# Replicating Scotland’s NCAI

## Introduction

The openNCAI package calculates a regional natural capital assets index (NCAI) using the method designed by NatureScot to calculate Scotland’s NCAI. The idea behind the NCAI is that by finding a way to express changing the value of natural capital, we make it easier for policymakers to consider the role of the natural environment in our well-being and the economy.

Why build this package? By engineering the NCAI process in R, we make it easy to create a reproducible trace of the calculation. That means that a reader can see exactly how the statistic was produced and check its validity, and take and use the calculator for themselves.

By building the calculation as an R function, we facilitate custom adjustments to the framework. For example, another country might want to index their natural capital assets: by feeding in their own data and their own habitat and ecosystem classifications, they can do so. NatureScot’s method uses habitat and ecosystem classifications based on established taxonomies - European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitat types, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) and the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES) - so there is likely to be shared relevance for other European regions.

Building a reusable, customisable tool also means that we can explore some of the assumptions which underpin the NCAI model, or update them. We might decide that, 20 years after the index was first designed, some natural assets are more valuable to the population than they were before. We can reprogram the index and see if the story changes. We might like to know if new satellite imagery could replace the ecological surveys which currently provide data about the extent and condition of natural habitats. We could calculate the index with both types of data and compare the results.

In this vignette, we work through reproducing the Scottish statistic, using data assets provided by NatureScot used to calculate the index in years 2000 - 2022.

## Setup

We start by attaching openNCAI and some other packages needed for this demonstration:

    library(openNCAI)
    library(ggplot2)
    library(dplyr)
    library(tibble)

## Accessing Package Data

openNCAI comes bundled with a set of data assets used by NatureScot to calculate Scotland’s NCAI from 2000 to 2022.

Because these are built in to the package we can access the data objects directly. For example, we can show a snippet of the habitat extent data by calling the object ‘ns_habitat_extent’:

    head(ns_habitat_extent[,1:3])
    #>                                                                2000   2001
    #> b1_coastal_dunes_and_sandy_shores                             27778  27778
    #> b2_coastal_shingle                                             3204   3204
    #> b3_rock_cliffs_ledges_and_shores_including_the_supralittoral   8108   8108
    #> c_inland_surface_waters                                      249678 249678
    #> d1_raised_and_blanket_bogs                                   972038 972038
    #> d2_valley_mires_poor_fens_and_transition_mires                 1019   1019
    #>                                                                2002
    #> b1_coastal_dunes_and_sandy_shores                             27778
    #> b2_coastal_shingle                                             3204
    #> b3_rock_cliffs_ledges_and_shores_including_the_supralittoral   8108
    #> c_inland_surface_waters                                      249678
    #> d1_raised_and_blanket_bogs                                   972038
    #> d2_valley_mires_poor_fens_and_transition_mires                 1019

## Understanding The Required Data Inputs

openNCAI requires three types of data:

1. Metadata which define the natural habitats under consideration, the ecosystem services they provide, and the years across which the index is to be calculated,

2. Environmental measurements recording the extent and condition of the natural habitats over the years,

3. Weighting scores - decided by experts at the beginning of the process; these denote the relative importance of different ecosystem services, the potential of different habitats to provide each each, and the salience of the available habitat condition indicators to represent flow of services from habitats.

Let’s find out more about the contents and shape of the included data objects which fulfill these roles…

### Metadata

Three metadata objects are included:

Object Name | Description | Data Format
--- | --- | ---
ns_habitats_label_tree | Habitats Label Tree: a hierarchy of natural habitats (based on EUNIS1 level 2) grouped within their respective broad habitat categories (EUNIS level 1) found in Scotland. | A named list of character vectors where names are broad habitats and vectors contain the specific habitats within them.
ns_es_label_tree | Ecosystem Services Label Tree: a hierarchy of individual CICES2 ecosystem services (ES) organized by their SEEA3 service type groups (Provisioning, Regulation & Maintenance, and Cultural). | A named list of character vectors where names are service types and vectors contain the individual services.
ns_year_list | Year List: the specific range of years over which the index is calculated. | A character vector of years.

It is important that all measurement and weights objects are congruent with the metadata. E.g. time series data must include all the years mentioned in the year list, and weighting scores must be expressed across the habitats and ecosystem services listed in the label trees.

