NICS 2000 Results
The box below sumarises the changes in habitat types between the 1986/92 survey baseline and the 1998/00 survey.
| Habitat type | Direction of change |
Area lost/gained |
Percent change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi natural vegetation | Overall Decrease |
31,288 ha |
11% |
| Gorse heath | Decrease |
1,926 ha |
46% |
| Species rich wet grassland | Decrease |
7,957 ha |
37% |
| Dry heath | Decrease |
1,690 ha |
27% |
| Wet bog | Decrease |
12,847 ha |
21% |
| Wet heath | Decrease |
5,001 ha |
20% |
Purple moor grassland (Molina) |
Increase |
3,313 ha |
119% |
Agricultural and planted lands |
Overall increase (Upland areas) |
10,953 ha |
7% |
| Italian ryegrass | Increase |
46,148 ha |
189% |
| Perennial ryegrass | Increase |
94,368 ha |
23% |
| Other agri grasslands | Decrease |
94,191 ha |
30% |
| Cereals | Decrease |
15,361 ha |
30% |
| Field boundaries | Overall decrease |
6,898 km |
3% |
| Earth banks | Decrease |
4,727 km |
10% |
| Hedges | Decrease |
5,489 km |
4% |
| Fences | Increase |
3,950 km |
8% |
| Buildings & roads | Overall increase |
14,072 ha |
15% |
The habitat change data presented by NICS 2000 provided an ecological context for government and public discussion about landscape-scale biodiversity and sustainable development, and provided definitive and crucial information in a number of key policy areas, especially in relation to biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, environmental pollution and climate change. In these areas, extensive use is made both of the data on habitat extent in support of policy. The land cover map is also a highly valuable source of information for policy support in a wide variety of areas. The value of these data will increase, as the time series of surveys builds up, simply because each new survey adds to the capability to detect and explore trends and changes in the countryside.
