The implementation of the Government’s 25-year Environment Plan Framework (Defra, 2016) is being trialled through a series of Pioneer Projects across England. Cumbria is hosting one such project called the Cumbria Catchment Pioneer Pilot Project. The main aim of Pioneer Projects is to ‘test new tools and methods as part of applying a natural capital approach in practice’. New tools and methods underpinning the natural capital approach will be tested in three Cumbrian sub-catchments: Braithwaite, Glenridding and Staveley. The aim of Phase 1 of this project is to develop natural capital summaries for the three sub-catchments. These summaries are to document the extent and quality of natural capital assets and bring together existing work on the mapping of ecosystem services in these areas. Natural capital summaries can then be used to design investment and intervention plans. A spatial mapping approach is used to describe the extent and quality of the natural capital assets in the sub-catchments. Maps of the provision of 6 ecosystem services were included for each of the sub-catchments.
Natural Capital Solutions, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency
UKNEA
Which ecosystem services were focused on?:
- Aesthetic/inspiration
- Recreation/tourism
- Crops, livestock, fish
- Trees, standing vegetation, peat
- Climate regulation
- Detoxification and purification in air, soils and water