Also required but not included explicitly as a data object is a list of condition indicators (CIs): this is extracted from the column names of the Condition Indicator Score Matrix (`ns_ci_scores`) described in the next table.

We can inspect the objects and verify some of the dimensions and labels:

    # The label trees are nested lists.
    # E.g. See the first couple of broad habitats and the habitats within them.
    ns_habitats_label_tree[1:2]
    #> $b_coastal_habitats
    #> [1] "b1_coastal_dunes_and_sandy_shores"
    #> [2] "b2_coastal_shingle"
    #> [3] "b3_rock_cliffs_ledges_and_shores_including_the_supralittoral"
    #>
    #> $c_inland_surface_waters
    #> [1] "c_inland_surface_waters"

    # Or the names of the ES label tree:
    names(ns_es_label_tree)
    #> [1] "provisioning"               "regulation_and_maintenance"
    #> [3] "cultural"

    # And the labels within the last group 'Cultural':
    ns_es_label_tree[3]
    #> $cultural
    #> [1] "3_1_physical_and_experiential_interactions"
    #> [2] "3_2_heritage_scientific_and_educational_interactions"
    #> [3] "3_3_aesthetic_and_entertainment_interactions"
    #> [4] "3_4_symbolic_sacred_and_or_religious_interactions"
    #> [5] "3_5_existence_and_bequest"

### Environmental Measurements

These measures constitute time series recording the extent (area) and condition of natural habitats over the years of the index. Included are:

Object Name | Description | Data Format
--- | --- | ---
ns_habitat_extent | Habitat Extent for Scotland: measurement in hectares of the area of each natural habitat over the years. | A data frame where rows are habitats and columns are years.
ns_ci_scores | Condition Indicator Score Matrix: yearly condition score on each of the Condition Indicators (CIs). | A data frame where rows are years and columns are CIs.

Note that the dimensions and labelling of the measurement data should match the metadata:

    # E.g. The habitat extent data has 31 rows and 23 columns:
    dim(ns_habitat_extent)
    #> [1] 31 23

    # The 31 rows match the habitats in the (unlisted) Habitats label tree:
    all_habitats <- unlist(ns_habitats_label_tree, use.names = FALSE)
    length(all_habitats)
    #> [1] 31
    all.equal(all_habitats, rownames(ns_habitat_extent))
    #> [1] TRUE

    # The condition score data has one row per year and these years match the year list:
    dim(ns_ci_scores)
    #> [1] 23 38
    length(ns_year_list)
    #> [1] 23

    # The row names match the year list too:
    all.equal(rownames(ns_ci_scores), ns_year_list)
    #> [1] TRUE

### Weighting Scores

These data objects include scores decided by expert knowledge at the outset of the index. Included are:

Object Name | Description | Data Format
--- | --- | ---
ns_provision_per_unit_scores | Ecosystem Service Provision Potential per Unit Scores: scores denoting the relative potential of one area unit of a habitat to provide each of the ecosystem services. | A data frame where rows are habitats and columns are ecosystem services.
ns_between_importance_scores | Ecosystem Service Importance Scores (between-service-type): scores denoting the relative importance of the different ecosystem service types (‘Provisioning’, ‘Regulation & Maintenance’, ‘Cultural’) to Scotland. | A named list of numeric values where names match the top-level names of the Service Label Tree.
ns_within_importance_scores | Ecosystem Service Importance Score (within-service-type): scores denoting the relative importance of individual ecosystem services within their service type group. | A nested list of named lists, with a hierarchy matching the Service Label Tree.
ns_ci_relevance_matrices | Condition Indicator Relevance Matrices: a set of matrices marking whether an indicator is relevant to specific habitat/ecosystem service combinations (e.g., ‘Woodland bird index’ relevance to ‘Pollination’). | A named list of data frames (one per CI) with binary (1/0) values; rows are habitats and columns are ecosystem services.
ns_indicator_directory | Indicator Directory: a table recording the salience of each condition indicator (between 0 and 1) in representing the capacity of habitats to provide each ecosystem service type. | A data frame with a `ci_id` column and columns for each ecosystem service type containing salience scores.
ns_custom_weight_matrix | NatureScot’s Custom Divisor Matrix: weights used in this particular case to adjust potential provision scores to reflect scale and context dependence (e.g., adjusting scores by dividing by 1 instead of 5). | A data frame where row names are habitats and column names are ecosystem services.

