Geography in practice: habitat mapping for 30by30

The UK has committed to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30by30), to support the global 30by30 target agreed at the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) in 2022.

Delivering this target on land in England will require effective, long term conservation and management of our most important and wildlife rich habitats, including both existing and newly created or restored areas.

To contribute towards 30by30, land must meet three broad criteria—purpose, protection, and management. This presentation outlines data-driven analysis carried out by DEFRA’s Spatial Data Science (SDS) team to assess areas of land across England that meet the 30by30 criteria or have the potential to meet the criteria with further action.

To support this work, the SDS team have developed the Spatial Intersector (SI) tool, designed to rapidly analyse large volumes of large scale spatial data and enable on the fly creation of different 30by30 scenarios. The presentation will introduce this approach and discuss how it has informed our understanding of England’s progress towards the 30by30 target.

About the speakers

Charlotte Weaver is a Spatial Data Scientist in DEFRA’s Spatial Data Science team. In her time at DEFRA, she has worked in areas such as 30by30, spatial targeting, climate adaptation, peatland mapping, and habitat regulation assessments. She has a strong interest in climate science and land use impacts, and has worked in these fields in both academia and the private sector.

Piumi Algamagedona is a Data Analyst within the Spatial Data Science team in DEFRA. She mainly works across projects such as 30by30, Government estate mapping, Environmental Indicator Framework and Farming in Protected Landscapes to develop pipelines and packages to aid analysis and generate dashboards.

Booking information

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