{"access":"Access to EVAST is restricted to lincenced users: Defra.","capabilities":"The EVAST modelling framework has been co-designed with Defra by a UKCEH-led consortium to support the development of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme. Policy relevant hypothetical scenarios of ELM offer uptake are created by simulating the consequences of action uptake on land use, management and livestock changes at field scale using Defra’s farm uptake model (DEFT). EVAST then quantifies the predicted changes to carbon, water quality, air quality and species abundance (bird and plant) using soft-coupled models in a holistic and spatially coherent framework. The key ecosystem service models include process-based, statistical and spatial models. Specifically: ESC (Ecological Site Classification, for woodland species selection and growth), CARBINE (for woodland carbon), LULUCF coefficients for agricultural soil and biomass carbon and Farmscoper for pollutant losses of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and sediment (which feed into an integrated water quality model), ammonia emissions (which feed into Meta-EMEP4UK for ammonia transport and human health impacts) and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The biodiversity models are BTO BIMLA (for bird abundance, based on the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey), MultiMOVE (for plant abundance based on soils and vegetation data from Countryside Survey), and a woodland habitat connectivity model. Finally, ecosystem service benefits are valued in their monetary terms and compared to total payments and foregone production.","description":"EVAST is a modelling framework designed to estimate the ecosystem service stocks, flows, and values resulting from Defra farming policies in England, such as the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. It allows policies to be developed, explored and stress-tested before implementation.","fundingSources":"Development of EVAST is funded by Defra.","id":"6838d805-92c1-44a5-b3d8-d7b8c02156e6","infrastructureCategory":{"value":"models","description":"Environmental models","infrastructureClass":"Digital infrastructures","uri":"http://vocabs.ceh.ac.uk/ri/model"},"infrastructureChallenge":[{"value":"Sustainable ecosystems: biodiversity net gain"}],"lifecycle":"Development of the EVAST modelling framework began in December 2019 and the project is due to complete in March 2026.","metadataDate":"2025-04-09T09:24:56","owners":[{"displayName":"Robert Dunford-Brown","organisationName":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology","organisationIdentifier":"https://ror.org/00pggkr55","role":"owner","email":"enquiries@ceh.ac.uk","fullName":"Robert Dunford-Brown"},{"familyName":"Thomas","givenName":"Amy","organisationName":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology","organisationIdentifier":"https://ror.org/00pggkr55","role":"pointOfContact","email":"athomas@ceh.ac.uk","fullName":"Thomas, A.","pointOfContact":"UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology"}],"partners":"Development of EVAST is led by UKCEH in collaboration with Defra and a consortium of: ADAS; British Trust for Ornithology (BTO); Cranfield University; eftec (economics for the environment consultants), and Forest Research. ","resourceIdentifiers":[{"code":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/6838d805-92c1-44a5-b3d8-d7b8c02156e6"}],"scienceArea":"Biodiversity","title":"Environmental Value Assessment Scenario Tool (EVAST)","type":"infrastructureRecord","uniqueness":"EVAST is co-created and custom-designed with Defra using an iterative and responsive approach to make it particularly policy-relevant and impactful: (1) it fits Defra's wider modelling strategy; (2) it is informed by latest thinking on Defra's ELM scheme design; (3) it builds understanding between Defra personnel and EVAST consortium modellers to improve understanding and confidence in the strengths and limits of modelling; (4) by modelling multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity (e.g. Carbon, water quality, air quality, plant and bird species abundance) in a single, spatially coherent framework, it allows Defra to identify synergies and trade-offs between environmental sectors and make more nuanced decisions to maximise expected environmental value and to avoid unintended consequences.","uri":"https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/6838d805-92c1-44a5-b3d8-d7b8c02156e6","users":["EVAST is used by Defra who commissioned it for policy planning."]}