Several of the weights objects are matrices of habitat / ecosystem service type. These are provided as data frames with rows matching the unlisted habitats label tree and columns matching the unlisted ecosystem service label tree:

    all_habitats <- unlist(ns_habitats_label_tree, use.names = FALSE)
    all_ecosystem_services <- unlist(ns_es_label_tree, use.names = FALSE)

    # The Provision Per Unit Scores, any custom divisor matrix, and each matrix in the CIRMs list need to match:
    one_ci_relevance_matrix <- ns_ci_relevance_matrices[[4]]

    length(all_habitats)
    #> [1] 31
    nrow(ns_provision_per_unit_scores)
    #> [1] 31
    nrow(ns_custom_divisor_matrix)
    #> [1] 31
    nrow(one_ci_relevance_matrix)
    #> [1] 31

    all.equal(all_habitats, rownames(ns_provision_per_unit_scores))
    #> [1] TRUE
    all.equal(all_habitats, rownames(ns_custom_divisor_matrix))
    #> [1] TRUE
    all.equal(all_habitats, rownames(one_ci_relevance_matrix))
    #> [1] TRUE

    length(all_ecosystem_services)
    #> [1] 28
    ncol(ns_provision_per_unit_scores)
    #> [1] 28
    ncol(ns_custom_divisor_matrix)
    #> [1] 28
    ncol(one_ci_relevance_matrix)
    #> [1] 28

    all.equal(all_ecosystem_services, colnames(ns_provision_per_unit_scores))
    #> [1] TRUE
    all.equal(all_ecosystem_services, colnames(ns_custom_divisor_matrix))
    #> [1] TRUE
    all.equal(all_ecosystem_services, colnames(one_ci_relevance_matrix))
    #> [1] TRUE

openNCAI includes two helper functions - `create_ncai_template()` and `read_ncai_template` - to help assemble data and get it into the right format for calculation. Read more about them in Using openNCAI’s Data Entry Templates.

## Calculating The Overall Index

The index is calculated using the `get_ncai()` function. By default the final overall index is returned.

    overall_ncai <- get_ncai(
                      habitat_extent = ns_habitat_extent,
                      ci_scores = ns_ci_scores,
                      habitats_label_tree = ns_habitats_label_tree,
                      es_label_tree = ns_es_label_tree,
                      year_list = ns_year_list,
                      provision_per_unit_scores = ns_provision_per_unit_scores,
                      custom_divisor_matrix = ns_custom_divisor_matrix,
                      between_importance_scores = ns_between_importance_scores,
                      within_importance_scores = ns_within_importance_scores,
                      ci_relevance_matrices = ns_ci_relevance_matrices,
                      indicator_directory = ns_indicator_directory
                      )
    #> Note: NCAI calculated using a custom divisor matrix for Provision Per Unit weights.

Three versions of the index are returned, the raw total, the raw index, and the smoothed index (values are a weighted average of the last 5 years’ values, giving more weight to more recent entries):

    head(overall_ncai)
    #>      raw_total raw_index smoothed_index
    #> 2000  10000.00  100.0000       100.0000
    #> 2001  10028.10  100.2810       100.1561
    #> 2002  10088.68  100.8868       100.4632
    #> 2003  10120.13  101.2013       100.7426
    #> 2004  10110.95  101.1095       100.9050
    #> 2005  10155.58  101.5558       101.1917

We can select just the raw indexed values to display:

    raw_index <- overall_ncai[, "raw_index", drop = FALSE]
    raw_index
    #>      raw_index
    #> 2000 100.00000
    #> 2001 100.28103
    #> 2002 100.88681
    #> 2003 101.20128
    #> 2004 101.10951
    #> 2005 101.55579
    #> 2006 101.27365
    #> 2007 101.10488
    #> 2008 100.53071
    #> 2009 100.06247
    #> 2010  98.97437
    #> 2011  99.04897
    #> 2012  99.25694
    #> 2013 100.24472
    #> 2014 100.95796
    #> 2015 102.06066
    #> 2016 102.18951
    #> 2017 102.84662
    #> 2018 102.52536
    #> 2019 102.49089
    #> 2020 102.67712
    #> 2021 102.85577
    #> 2022 103.09185

