25 Year environment plan

Nick Barter, Defra

TheGovernment’s25YEPandNaturalCapitalOpportuni<es

Contents

• What is natural capital?

•  Initial thinking on the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan

• Opportunities for farmers

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What is natural capital?

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Advantagesofnaturalcapital•  Naturalcapitalencouragessystemthinking,whereachangetooneaspecthasimpactselsewhere.

•  Itisastockconceptandsoencouragesalong-termviewofwhetheranassetisbeingusedsustainably.

•  Itdrivesbe=eruseofresources,focussinga=en>onwhereitma=ersmost.Forexample:

•  Ithelpsiden>fythemostimportantproblemsandtheop>malsolu>onstothem;

•  Managingawoodlandforitsrecrea>on,carbon,waterquality,floodmi>ga>on,andairqualitybenefitsratherthanjustits>mbervalueswillleadtomuchlargersocietalbenefits.

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Fundamentally,itsaboutimprovingenvironmentaldecisionmaking

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•  Whiletheenvironmentunderpinseverythingwedo,itisoIentakenforgrantedanditsvalueisnotfullyappreciated.

•  Ifweareignorantofitstruevaluewealltooeasilyplaceavalueofzeroonit.

•  Thisleadstobaddecisionmaking;opportuni>estoenhancegrowthandwellbeingareneedlesslysquandered.

•  Atitsheartisthedesiretoensureweproperlyunderstandthefullvalueoftheenvironmentandfactoritintoallthedecisionswetake,bethatbyGovernment,businessesorfamilies.

The 25 YEP

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TheNaturalCapitalCommiFee’sadvice

TheNaturalCapitalCommi=ee.ItsadvicetoGov’twasto:• Takeanaturalcapitalapproachtosustainability,andproperlymeasure,valueandaccountfornaturalcapitalandusethatasthebasistomanageitbe=er(improvedecisionmaking);

• Developa25yearplantoimprovetheenvironment,basedaroundtheabovebuildingblocks,andinvestintheenvironmentwhereappropriate–usinginnova>vefundingmechanisms.

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•  Inlinewiththemanifestocommitment,theGovernmentiscommi=edtoimprovingtheenvironmentwithinagenera>on.Wearedevelopinga25YearPlanfortheenvironmenttodeliverthis.

•  Wenowhaveanopportunitytoconsideralongtermvisionfortheenvironmentwewantinthiscountryanddesignanapproachtailoredtotheneedsofthiscountry.

•  ConsiderablethinkingdoneonkeybuildingblocksofthePlan–keyareasofac>onandkeydesignprinciples.Basedaroundanaturalcapitalapproach–theneedtoimprovethedecisionswealltakethatimpactontheenvironment.

•  Wewillpublishanini>alFrameworksoon,kickingoffaperiodofpublicengagementtohelpshapethePlanwhichweaimtopublishin2017.

A25yearplanfortheenvironment

Ini<althinkingonthe25YEPapproach

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Better decision making – Gov’t

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•  IncorporateNCintotheGovernment’sappraisalbible–theGreenBook.

•  AligningDefragroupboundariestoensuremoreintegratedpolicymaking.

•  UKNa>onalAccounts–DefraandtheONSincorpora>ngNCintheaccountsby2020.

Better decision making – business

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•  Private(andquasi-private)sectororganisa>onsareresponsibleforthemajorityoftheUK’snaturalcapitalassets.

•  NaturalCapitalCommi=ee:measure,valueandincorporateintoaccounts–keytobe=ermanagement.TheNCCdevelopedanaccoun>ngframework.

•  NCaccoun>ngassistswithdetermining:•  Thevaluetoanorganisa>onoftheirnaturalassets;•  Changesintheircondi>onover>me;•  Risksfromdeple>ngthem;•  Opportuni>esfromu>lisingthem;•  Theireffectonstakeholdersandcommuni>es.

Developinganaturalcapitalaccount

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Ecosystem services1

Aesthetics Clean Air Clean Water

Cultural Equable climate

Fibre Food Hazard

protection Recreation Wildlife

Scope of financial account Enclosed farmland

● − ● ● ● − ● ◌ ● ●

Semi-natural grassland

● − ◌ ● ● − ● ◌ ● ●

Woodlands ● ◌ ◌ ● ● ◌ − ◌ ● ●

Open water bodies

● − ● ● − − − ◌ ● ●

Scope of natural capital account Enclosed farmland

● − ● ● ● − ● ◌ ● ●

Semi-natural grassland

● − ◌ ● ● − ● ◌ ● ●

Woodlands ● ◌ ◌ ● ● ◌ − ◌ ● ●

Open water bodies

● − ● ● − − − ◌ ● ●

Key: ● Significant ecosystem service flow by habitat

Available in account

◌ Potential but not significant ecosystem service flow Partly available in account − No ecosystem service flow by habitat

Not available in accounts

Natural Capital Opportunities for Farmers

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Agriculture•  Agricultureisamajorlanduseandimportantcontributortosociety.

•  Farmersaretheprimaryusersofourterrestrialnaturalcapital-approximately70%ofourlandisfarmed.

•  Thereareposi>veandnega>veoutcomesfromagriculturallanduse,e.g.:

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Posi<ves Nega<ves

Food/fibre Airandwaterpollu>on

Recrea>onfromaccess Carbonfromsoildegrada>on,ca=le,fer>lisers

A=rac>velandscapes/aesthe>cs Soildegrada>on

Wildlife Wildlife

Floodmi>ga>on Floodexacerba>on

Opportuni<es

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Goodreasonsforfarmerstorobustlydemonstratethepublicgoodstheyprovide:• Commercialassurance,demonstra>ngfoodissustainablysourcedandimprovingindustryandconsumerrecogni>onanddemandforsuchfood;• Newmarketswhereprovidersofpublicgoodsarepaidforthem(Peatlandcode,Pooleharbournitrogenscheme,Upstreamthinking,biodiversitybenefitsetc);• Opportunitytoredesignourpoliciestoensureouragriculturalindustryiscompe>>ve,produc>veandprofitableandthatourenvironmentisimprovedforfuturegenera>ons.Naturalcapitalaccountshelpsprovidesystema>cassurancetocustomers,investors,andtaxpayers.

Bepragma<c

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Needtoavoidgedngputoffbythecomplexityofnaturalcapitalandtheamountofdatathatisneededtofullyiden>fywhatishappeningtoit,itsinterdependenciesanditsfullvalue.Bepragma>c,startsmall(GDPtookmanyyearstodevelop).Usetoolsandreadilyavailabledatatohelp.Letusknowwherethebarriersare–respondtothe25YEPFrameworkconsulta>onwhenitcomesout. Thinkbig,startsmall,actnow.