The Local Action Project was commissioned by Defra and delivered by the Westcountry Rivers Trust. It produced a method for assessing opportunities to enhance or create new ecosystem services in urban areas, including cost-benefit assessment. The project was based on four case studies that piloted the mapping and cost-benefit tool: Leicester, Manchester, Newton Abbot and the Thames Estuary. In each of these areas work, has been done with catchment partnerships and local decision makers to provide feedback and refine the approach. Twelve ecosystem services were mapped, and benefit and opportunity maps were produced.
Westcountry Rivers Trust
Twelve ecosystem services were selected to map at the four test sites
Which ecosystem services were focused on?:
- Aesthetic/inspiration
- Recreation/tourism
- Climate regulation
- Detoxification and purification in air, soils and water
- Flood control
- Hazard regulation
Local Action Project, Leicester Evidence Review, available at: http://urbanwater-eco.services/project/local-action-toolkit/.