And we can graph the index:

Click to see the R code used to build the graph

    # Make some nice display labels:
    graph_labels <- c(
      "overall"
      = "Overall",
      # --- Service Types ---
      "provisioning"
      = "Provisioning",
      "regulation_and_maintenance"
      = "Regulation & Maintenance",
      "cultural"
      = "Cultural",
      # --- Broad Habitats ---
      "b_coastal_habitats"
      = "Coastal",
      "c_inland_surface_waters"
      = "Freshwater",
      "d_mires_bogs_and_fens"
      = "Mires, Bogs & Fens",
      "e_grasslands_and_lands_dominated_by_forbs_mosses_or_lichens"
      = "Grasslands",
      "f_heathland_scrub_and_tundra"
      = "Heathland",
      "g_woodland_forest_and_other_wooded_land"
      = "Woodland",
      "h_inland_unvegetated_or_sparsely_vegetated_habitats"
      = "Inland Unvegetated",
      "i_cultivated_agricultural_horticultural_and_domestic_habitats"
      = "Agri/Horticultural",
      "j_constructed_industrial_and_other_artificial_habitats"
      = "Constructed",
      "k_montane"
      = "Montane"
    )

    # Prepare overall index data:
    main_index_for_plot <- overall_ncai |>
      rownames_to_column(var = "year") |>
      mutate(
        year = as.numeric(year),
        breakdown = "overall",
        display_name = recode(breakdown, !!!graph_labels)
      )

    # Plot the Overall Index
    overall_plot <- ggplot(main_index_for_plot, aes(x = year, y = raw_index)) +
      geom_line() +
      scale_y_continuous(
        limits = c(90, 110),           # <--- Forces the 90-110 range
        breaks = seq(90, 110, by = 2)
      ) +
      scale_x_continuous(
        breaks = seq(2000, 2022, by = 3)
      ) +
      labs(
        title = "NCAI (Overall)",
        x = "Year",
        y = "Index (Base = 100)"
      ) +
      theme_classic() +
      theme(plot.title = element_text(face = "bold", hjust = 0.5))

    overall_plot

## Generating Breakdowns By Service Type or Broad Habitat

By passing `"by_ecosystem_service_type"` or `"by_broad_habitat"` to the optional `return` argument, we can generate a list of data frames containing the index broken down ecosystem service type or by broad habitat respectively.

    ncai_by_ecosystem_service_type <- get_ncai(
        habitat_extent = ns_habitat_extent,
        ci_scores = ns_ci_scores,
        habitats_label_tree = ns_habitats_label_tree,
        es_label_tree = ns_es_label_tree,
        year_list = ns_year_list,
        provision_per_unit_scores = ns_provision_per_unit_scores,
        custom_divisor_matrix = ns_custom_divisor_matrix,
        between_importance_scores = ns_between_importance_scores,
        within_importance_scores = ns_within_importance_scores,
        ci_relevance_matrices = ns_ci_relevance_matrices,
        indicator_directory = ns_indicator_directory,
        return = "by_ecosystem_service_type"
      )
    #> Note: NCAI calculated using a custom divisor matrix for Provision Per Unit weights.

    # A named list of data frames is returned, with names as per the ES label tree:
    names(ncai_by_ecosystem_service_type)
    #> [1] "provisioning"               "regulation_and_maintenance"
    #> [3] "cultural"

    # See the contribution of cultural services to the index:
    cultural_breakdown <- ncai_by_ecosystem_service_type[["cultural"]]
    cultural_breakdown
    #>      raw_total raw_index smoothed_index
    #> 2000  2500.000 100.00000      100.00000
    #> 2001  2509.514 100.38055      100.21142
    #> 2002  2521.865 100.87461      100.49127
    #> 2003  2529.042 101.16166      100.74631
    #> 2004  2530.575 101.22299      100.94310
    #> 2005  2542.311 101.69242      101.26459
    #> 2006  2535.326 101.41305      101.38012
    #> 2007  2536.635 101.46540      101.44427
    #> 2008  2513.816 100.55263      101.16478
    #> 2009  2501.241 100.04965      100.75823
    #> 2010  2469.636  98.78545      100.00851
    #> 2011  2460.564  98.42256       99.33162
    #> 2012  2461.489  98.45957       98.86643
    #> 2013  2488.915  99.55661       98.96731
    #> 2014  2510.062 100.40248       99.41654
    #> 2015  2541.542 101.66169      100.26199
    #> 2016  2545.552 101.82208      100.96916
    #> 2017  2567.946 102.71785      101.74828
    #> 2018  2567.179 102.68715      102.23328
    #> 2019  2557.325 102.29299      102.37820
    #> 2020  2540.163 101.60651      102.16825
    #> 2021  2555.090 102.20362      102.16102
    #> 2022  2552.717 102.10868      102.09670

