Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/X003841/1
STAND: Overcoming scale-mismatch for designing and governing treescape expansion to benefit people and nature
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Dr T Finch, RSPB, Conservation Science Department
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr E A D Bowditch, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness College UHI
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor S Baker, Cardiff University, Sch of Social Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr NL Constant, RSPB, Conservation Science Department
- Grant held at:
- RSPB, Conservation Science Department
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Forests
- Greenhouse gas emission
- Soil carbon
- Species response
- Terrestrial ecosystems
- Biodiversity conservation
- Ecosystem services
- Land use change
- Conservation Ecology
- Environmental governance
- Environmental policy/regulation
- Spatial Planning
- Climate change mitigation
- Governance
- Political Science
- Mixed and Interdisciplinary methods
- Anthropological Methodology
- Agriculture
- Biodiversity
- Bioenergy
- Conservation
- Ecosystem management
- Food security
- Ecosystem Scale Processes
- Ecosystem services
- Abstract:
- Woodland creation forms a core part of the UK Government's Net Zero Strategy, with a target to create 30,000 ha new woodland per year by 2024. National policy rarely maps neatly onto actions at lower scales, with this scale mismatch creating a barrier to effective treescape expansion. STAND will combine ecological and biophysical modelling with participatory scenario planning, underpinned by a strong theoretical framework, to identify the design and governance of future treescapes that can achieve the best outcomes for people and nature. STAND addresses all three programme themes (with a particular focus on themes 1 & 2) and complements research funded through the first round of the Treescapes programme. The ecological and climate impacts of treescape expansion depend on the type, location and configuration of land-use change. Modelling the expected consequences of alternative land-use scenarios can aid decision making by making explicit the advantages and disadvantages of different modes of treescape expansion. STAND will use a multi-criteria approach that considers complementary and competing land uses and accounts for other impacts (e.g. on food and timber production); this is critical for making trade-offs explicit and avoiding unintended consequences. We will deploy this interdisciplinary approach in two case study landscapes (Elenydd-Mallaen and North Pennines & Dales) where land management influences, and is influenced by, actors and stakeholders working at different scales (e.g. private landowners, local authorities, devolved governments). We will co-produce land-use scenarios representing different modes of treescape expansion, then explore the challenges, opportunities, synergies, and trade-offs of each scenario. These scenarios will be developed at the landscape-scale, and will principally reflect local- to regional interests and values. As treescape expansion also impacts more distant beneficiaries, we will compare our bottom-up landscape-scale approach with a top-down UK-scale scenario modelling exercise. For each case study landscape, we will identify how much treescape expansion and other land use/management change are needed to meet a UK land sector net zero target, the extent to which this ambition is compatible with local stakeholder values and preferences, and how potential future land-use change is best governed by the principles and practices of scale-dependent collaborative advantage. WP1 will simulate and evaluate thousands of land use scenarios at the UK-scale to identify which modes of treescape expansion, in combination with other land use/management changes, can deliver a net zero UK land sector. WP2 will focus on two case study landscapes, where we will characterise the interests, goals, and preferences of stakeholders, explore the synergies and trade-offs embodied in co-produced landscape-scale scenarios of treescape expansion, and identify scale-dependent collaborative advantage in the capacities of different actors across local, regional and national scales. WP3 will synthesise the natural, social and political science outputs of WP1&2 to develop local Treescape Expansion Action Plans for each case study landscape, and to evaluate the feasibility of delivering a net zero UK land sector given local barriers. We will also provide guidance on best practices for using participatory approaches to plan treescape expansion. Finally, WP4 will provide cross-cutting support to ensure our research outputs reach the right people in the right format, and that a broad audience is involved in the ensuing discussions about future land use. In sum, STAND will provide an answer to how landscape-scale treescape expansion can be designed and governed across nested scales to achieve the best outcomes for people and nature.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/X003841/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed (RP) - NR1
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Treescapes
This grant award has a total value of £504,542
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £18,408 | £209,086 | £65,116 | £154,902 | £29,694 | £27,248 | £88 |
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