Evaluation of the NCEA Programme (2021-2025)

The Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) is a £140m R&D programme delivered over three years through two separate portfolios, terrestrial (tNCEA) and marine (mNCEA). It is a science, innovation and transformation programme, which spans across land and water environments, set up to collect data on the extent, condition and change over time of England's ecosystems and natural capital, and the benefits to society. Together, these approaches provide a more holistic and joined-up view of our natural environment, enabling us to identify connections, dependencies, and trade-offs between policy ambitions and to make better-informed decisions that truly benefit people and nature. The evaluation contract's objectives are to assess the relevance, effectiveness (including cost-effectiveness), outcomes and sustainability (i.e. integration into business as usual) of the NCEA. The evaluation will go beyond the monitoring of outputs (which will be led by the Programme Management Offices) to identify the mechanisms through which change takes place; and assess the likelihood of long-term effects being sustained through the adoption of a natural capital approach across business areas. It will provide an accountability function for a significant investment of public funds, and capture learning throughout the lifetime of the programme to shape programme delivery.