Introduction

River catchments provide many services to society and these are referred to in modern conservation parlance as ecosystem services. An ecosystem service is a benefit that people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services, such as food, clean air and water; regulation services such as managing floods, drought, land degradation and disease; supporting services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling; and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual and religious benefits.

There is no doubt that we need to make river catchments more secure and resilient as 60-70% of the worlds ecosystem services are being used unsustainably or being degraded, as detailed in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment . A decentralised approach at scales relevant to issues is advocated by the Convention on Biological Diversity and this approach is formally described as an Ecosystem Approach. However, historical conservation attempts have varied in their success and as one of the UK’s case-studies of implementation of the ecosystem approach the Westcountry Rivers Trust is well placed to comment on the past, current and future approaches to conserving catchment ecosystem services.

Fortress conservation (the fence and forget approach) – This approach has seen important habitats protected by designating areas such as nature reserves, SSSI’s and national parks and has allowed human impacts to be minimised. Whilst these approaches have provided protection for several important sites they do little for large-scale habitat linkage and require substantial funding to manage them. This approach is not economical for catchment wide work due to the prohibitively high cost of land purchase and ongoing management.

Community conservation (finding win-wins for owners of valuable areas) – This approach has been an increasingly important approach in the Westcountry. The Cornwall Rivers Project, run by the Westcountry Rivers Trust, showcased what could be achieved through providing one-to-one ‘on the ground’ advice to farmers and demonstrated how changes in nutrient, soil and general management could save money and reduce ecosystem pressures and impacts. Whilst this approach saw significant improvements in farm management the scheme was non-obligatory and the implementation of savings could be affected by changes in global costs of materials and food prices – increasing returns can dramatically change how the farm is managed year on year.

Paid Ecosystem Services (PES) – This approach is now regarded as a future way of safe guarding areas where they are too important to be left to fluctuating world economics and changes in farmer interests. Although there are schemes that offer payments for single ecosystem services, such as the Entry and Higher Level Schemes that offer financial support for improving biodiversity a more holistic ecosystem services model is required.

A sustainable approach is needed that not only identifies the willingness of the farmer to be paid for removing hydrologically important areas out of long-term production but in addition investigative work into the willingness to pay for such services is also required to facilitate the approach. A willingness to pay could come from a variety of interested stakeholders including utility companies wishing to invest in catchment management rather than end of pipe solutions, carbon/environmental offsetting for businesses, flood mitigation groups, biodiversity grant makers and downstream fisheries groups as well as compatible direct benefits to the landowner – this list is not exhaustive.

It is the view of the Westcountry Rivers Trust that the long-term sustainable provision of catchment ecosystem services through protection of hydrologically sensitive areas is only possible through a combination Fortress Conservation, where a single service is paramount, Community Conservation, where protection is desirable, and Paid Ecosystem Services, where protection is crucial. This multidimensional approach will be vital to deliver the programme of measures within the Water Framework Directive and ensure ‘good ecological status’ of all our water bodies.

The WEPES Project

The Wetland Example of Payments for Ecosystem Services is a novel research and development project, part funded by the Natural England Wetland Vision Fund, based on a section of historic floodplain on the river Fal in West Cornwall.

The project aims to:

• Reconnect and re-wet 21ha of extensively grazed and cultivated disconnected floodplain reinstating it as a series of lowland wetland BAP habitats.

• Economically evaluate the direct and indirect ecosystem services benefits including carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, nutrient stripping, biodiversity and extensive management (limited grazing, shooting, fishing).

• Identify and sell the most economically beneficial services to local investors.

• Establish with the landowner and pay for mechanisms to remove land from long-term intensive production to light touch extensive management agreements or 1000-year covenants.

• Evaluate the projects applicability in terms of developing a Payments for Ecosystem Services based scheme that ensures long-term protection of other hydrologically important areas within the rest of the Fal catchment.

Click here to download a WRT pdf of the WEPES scheme