The Natural Hazards Partnership (NHP) provides information, advice and analysis to government and emergency responders across the UK in the preparation, response and review of natural hazards. Research centres, including the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), provide a platform of world-class environmental sciences for the partnership. A key stakeholder is the Civil Contingencies Secretariat within the Cabinet Office.

The NHP focuses on natural hazards that disrupt the normal activities of UK communities or damage environmental services.

These include:

  • Flooding
  • Drought
  • Weather, including extreme temperatures, snow, ice, and fog
  • Air quality
  • Volcanic ash
  • Wildfires
  • Geological hazards including earthquakes and landslides.

Among its activities, the NHP:

  • provides the responder community with a UK-wide multi-hazard daily assessment providing an at-a-glance summary of a range of natural hazards
  • is developing a Hazard Impacts Model to quantify the risks and impacts of individual and coincident natural hazards
  • provides advice on the National Risk Assessment and background scientific advice for emergency response.

UKCEH is among the consortium of public bodies that forms the NHP. The NHP extends our traditional engagement with bodies such as SEPA, and the EA and Met Office's Flood Forecasting Centre, most notably reflected in the use of the Grid-to-Grid model in operational flood forecasting.

Visit the Natural Hazards Partnership website.

More information on responding to emergencies is available from the Cabinet Office.

UKCEH contact:

Dr Nick Wells