Payments for Ecosystem Services- Canal & River Trust Pilot Study
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Payments for Ecosystem Services- Canal & River Trust Pilot Study Final Report December 2013 Defra Area 5F Ergon House c/o Nobel House 17 Smith Square London, SW1P 3JR JBA Project Manager Rachel Brisley JBA Consulting Bank Quay House Sankey Street Warrington WA1 1NN Revision History Revision Ref / Date Issued Amendments Issued to Draft v1/ 28/06/2013 SM/RB Draft v2 05/07/2013 Minor amendments SM/ RB Draft v3 15/07/2013 Minor amendments SM/RB/SJ/PB/JHW Minor amendments and Draft v4 25/07/2013 Project Board members executive summary Amendments from Project Final Report 20/09/13 Project Board members Board comments Revised Final Report Amended following Defra’s Defra and Project Board 11/10/13 comments Revised Final Report Amended following Defra’s Defra and Project Board 03/12/13 comments Revised Final Report Amended following final Defra and Project Board 17/10/13 Project Board meeting Contract This report describes work commissioned by Defra in September 2012. Defra’s representative for the contract was Chris Holton. The work was undertaken by Steve Maslen, Rachel Brisley, Katherine Pawson, Steve Rose, David Revill, and Jessie Kennedy of JBA Consulting; Jonathan Hart-Woods and Phillippa Baron of the Canal & River Trust and Sarah Jackson of Penny Anderson Associates. Prepared by .................................................. Rachel Brisley BA MCD MBA Technical Director Katherine Pawson BA MSc Assistant Landscape Architect Reviewed by ................................................. Steve Maslen BSc MPhil CMLI BA Director Purpose This document has been prepared as a Final Report for the Canal & River Trust PES Pilot Study Project Board. JBA Consulting accepts no responsibility or liability for any use that is made of this document other than by Defra for the purposes for which it was originally commissioned and prepared. 2012s6507 Payment for Ecosystem Services Canal and River Trust Pilot Study i JBA Consulting has no liability regarding the use of this report except to Defra. 2012s6507 Payment for Ecosystem Services Canal and River Trust Pilot Study ii Acknowledgements We are grateful to Chris Holton from Defra who has provided useful direction and support throughout and to members of the Project Board (Defra, the Environment Agency, Natural England, Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and the Aire Rivers Trust) whose advice and guidance has influenced the quality of the final output. Copyright © Jeremy Benn Associates Limited 2013 Carbon Footprint A printed copy of the main text in this document will result in a carbon footprint of 305g if 100% post-consumer recycled paper is used and 388g if primary-source paper is used. These figures assume the report is printed in black and white on A4 paper and in duplex. JBA is aiming to reduce its per capita carbon emissions. 2012s6507 Payment for Ecosystem Services Canal and River Trust Pilot Study iii Executive Summary Ecosystem services are the benefits that we derive from the natural environment. These include products, essential processes and non-material benefits. Maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystem services contribute to sustainable economic growth. Payment for ecosystem services – PES – is an approach to connecting value to the provision of ecosystem services and linking actions to increase the level of individual services to payments from those that directly benefit from their provision. JBA Consulting, working with the Canal & River Trust and Penny Anderson Associates, was commissioned by Defra, as part of a suite of Payments for Ecosystem Services pilot studies, to investigate the potential for development of PES mechanisms in relation to the ecosystem services provided by the Canal & River Trust's inland waterways. The PES approach offers opportunities for the Trust to develop new funding streams to support the provision of ecosystem services. This pilot study builds on previous work undertaken for Defra by Jacobs in 2009 which focused on identifying and valuing the ecosystem services of inland waterways within England and Wales. Inland waterways provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including recreation, water conveyance, flood protection, water supply, waste disposal, energy generation, carbon storage, heritage preservation and nature conservation. The Canal & River Trust was established as a charitable trust in 2012, replacing the public corporation British Waterways. The Canal & River Trust is responsible for the management of 2,000 miles of inland waterways in England and Wales. Its charitable objects, which set out the overall aims and purposes of the Canal & River Trust and form the scope of its activities, include the object: “To further for the public benefit the conservation, protection and improvement of the natural environment and landscape of inland waterways”. The overall aim of the research is to evaluate the feasibility of delivering a practical PES scheme focused on improvements to key ecosystem services provided by inland waterways. The research included a literature review, a pilot study of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal using a case study approach to identify potential PES mechanisms and the development of recommendations to take these mechanisms forward. The area selected for the pilot study is a section of the canal network extending from the River Aire in the centre of Leeds, along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal to rural Silsden. The pilot study area was carefully selected as a sample of canal which is scalable to the wider inland waterways network and considered to be representative of the characteristics of the national network of inland waterways. The length of canal included in the pilot study includes designated and non designated sites of nature conservation value, important areas of built heritage, and identified regeneration sites adjacent to the canal. The Leeds-Liverpool Canal provides several ecosystem services; however, identifying those provided by the canal which have the potential to be valued and then paid for by the beneficiary through an established mechanism is more complex. There are likely to be some challenges for the Canal & River Trust in taking forward the suggested PES mechanisms due to their varied obligations and potential conflicts which arise from managing these. For example, a focus on recreation and amenity could lead to negative impacts in terms of water quality, biodiversity and water resources; a balanced approach minimising negative outcomes needs to be adopted. A number of potential PES mechanisms are identified; three are considered to be of most relevance for practical application by the Trust: - Use of section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy to obtain funding through new development in close proximity or adjacent to the canal - Use of environmental stewardship funding by third party landowners to improve land management practices and thus reduce impact on the canal - Catchment management type funding mechanisms to improve water quality through regulation of inputs into the canal. Further research will be required by the Canal & River Trust to develop these mechanisms, which should provide a good opportunity to maximise income sources for their activities that support and maintain the ecosystem services provided by the UK’s inland waterways. 2012s6507 Payment for Ecosystem Services Canal and River Trust Pilot Study iv Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................. iv 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Overview ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Study direction .............................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Research objectives and approach .............................................................................. 2 1.4 Purpose, target audience and content of the report ..................................................... 3 2 Project context ............................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Valuing Ecosystem Services of Inland Waterways ...................................................... 4 2.2 PES mechanisms ......................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Canal & River Trust ...................................................................................................... 6 3 Pilot study approach and summary of findings ...................................................... 12 3.1 Approach to the study ................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Pilot study findings ........................................................................................................ 14 3.3 Summary of findings ..................................................................................................... 27 4 Potential PES Mechanisms ........................................................................................ 28 4.1 Current Trust Activity .................................................................................................... 28 4.2 Planning Instruments .................................................................................................... 28 4.3 Environmental Stewardship .........................................................................................