Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

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The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is a publicly-funded body of the United Kingdom specialising in interdisciplinary scientific research on terrestrial and freshwater environments.

The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is one of four environmental research organisations wholly owned by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), along with the British Geological Survey, the British Antarctic Survey and the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory. The single organisation CEH was established in 1994 from the combination of four existing NERC research centres.

The Centre operates from six sites across the UK: Monks Wood, Wallingford, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Bangor and Oxford. Scientific research is directed across these sites under four science programmes: water, biogeochemistry, biodiversity and environmental informatics. The Centre also undertakes research into climate change and sustainable economies.

In December 2005, NERC announced a controversial decision to reduce costs by closing five of nine CEH sites, entailing the loss of up to 200 jobs. The decision prompted criticism among some academics and environmentalists, including David Attenborough, who believe that the cuts will weaken the UK government's research effort into climate change.

[edit] External links

• Centre for Ecology and Hydrology homepage
• Natural Environment Research Council homepage
• NERC initial announcement of plans for CEH sites closures, December 2005
• NERC announcement of final decision, March 2006
• BBC News on CEH site closures
• article about protest letter to The Times from David Attenborough et al.
• England's Ecological Star