Living Landscapes Evidence Syntheses

The Royal Society’s Living Landscapes programme aims to inform a long-term vision for how the UK manages its land in a way that combines agricultural productivity with sound environmental stewardship. 

The evidence synthesis reports summarise current understanding in areas of new or uncertain science that are relevant to public policy concerns. These are produced in line with our principles for evidence synthesis, to ensure our summaries are inclusive, transparent, rigorous and accessible.

Below is a list of our evidence synthesis reports that are either complete or currently being produced.

Agricultural ammonia emissions

Our first evidence synthesis, produced in collaboration with RAND Europe, examines the impacts of ammonia emissions from agriculture on biodiversity in the UK, and the effectiveness and cost of possible interventions to reduce these. 

Microplastics in freshwater and soil

This evidence synthesis gathers together evidence on microplastics in freshwater and soil, looking specifically at the impact of microplastics and the chemicals associated with them on animals in freshwater and soil environments. The report also considers the limited amount of published research on nanoplastics, as well as potential impacts on human health. It also highlights the key evidence gaps on this topic.

Soil structure and its benefits

This evidence synthesis examines the relationship between soil structure and its benefits. The report focuses on the delivery of four benefits: biodiversity, agricultural productivity, clean water and flood prevention and climate change mitigation. The report also describes how soil structure can be measured and what interventions a land manager can make to promote good soil structure. The final part of the report provides four illustrative examples of what a future policy on soil could look like. 

Living Landscapes is chaired by Charles Godfray FRS. To be updated when reports are available or more information on the programme, please contact the Living Landscapes team.