DNV Case Studies

Three case studies from the Debating Nature's Value network exploring the use of monetisation in Natural Capital decision making. Ely In June 2019, we visited an Open Farm day near Ely in Cambridge, to ask attendees their views on the concept of “monetising nature”. They also expressed their ideas on ways to protect their local environment for future generations. Many spoke of their enjoyment of accessing local natural spaces, from parks to woodlands, and felt that it had value to them and their families. Several spoke of the cost of accessing privately managed spaces, and felt there was a duty to keep nature open to all. The question of how nature as a public good should be funded was discussed, many didn’t want to see a raise in taxation, but a reallocation of existing resource and investment to keeping green spaces accessible. Wensum Dr Iain Robinson, a landowner from Wensum Valley, and Andrew Boswell, Environmental consultant, discuss the proposed Norwich Western Link Road, and the ecological, financial and climate impacts of such a proposal. They explain the importance of the semi-managed mature woodland environments for biodiversity, and how they cannot be replaced by the creation of woodlands and wetlands elsewhere, as part of the plan for ‘net gain’. They state that new habitat creation will lack the complexity achieved by hundreds of years of organic development as woodland matures, making the concept of net gain void, and the project indefensible. Felixstowe Victor Anderson, from Anglia Ruskin University, talks to Andrew Excell from Wildlife Trust, at the site of Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve, which was created in 1989 in response to a project to expand, and increase international trading operations of, Felixstowe Docks. Andrew explains how impact on the Estuary System, which is a Specially Protected Area, was mitigated by these 200 acres to create the Nature Reserve. In response to Victor’s question, Andrew explains that it’s not a replacement, but a strategic and acceptable compromise, to continue to support around 60,000 birds each winter, and year round habitat.