We can plot the breakdowns with the main trend line.

Click to see the code used to build the graph

    # Set up the data:
    by_st_for_plot <- ncai_by_ecosystem_service_type[names(ns_es_label_tree)] |>
      lapply(function(df) {
        df |>
          rownames_to_column(var = "year") |>
          mutate(year = as.numeric(year)) # Convert here!
      }) |>
      bind_rows(.id = "breakdown") |>
      bind_rows(main_index_for_plot) |>
      mutate(
        display_name = recode(breakdown, !!!graph_labels)
      )

    # Build the plot
    st_plot <- ggplot(by_st_for_plot, aes(x = year, y = raw_index, color = display_name)) +
      # Basic lines
      geom_line() +

      # Point marker for overall line to distinguish trend
      geom_point(
        data = filter(by_st_for_plot, breakdown == "overall"),
        shape = 18,
        size = 3
      ) +

      # Fix the Y scale to match the 90-110 range
      scale_y_continuous(
        limits = c(90, 110),           # Forces the axis to show the full range
        breaks = seq(90, 110, by = 2)   # Sets consistent tick marks
      ) +

      # Consistent X scale
      scale_x_continuous(
        breaks = seq(2000, 2022, by = 3)
      ) +

      # Labels
      labs(
        title = "NCAI by Ecosystem Service Type",
        x = "Year",
        y = "Index (Base = 100)",
        color = "Service Type"
      ) +

      # Classic theme (solid axis lines, no grid)
      theme_classic() +

      # Minimal centering for the title
      theme(
        plot.title = element_text(face = "bold", hjust = 0.5)
      )

    st_plot +
      theme(legend.position = "bottom") +
      guides(color = guide_legend(nrow = 1))

And we can use the same approach to generate a breakdown by broad habitat:

    ncai_by_broad_habitat <- get_ncai(
                              habitat_extent = ns_habitat_extent,
                              ci_scores = ns_ci_scores,
                              habitats_label_tree = ns_habitats_label_tree,
                              es_label_tree = ns_es_label_tree,
                              year_list = ns_year_list,
                              provision_per_unit_scores = ns_provision_per_unit_scores,
                              custom_divisor_matrix = ns_custom_divisor_matrix,
                              between_importance_scores = ns_between_importance_scores,
                              within_importance_scores = ns_within_importance_scores,
                              ci_relevance_matrices = ns_ci_relevance_matrices,
                              indicator_directory = ns_indicator_directory,
                              return = "by_broad_habitat"
                            )
    #> Note: NCAI calculated using a custom divisor matrix for Provision Per Unit weights.

    # We get a list of data frames with names as per the top level of the habitats label tree:
    names(ncai_by_broad_habitat)
    #>  [1] "b_coastal_habitats"
    #>  [2] "c_inland_surface_waters"
    #>  [3] "d_mires_bogs_and_fens"
    #>  [4] "e_grasslands_and_lands_dominated_by_forbs_mosses_or_lichens"
    #>  [5] "f_heathland_scrub_and_tundra"
    #>  [6] "g_woodland_forest_and_other_wooded_land"
    #>  [7] "h_inland_unvegetated_or_sparsely_vegetated_habitats"
    #>  [8] "i_cultivated_agricultural_horticultural_and_domestic_habitats"
    #>  [9] "j_constructed_industrial_and_other_artificial_habitats"
    #> [10] "k_montane"

