ACES members secure funding for several Valuing Nature Network projects

Two members of ACES, acting director Mark Reed and PhD student Jasper Kenter, have independently secured funding for two one-year research projects funded through the Valuing Nature Network, sponsored by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Mark will be primary investigator in a project on assessing and valuing peatland ecosystem services for sustainable management. Jasper will be co-investigator and administrator for the project titled Bridge: bridging the gap between supply and demand for valuation evidence. Common to both projects is a focus on developing a future research agenda for nature valuation and a high degree of stakeholder involvement. Also, both projects will organise several expert workshops over their one year duration involving a large number of researchers and decision-makers from across the UK, which will further establish the Valuing Nature Network which has only just had its first birthday. The peatland project will zoom in on one the UKs most important terrestrial habitat in terms of the ecosystem services they provide, in particular clean water, carbon sequestration, biodiversity and recreation. It will use this case study to develop new methodological insights, for example on dealing with complexity, uncertainty and non-linearity in valuing nature. Bridge will investigate two questions around the science-policy interface: How should valuation be improved if valuation evidence is to be more effectively integrated into decision-making; and what are the obstacles that limit uptake of valuation evidence by decision-makers and what research is needed to address these? A further summary of both projects is provided below.

Assessing and valuing peatland ecosystem services for sustainable management

This proposal seeks to establish a transdisciplinary network to explore how different groups of beneficiaries value stocks and flows of multiple (but sometimes mutually exclusive) ecosystem services in complex socio-ecological systems, and how this information might affect the design of financial mechanisms to lever investment in the provision of climate mitigation and adaptation. We will use UK peatlands as a case study to assess the stocks, flows, sustainability and uncertainty of different ecosystem services at multiple scales. Ecosystem services provided by peatlands are vital to UK society but under threat from various forms of degradation. Peatlands are an ideal case study in which to ask questions about links between science, values and decision-making, given growing evidence linking ecosystem functions, services and markets in peatlands, and their potential for Payments for Ecosystem Services schemes (which are attracting increasing attention in policy circles). The proposed network will use expert workshops and literature review to derive new theoretical and methodological insights, and will work actively with the policy and business community to identify and develop the regulatory mechanisms necessary to develop new markets for peatland restoration and conservation.

Bridge: Bridging the gap between supply and demand for valuation evidence

The capacity of UK natural resources to deliver ecosystem services has declined dramatically over the last 60 years. This decline is, in part, because nature is not fully accounted for in decision-making. Specifically, there is a mismatch between the supply of valuation evidence by researchers and the demand for this evidence by decision-makers.

Bridge aims to directly address VNN challenge 4 by developing a transdisciplinary VNN hub of researchers and decision-makers to investigate how values obtained from natural, social and economic sciences can best be integrated into governance to improve decision-making and implementation.

BRIDGE will address these aims through an iterative series of workshops. Key questions are:

How should valuation be improved if valuation evidence is to be more effectively integrated into decision-making? Central topics include: shared social values and deliberative, social learning and non-monetary approaches to valuation.What are the obstacles that limit uptake of valuation evidence by decision-makers and what research is needed to address these? Key topics include: what factors affect the uptake of scientific knowledge in decision-making and to what degree has valuation research led to evidence-based decisions.

Outputs include 3 papers on the issues raised above and an agenda for future research.

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