About the Japanese Knotweed Agency National Register project
The Japanese Knotweed Agency National Register project is a collaboration between the Agency, homeowners, surveyors, treatment and excavation firms, tenants and landlords and any other persons or entity that may come into contact with Japanese Knotweed or and a It is part of the Nature Locator project which is a collection of projects crowd-sourcing data on biodiversity using smartphone apps and accompanying websites.
What is the National Register project trying to achieve?
The main aim is to locate and identify a high number of invasive plant species and educate people on the effects of such species and treatments and recourse that might be available to protect the spread of and damage causes by these species and protect the value of property. There is currently a lack of information on exactly how serious the problem presented by invasive plant species really is. With your help we hope to build the most complete picture yet and provide the raw data to those that need it most.
Why an App?
Obtaining accurate data about the location and spread of invasive species is of paramount importance when it comes to assessing impact and formulating a response. Data provision is often patchy and records are usually unverifiable and lacking accurate geographic reference.
The Japanese Knotweed Agency National Register project has addressed these problems by combining the development of the National Register and data collection; that’s to say the Register enables real data to be collected by interested members of the public in the field, and a host of professionals and service providers. Critically, each record collected is verifiable since it is comprised of a photograph along with other relevant metadata. Records are also accurately geo-located since many users will be registered surveyors and treatment firms.
What happens to the records?
Data collected in the National Register is initially recorded by the Agency and maybe shared with other eco recorders and databases that have a shared interest to record, manage, treat and reduce the spread of such invasive plant species.
The goal of the JKWA National Register is to make it easier for sightings to be collated, checked by experts and made available to support research and decision-making at local and national levels. The data itself is stored securely by the JKW Agency which we run and maintain on behalf of the volunteer recording community in Great Britain and the professionals we register to assist. Verified data may then be passed on to other environmental agencies and anonymised wherever possible
Further Questions
If you have any further questions about the National Register or want to find out more, please contact the Japanese Knotweed Agency by email on contact@japaneseknotweedagency.co.uk