Discussion paper to Natural Devon’s Board – 19th October 2015
From: Harry Barton, CEO, Devon Wildlife Trust and LNP Executive members
Subject: Resilient Landscapes - landscape scale conservation in Devon
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1. Background
The traditional focus on the conservation of nature reserves was a great start and the continued protection and management of these areas remains essential. However, on their own these areas aren’t enough. Wildlife continues to decline and the pressure from intensive farming, development and climate change continue to grow. Many species rely on a range of wildlife habitats across landscapes. Bats are a great example of this. They need a variety of roosts and feeding habitats through the year as well as linear features (such as hedges) providing safe flight lines between them. Wildlife can’t live in a box – especially in the face of climate change.
Over the last decade there has therefore been a move to a broader focus on creating resilient landscapes through partnership working. The aim is still to protect and expand existing habitats but also to increase connectivity across landscapes in order to provide the range and scale of habitats which many species rely on.
Resilient landscapes provide habitat networks for wildlife and also support sustainable productive agriculture, protect water resources, reduce the risk of flooding, provide recreational opportunities and help to make towns and cities places where we want to live and work.
Lots of landscape partnerships have been formed across the country, including in Devon (see Box 1). A
number of tools have been developed to target work. The Devon Nature Map highlights priorities for wildlife habitats and the West Country River Trust model has been used to prioritise work in river catchments. Habitat resilience mapping and proof of concept work linked to Upstream Thinking also help target work and evidence effectiveness.
2. Investing in landscape scale initiatives
In Devon public investment in area based sustainable land management has come largely from agri-environment schemes (currently the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme which is run by Natural England), Water Framework Directive/Catchment Sensitive Farming, cross compliance. Locally investment has come through protected landscapes and Trust run programmes. More recently private sector partnerships have developed, for example South West Water’s Upstream Thinking Projects, Working Wetlands and Mires on the Moors.
Funding for advisers / co-ordinators has been sources through a range of sources including HLF (Two Moors, Greater Horseshoe Bats) SWW (Upstream Thinking), LEADER (Beef and Butterflies), Government NIA funding (now ended) and partner contributions. Funding is always time limited.
3. Examples of challenges (in no particular order and not exclusive)
1. Long term approach required and yet funding for co-ordination, advice and habitat management is all short term (unless advisers are core funded by the organisation e.g. RSPB cirl bunting project – which still relies on Countryside Stewardship)
2. Dependence on a short term and reducing / targeted Countryside Stewardship funding for habitat creation and management
3. Increasingly complex partnerships / issues / competition - need for wider co-ordination
4. How to ensure true multi-functionality (wildlife, flooding, landscape, soils, water, access & recreation, wood etc etc) / resilience and strong partnerships within landscape projects?
5. How to best accommodate different / changing Government agendas at the local level with different approaches and scheme ‘ownerships’ – NIA and Catchment Partnerships
6. Need to better share learning from projects across Devon and beyond (and from beyond!)
7. How to best collate and use wildlife data in a consistent and effective way?
8. Partnership and meeting overload……how to help ensure efficiency?
9. How to ensure effective Government support? Gov commitment to NIAs?
4. Headline ideas for next steps………for discussion
Devon Landscape Delivery Working Group set up in order to:
a. Work with other LNPs to collectively lobby Government to support a long term approach to funding resilient multifunctional landscape scale work.
b. Clarify Government’s position regs NIA, and then the LNPs position regs. designating more NIAs.
c. Organise a Devon wide workshop in early 2016 to share learning from past and present projects (incl outside Devon) and brainstorm new ideas / actions. Findings shared widely and fed into the LNP Conference for further discussion.
d. Clarify existing data sets which can be used for targeting work (Devon Nature Map / DWT and Met office resilience mapping etc). Identify gaps and action next steps. Ensure that partners are aware of and use this data in order to target work. Agree priority areas for new landscape scale projects.
e. Ensure that we strengthen cross sectoral links through landscape projects to ensure multi functional outcomes, including links to health and wellbeing sectors and connections between research and delivery.
Board and Exec meetings used as an opportunity to ensure connectivity between sectors and that landscape scale working is truly multifunctional.