Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Government Office and Yorkshire Futures to show the state of the natural environment in Yorkshire and Humber.

It presents mapped data and commentary about where our most valuable natural assets are, and what air, water and landscape quality is like across the region.

The report includes detailed maps of biodiversity opportunity areas where resources could be targeted to restore or expand areas of priority biodiversity action plan habitats, and a wealth of information about the potential for green infrastructure.
 
The report identifies that Yorkshire and Humber is rich in natural assets, containing a quarter of all national park land in England, and extensive tracts of high quality agricultural land.

However, we are taking the region’s natural resources for granted and that’s not sustainable. In some parts of the region, too much water is being abstracted from our rivers. New monitoring requirements for our waterways mean that in the future, our rivers, lakes and estuaries will require much more management to reach an acceptable standard, for example by reducing the amount of pollution that washes off land and into rivers.

• Natural Environment Evidence Base for Yorkshire and Humber (pdf)

Yorkshire Post, Published on Monday 21 February 2011

"YORKSHIRE’S natural environment is bringing massive social and economic benefits to the region that policy-makers are failing to recognise as they oversee its slow decline, a major new report has concluded." Read the full article...