Geoff Phillips, Environment Agency
Abstract
The Water Framework Directive puts ecology at the centre of how we protect and manage the water environment. It is focussed around catchment management and my presentation will provide a brief overview of how monitoring results in ecological status assessments that are used to identify future priorities. I will start with an overview of the directive and the monitoring that it requires. I will provide an explanation of how some of the biological assessment methods determine status and consider how they can be used to assess trends over time. Finally I will take an example from the Norfolk Broads to illustrate the likely time that is required to deliver environmental change and how monitoring can help identify the key ecological interactions that need to be considered.
