Content condensed from Unlocking the geography of health and deprivation: two enhanced analytical tools launch today – Natural England.
Natural England, the Environment Agency and partners have launched the Index of Multiple Environmental Deprivation (IMED) and the Environmental Equity Index (EEI).
Their purpose is to improve understanding where the pressures of a changing climate land hardest and on whom.
- IMED maps cover: air pollution; flood risk; environmental noise; habitat deficit; access to green space; climate-related pressures. It is the environmental equivalent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
- EEI layers in additional factors: Urban Heat Island effects; lack of tree cover; years of life lost; wider socio-economic deprivation. It shows where environmental pressures and vulnerable communities overlap.
The tools give decision-makers something they haven’t had before: a consistent, transparent, high-resolution evidence base covering the whole of England.
Tools can be accessed at Natural England’s Green Infrastructure Mapping Tool.
Both tools clearly visualise the scale of the climate challenge faced across England and specifically in London – where the vast majority of a huge population live in the lowest decile across both tools.