising the importance of natural and man-made changes to the development of estuaries, Associated British Ports (ABP) – the UK’s largest and leading ports group – funded an extensive programme of research into estuaries at its wholly-owned subsidiary, ABPmer, which has formed the basis of the contents of the guide.
ABPmer’s considerable research into this specialised area has meant that the consultancy has also been recruited as part of a research consortium to undertake work for DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Environment Agency.Work on a three-year-long research programme, led by ABPmer, began in April this year and will help to further develop the guide.
Ian Townend, Managing Director, ABPmer, said:
“Conservation and the promotion of biodiversity are now key to the sound management of so many activities that interact with the natural environment.The day-to-day work of ABP, and the many and varied developments it seeks to promote, inevitably interact with this complex marine environment.Using the best-available science is therefore central to the Group’s management activities.This Estuary Guide allows us to share and develop knowledge and experience with the many partners and stakeholders that work alongside ABP in the estuary environment.”
The website not only includes an on-line guide but also a toolbox function which allows users to search for appropriate methods to address particular estuarine problems.
In the longer term, ABPmer intends to input information from the wider research community in order to maintain and develop the site as a community resource. |
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