The Summer 2021 issue of our Sphere newsletter has just been published.

In this special net zero edition we look at some of the work we have been doing both in the UK and internationally to help assess and understand the effects of climate change and bring our world back into balance. The journey to net zero is fraught with difficulty and as we approach the COP 26 climate change conference taking place in Glasgow in November the message is clearer than ever. Not only do we have to achieve the balance that the net zero narrative describes but we also have to seek ways and means to reduce the carbon already in our atmosphere. In other words net zero is just the start and getting there is going to take a huge effort from all of us, governments, agencies, environmental groups and us as individuals.

You can view and download a PDF of Sphere here.

or view the web version here.

The Spring 2021 issue of our Sphere newsletter has just been published. This issue is a direct response to the recently published Dasgupta Review and focuses on Natural Capital and more specifically on our own SENCE (Spatial Evidence for Natural Capital Evaluation) technology.

Our economies, livelihoods and well-being all depend on nature, and the accelerating collapse of the natural world is fuelling extreme risk and uncertainty for our economies, our livelihoods, health and well-being. Without an understanding of, and methods for, evaluating our natural capital we cannot move forward with the necessary policies and actions required to protect and invest in our natural world. SENCE was designed to do just that.

You can view and download this latest issue of Sphere here.

Environment Systems has been working with the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) for nearly ten years. These magnificent islands support more biodiversity than the entirety of the UK. The 14 islands lie within three biodiversity hotspots: the Caribbean islands, the Mediterranean basin and the Oceania eco-zone. These areas fall under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the UK although most islands are self-governing. Responsibility for protecting this priceless biodiversity is shared between the UK government and the local government of each territory. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the people of these wonderful islands, helping to map and model habitats, plus the natural capital and ecosystem services to enable a better understanding of their environments to build resilience and indicate where to site nature based solutions as a way to mitigate risk from climate change and the impacts of natural disasters.

We have been members of the Caribbean working group of the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum for over five years. The UKOTCF is holding a conference on the 2nd and 3rd March and the 9th and 10th March from 12-7pm, entitled ‘Staying connected for conservation in a changed world.’ Environment Systems are delighted to be sponsoring the event and Dr Katie Medcalf, our Environment Director is chairing Topic group 4 on ‘Coping with recovery after hurricanes and natural disasters by building resilience.’

This event will bring together practitioners, policy makers and government officials from across the territories to share experience, learning and work towards future goals.

The Winter 2020-21 issue of our Sphere newsletter has just been published and it is gratifying to report that we are busy and active well beyond the confines of the UK despite the pandemic. We have been working as far abroad as Australia, the Middle East, Africa, North and Latin America, and the Caribbean. Our technological innovation continues apace as we further extend the range and scope of our activities as one of the UK’s largest downstream Earth observation companies. We can look forward with optimism to the year ahead.

You can view and download this latest issue of Sphere or simply view our web version right here.

We have just published the Autumn issue of our Sphere newsletter. Find out how we have mapped over 1m million fields in the last year, how we are using new ways of visualising the data we process and making it easier for users to act on the insights we deliver. There are also updates on the effectiveness of Agri-environment schemes, the habitat mapping of the rail network and our own environmental performance.

View and download this latest issue of Sphere here.

You can also see a full web version here.

The Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) has published a blog on the importance of coral reefs in a changing climate by our Environment Director, Dr Katie Medcalf.

Reefs support biodiversity, tourism and fisheries, and the reef structures provide significant protection from storm events. Coral reefs may support the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem on the planet, providing spawning, nursery, breeding, and feeding grounds for numerous organisms. The iconic reef species, such as parrotfish, grouper, shark and the many species of smaller fish are so attractive that they form the basis of a multi-billion-pound tourism industry. Over 800 hard coral species and more than 4,000 species of fish are recorded, but there are many unknown and undescribed aspects of reef biodiversity, in particular the small organisms living with corals.

Read the whole blog.

The Summer issue of our Sphere newsletter has just been published. This issue demonstrates the diversity of the activity across the company and how we are leveraging our expertise and technology to great effect across the world. We feature the use of our Agri-track services in Colombia, crop suitability mapping under different climate change scenarios in Wales, a prototype online service that delivers information on Protected Areas in Scotland and a number of projects where we our using our drone data capture expertise.

View and download this latest issue of Sphere here.