Ecosystem Serviced City 8th December 2016 Goodenough College, London
JS [2]1 Findings (Aim: To evaluate how Ecosystem Service Science (ESS) is understood and operationalised in cities) Engagement of urban governance within the Ecological Services (ES) paradigm is currently deficient as it fails to protect Green Infrastructure (GI) that is of importance (directly or indirectly) to people because: The wrong metrics Supporting professional elites- where are the people? Implementing a top-down governance structure & approach Resource intensive- delivering outcomes to meet the metrics Due to history The whole professional network only just agreeing
Slide 2 JS [2]1 Jonathan Sadler, 02/12/2016
Findings Needs a re-theorisation of GI placing people at the centre using Cultural Urban Ecological Services (CUES) as an analytical lens. But certain conditions need to be met to allow this to happen. 1. We need more understanding/knowledge: A better understanding of the nature-people dialogue A clearer picture of attribution How are people supported in any re-understanding A more overt focus on dosage issues 2. Leading to modified governance structures which create delivery mechanisms that: Allow multiple values to be attributed to ES; Amend Planning; Municipal governance arrangements and delivery; Enabled through new financial mechanisms THIS IS ALL VERY RADICAL
Ecosystem Serviced City IUCN 2016 Article 63 $200-300bn 1% Natural Capitalcan be definedas the world's stocks of naturalassets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this Natural Capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible. (Natural Capital Committee Third Report 2015) 25 YEAR NATURAL CAPITAL PLAN BIRMINGHAM PARKS SUMMIT- ULB UK GOVERNMENT SELECT COMMITTEE FUTURE OF PARKS THE 4 PILLARS OF THE 25 YEAR NATURAL CAPITAL PLAN
Ecosystem Serviced City 2016 PLANNING FINANCE GOVERNANCE 2015
Findings Natural capital funds dedicated to finance investments in natural assets can contribute to support the preservation of a city s natural wealth while generating financial benefits What we have done: Evaluated the performance of a fund dedicated to natural capital investments Assessed the benefits of including natural assets in the investment portfolio Our findings: Natural capital improves the performance of a fund s portfolio. 15% Natural assets may offer: - Higher financial returns - An excellent option for diversification - Edge against oil-risk NatCap. Fund Funds are a good mean to preserve wealth
Ecosystem Serviced City Biophilic Cities Funding Mechanism 2 or 3 cheers! ULB -DEIM CITIES PROTOCOL
Collaborations / Impact There have been a series of collaborations and impacts at an international, national and local scale; many of which are ongoing: National evaluation of the Natural Capital Planning Tool, sponsored by NERC co-sponsored by RTPI & RICS a new national standard?; Helen Roberts, PhD social media evidence of peoples use of green; Birmingham Green Infrastructure Implementation Group (UoB, Atkins, Severn Trent, U of Staffs); Amendment of global Sustainable Cities Matrix by World Business Council for Sustainable Development (2016 Spring Conference); Evidence provided to DCLG Select Committee on Future of Public Parks Linear Infrastructure Network (LiNet) national application for Environmental Commissioner on National Infrastructure Board; Consultation representation Government 25 year Environment Plan (YEP); Birmingham & WMCA draft 25 YEP; to be first in UK, via Metro-Mayor Member of newly formed HS2 Environment Board; Parks Summit Birmingham- the next 25 years? (Hosted with Lancaster Team); Zero Emissions City, Smithfield testing innovative finance; Erdington Health Zone, Parks Where We Live innovative governance.
Publications/Outputs Measuring green dynamics: KE Plummer, JD Hale, MJ O Callaghan, JP Sadler, GM Siriwardena (2016) Investigating the impact of street lighting changes on garden moth communities. Journal of Urban Ecology 2 (1), juw004. S. LaPoint, N. Balkenhol, J. Hale, J. Sadler, R. Ree (2015) Ecological connectivity research in urban areas Functional Ecology 29 (7), 868-878. JD Hale, AJ Fairbrass, TJ Matthews, G Davies, JP Sadler The ecological impact of city lighting scenarios: exploring gap crossing thresholds for urban bats, Global change biology 21 (7), 2467-2478. RTAs and lighting (first draft) in collaboration with Paul Marchant (U o Leeds) Network analyses access to green infrastructure (analysis complete) Dan Hunt (PhD in prep) Better understanding the the people - nature dependencies in cities Perspectives paper Urban Nature and the Governance Gap (First Draft) Two papers (draft) on radical interventions and collaborative stewardships (Martin) PhDs (James and Martin) Review of planning ESS gaps (linked to NERC project) (First Draft) Social media papers derived from Helen Robert s PhD (3 submitted, 2 in draft) Work with Aspirations and wellbeing teams exploring links to ES outcomes. Other outputs: Association of American Geographers (April 2017) Session Anarchist Political Ecology: Theoretical horizons and empirical axes Plus conference/workshop presentations (Jon (2), James (1), Martin (1), Nick (10)).