    # See the contribution to the index of the broad habitat group Mires, Bogs and Fens:
    bogs_breakdown <- ncai_by_broad_habitat[["d_mires_bogs_and_fens"]]
    bogs_breakdown
    #>      raw_total raw_index smoothed_index
    #> 2000  1557.837 100.00000      100.00000
    #> 2001  1556.131  99.89046       99.93915
    #> 2002  1554.726  99.80031       99.88029
    #> 2003  1553.346  99.71172       99.81652
    #> 2004  1552.324  99.64607       99.75061
    #> 2005  1551.115  99.56849       99.67020
    #> 2006  1537.672  98.70559       99.33093
    #> 2007  1525.047  97.89512       98.80049
    #> 2008  1510.445  96.95780       98.08462
    #> 2009  1496.640  96.07168       97.25697
    #> 2010  1489.613  95.62060       96.51726
    #> 2011  1480.050  95.00671       95.83611
    #> 2012  1483.200  95.20895       95.46897
    #> 2013  1499.544  96.25807       95.63061
    #> 2014  1504.624  96.58415       95.94759
    #> 2015  1497.383  96.11935       96.07548
    #> 2016  1509.626  96.90527       96.43208
    #> 2017  1509.565  96.90136       96.66082
    #> 2018  1510.758  96.97794       96.80225
    #> 2019  1504.393  96.56932       96.75949
    #> 2020  1500.939  96.34760       96.64381
    #> 2021  1503.735  96.52712       96.57275
    #> 2022  1498.959  96.22051       96.42469

NatureScot typically reports the contribution to the index of a subset seven of the broad habitats. We can build this list and, as before, graph these contributions with the main trend line.

Click to see how we build the graph

    # Specify custom list of broad habitats to use:
    ns_bh_breakdown_list <- c(names(ns_habitats_label_tree)[c(1:6, 8)])

    # Prepare the data:
    by_bh_for_plot <- ncai_by_broad_habitat[ns_bh_breakdown_list] |>
      lapply(function(df) {
        df |>
          rownames_to_column(var = "year") |>
          mutate(year = as.numeric(year))
      }) |>
      bind_rows(.id = "breakdown") |>
      bind_rows(main_index_for_plot) |>
      mutate(
        display_name = recode(breakdown, !!!graph_labels)
      )

    # Build the plot:
    bh_plot <- ggplot(by_bh_for_plot, aes(x = year, y = raw_index, color = display_name)) +
      # Lines for all habitats
      geom_line() +

      # Diamond marker on the overall trend line
      # We filter by 'breakdown' because that remains "overall" internally
      geom_point(
        data = filter(by_bh_for_plot, breakdown == "overall"),
        shape = 18,
        size = 3
      ) +

      # Fix the Y scale
      scale_y_continuous(
        limits = c(90, 120),           # Forces the axis to show the full range
        breaks = seq(90, 120, by = 2)   # Sets consistent tick marks
      ) +

      # Consistent X scale
      scale_x_continuous(
        breaks = seq(2000, 2022, by = 3)
      ) +

      # Labels
      labs(
        title = "NCAI by Broad Habitat",
        x = "Year",
        y = "Index (Base = 100)",
        color = "Habitat Type"
      ) +

      # The requested classic theme
      theme_classic() +

      # Minimal centering for the title
      theme(
        plot.title = element_text(face = "bold", hjust = 0.5)
      )

    bh_plot +
      theme(legend.position = "bottom") +
      guides(color = guide_legend(nrow = 3))

## Digging Deeper - Accessing Elements of the Calculation Process

Using the optional `return` argument, we can access various elements of the calculation process. The following options are available to be passed to `return`:

Argument Value | Output Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
“overall_ncai” | Data Frame | The standard overall NCAI data frame (default).
“by_ecosystem_service_type” | Data Frame | NCAI results broken down specifically by Ecosystem Service Type.
“by_broad_habitat” | Data Frame | NCAI results broken down specifically by Broad Habitat category.
“wellbeing_index” | Data Frame | The indexed potential wellbeing contribution of habitats over time (habitat extent weighted by provision-per-unit and importance).
“flow_of_es_index” | Data Frame | The indexed likely flow of ecosystem services over time, derived from relevance-weighted condition indicator data.
“yearly_ncai_matrices” | List of Matrices | Unaggregated annual matrices of asset value for every habitat/ecosystem service combination.
“yearly_wellbeing_matrices” | List of Matrices | Unaggregated annual matrices representing potential wellbeing values per habitat and ecosystem service. Calculated as yearly Habitat Extent * Wellbeing Base
“yearly_flow_of_es_matrices” | List of Matrices | Unaggregated annual matrices representing the likely flow of ecosystem services per habitat and ecosystem service, for each year.
“es_potential_base” | Matrix | Ecosystem Service Potential Base: habitat extent weighted by exemplary provision-per-unit scores in year one.
“wellbeing_potential_base” | Matrix | Wellbeing Potential Base: the potential wellbeing matrix for the baseline year (Year One).
“flow_of_es_base” | Matrix | The likely service flow matrix for the baseline year (Year One).
“everything” | Named List | A comprehensive named list containing all of the objects listed above.

