Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services
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Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services Final Report September 2011 Prepared for: www.urs-scottwilson.com Defra Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services Revision Schedule Final Report September 2011 Rev Date Details Prepared by Reviewed by Approved by 03 18 Final Report Petrina Rowcroft Jeremy Richardson Stuart Coventry September Principal Consultant, URS Technical Director, URS Director, URS Scott 2011 Scott Wilson Scott Wilson Wilson Steven Smith Associate, URS Scott Wilson Liz Clarke Senior Assistant Consultant, URS Scott Wilson Ken Thomson The James Hutton Institute Mark Reed University of Aberdeen 02 29 July 2011 Draft Final Report (2) for client comment 01 03 June 2011 Draft Final Report (1) for client comment URS Scott Wilson 6 – 8 Greencoat Place London SW1P 1PL Tel 020 7798 5000 Fax 020 7798 5001 www.urs-scottwilson.com Defra Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services Limitations URS Scott Wilson Ltd (“URS Scott Wilson”) has prepared this Report for the sole use of Defra (“Client”) in accordance with the Agreement under which our services were performed. 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Defra Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services Table of Contents List of abbreviations ................................................................................... 1 Executive summary..................................................................................... 3 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 3 Research findings........................................................................................................................... 3 Potential next steps...................................................................................................................... 12 1 Background .................................................................................... 16 1.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 16 1.2 Ecosystem Services ....................................................................................................... 16 1.3 Payments for Ecosystem Services................................................................................. 18 1.4 A greater role for PES? .................................................................................................. 18 1.5 This report ...................................................................................................................... 20 2 PES theory and practice ................................................................ 22 2.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 The rationale for PES ..................................................................................................... 22 2.3 Defining PES .................................................................................................................. 23 2.4 What does PES involve?................................................................................................ 29 2.5 Success factors .............................................................................................................. 31 2.6 Design variables............................................................................................................. 34 2.7 PES internationally ......................................................................................................... 38 3 Barriers to the use of PES ............................................................. 47 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 47 3.2 Informational...................................................................................................................48 3.3 Technical ........................................................................................................................ 48 3.4 Spatial ............................................................................................................................ 59 3.5 Temporal ........................................................................................................................64 3.6 Financial ......................................................................................................................... 66 3.7 Institutional ..................................................................................................................... 68 3.8 Cultural factors ............................................................................................................... 73 3.9 Legal............................................................................................................................... 74 3.10 Equity considerations ..................................................................................................... 76 4 The scope for PES in England ...................................................... 78 4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 78 4.2 Enclosed farmland (EFL)................................................................................................ 83 4.3 Semi-natural grasslands (SNGLs).................................................................................. 95 4.4 Woodlands ................................................................................................................... 109 Defra Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services 4.5 Freshwaters - openwaters, wetlands and floodplains................................................... 127 4.6 Mountains, moorlands and heaths ............................................................................... 143 4.7 Coastal Margins ........................................................................................................... 163 4.8 Marine .......................................................................................................................... 172 4.9 Urban............................................................................................................................ 184 5 Conclusions and suggested next steps..................................... 194 5.1 Introduction................................................................................................................... 194 5.2 Conclusions.................................................................................................................. 194 5.3 Potential next steps ...................................................................................................... 203 Appendix 1 – Workshops ....................................................................... 208 Regional Workshop.................................................................................................................... 208 National Workshop..................................................................................................................... 210 Defra Barriers and Opportunities to the Use of Payments for Ecosystem Services List of Figures Figure 1: Locating PES within a broader suite of market-based instruments .............................................