This diagram illustrates the calculation process:

NCAI Calculation Process Diagram

Having access to intermediate stages of the calculation means we can, for example, look at how the changing potential wellbeing contribution (extent of habitats weighted by potential per-unit provision of services and by importance to the population) and the changing estimated flow of ecosystem services (based on condition of habitats) and how these relate to the overall valuation.

First, we generate the full suite of objects:

    # Generate all intermediate and final objects
    ncai_all_objects <- get_ncai(
      habitat_extent = ns_habitat_extent,
      ci_scores = ns_ci_scores,
      habitats_label_tree = ns_habitats_label_tree,
      es_label_tree = ns_es_label_tree,
      year_list = ns_year_list,
      provision_per_unit_scores = ns_provision_per_unit_scores,
      custom_divisor_matrix = ns_custom_divisor_matrix,
      between_importance_scores = ns_between_importance_scores,
      within_importance_scores = ns_within_importance_scores,
      ci_relevance_matrices = ns_ci_relevance_matrices,
      indicator_directory = ns_indicator_directory,
      return = "everything"
    )
    #> Note: NCAI calculated using a custom divisor matrix for Provision Per Unit weights.

Now we can visualise the relationship between the extent and condition components, and the final index:

Click to see how we build the graph

    library(ggplot2)
    library(tidyr)
    library(dplyr)

    # 1. Prepare the data
    # Extract years and values into a long-format data frame
    plot_data <- data.frame(
      Year = as.numeric(rownames(ncai_all_objects$overall_ncai)),
      Overall = ncai_all_objects$overall_ncai$raw_index,
      Wellbeing = ncai_all_objects$wellbeing_index$raw_index,
      Flow = ncai_all_objects$flow_of_es_index$raw_index
    )

    # Calculate correlations for the annotation
    cor_wellbeing <- round(cor(plot_data$Overall, plot_data$Wellbeing, use = "complete.obs"), 3)
    cor_flow <- round(cor(plot_data$Overall, plot_data$Flow, use = "complete.obs"), 3)

    # Pivot to long format for ggplot
    plot_data_long <- plot_data %>%
      tidyr::pivot_longer(cols = -Year, names_to = "Index", values_to = "Value")

    # 2. Create the ggplot
    driver_plot <- ggplot(plot_data_long, aes(x = Year, y = Value, color = Index, shape = Index)) +
      geom_line(linewidth = 1) +
      geom_point(size = 3) +
      geom_hline(yintercept = 100, linetype = "dashed", color = "gray50") +
      ylim(90, 110) +
      scale_color_manual(values = c("Overall" = "#BCEE68",
                                    "Wellbeing" = "#9AC0CD",
                                    "Flow" = "#EEA2AD")) +
      labs(title = "NCAI Components & Correlation",
           subtitle = "Comparing overall index trends with area (Wellbeing) and quality (Flow) drivers",
           x = "Year",
           y = "Index (Base Year = 100)",
           color = "Metric",
           shape = "Metric") +
      theme_minimal() +
      annotate("label", x = Inf, y = -Inf,
               label = paste0("Correlations: Overall/Wellbeing: ", cor_wellbeing,
                   "\nOverall/Flow: ", cor_flow),
               hjust = 1.1, vjust = -0.5, size = 3.5,
               fill = "white", label.size = 0.5)
    #> Warning in annotate("label", x = Inf, y = -Inf, label = paste0("Correlations:
    #> Overall/Wellbeing: ", : Ignoring unknown parameters: `label.size`

    driver_plot

1. European Nature Information System↩︎

2. Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services↩︎

3. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting↩︎