PROJECT IDEA
The Project Idea Form is a public document, if you wish to keep it private at between the
JS and your partnership at this stage, please advise your Facilitator /
Project Name /
Channel Payments for Ecosystem Services (CPES)
Contact /
Name /
Organisation /
Address /
University of Chichester Business School
The Dome
Upper Bognor Rd
Bognor Regis
West Sussex
PO 21 1HR
UK
Telephone number /
E-mail /
e.mckinley@chi.ac.uk
Specific Objective /
Keep only one and erase the others/
3.1 - Realise the potential of the common natural and cultural assets to deliver
innovative and sustainable growth
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/
3.2 - Enhance and protect coastal and transitional water ecosystems
Summary description of the project idea (1 page max.) /
***It should be noted that this project was initially submitted to the First Call for projects in May 2015.
Although unsuccessful, we have been encouraged to resubmit for the Third Call expected in February 2016***
Many businesses within the Channel region rely on the resources and ecosystem services supported
by the Channel’s marine and transitional waters, and are therefore adversely effected during periods
of poor ecosystem quality e.g. deteriorations in water quality, sedimentation, pollution, habitat
destruction and loss of biodiversity. There is also recognition that, often, deterioration in coastal and
marine ecosystem functionality can be directly linked with events happening within their transitional
waters (e.g. river estuaries) and even further upstream.
With reducing public sector finance, there is an increasing call for private sector involvement in
efforts to address pressures on the ecosystem by investing in protection against environmental risk.
While changes to land management (e.g. farming practices and infrastructure) may address a
number of these issues, these will often be expensive to implement; therefore, increasingly,
Payments for Ecosystem Services are being looked to as a potential solution to address some of the
challenges facing our coastal and estuarine waters.
The CPES (Channel Payments for Ecosystem Services) project aims to further develop the concept of
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), where businesses pay for ecosystem services as a way of
reducing local business risk. The project’s objective is to embed this concept within business plans
and local delivery frameworks by putting into practice the growing momentum to operationalise PES
schemes, such as Upstream Thinking in England and Vittel in France. The findings from previous
projects, such as WATER (Interreg IVA FCE), have shown that PES can work when targeted at
businesses with a high dependency on the natural environment that cannot be easily transferred to
other areas. Some of the most overt examples of this are where businesses are reliant on the flow of
water through a river catchment to acute receiving areas (e.g. tourism affected by toxic
cyanobacteria blooms). Where these businesses are significantly impacted by the degradation in
water quality there is a clear economic incentive for securing supply, building business stability and
climate change resilience. While PES schemes are already recognised as a potential ecosystem
management strategy, there has been limited uptake of the approach due to a lack of a
comprehensive framework to support effective implementation. In particular, gaps in earlier work
have included: a need to build trust and relationships between buyers and sellers; an understanding
of the differing factors influencing both buyers (clear business case, return on investment,
relationship between risk and reward) and sellers (impact on contractual agreements, income
security, tax implications, insurance implications); a need to examine opportunities of bundling
services and payments, and a need for inbuilt flexibility within implemented PES schemes.
This project will contribute to the promotion of PES schemes by working in partnership with
impacted businesses and communities to build a more thorough understanding of the socioeconomic factors influencing successful PES schemes. It will also jointly test measures to protect
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/
against environmental risk and enhance ecological resilience and functionality. Once this trusted
relationship has been established, PES schemes can then be embedded in future business plans and
policies, supported by tested and validated business models that can be applied to a range of
characteristics for coastal and transitional waters in the Channel region. The CPES project will extend
this approach to other water companies and impacted businesses in both France and England to
address not only our shared local problems, but also requirements under the EU Water Framework
Directive to get our water bodies, all of which are directly linked to the Channel, to Good
Environmental Status by 2027.
Examples of concrete actions /
-
Desk based study to develop an understanding of land management and community
perceptions across the project region, using a number of case studies, to build a
comprehensive view of the agricultural practices and business actions of the farming
community.
-
Organisation of stakeholder and expert workshops to ensure early engagement with
businesses, local councils and impacted communities/ land owners. The expectation is to
work with at least 50 relevant businesses across the Channel region.
-
Development and implementation of case study based pilot studies to set up, implement
and assess the effectiveness of PES schemes across the Channel region.
-
Development of a business case for a PES scheme, supported by economic modelling of
various scenarios based on different activities, costs and impacts to the communities/ on the
environments, to build an understanding of the feasibility of such a project. This activity
would involve an evaluation of social concerns in the area (data would be collected through
the previously mentioned stakeholder meetings/ focus groups) and a socio-economic
evaluation of the benefits of implementing a PES scheme. This would be supported by the
Willingness-to-pay and Willingness-to-pay conducted in the desk based study mentioned
above.
Outputs from the project are expected to include:
-
Effective business models that support the commercialisation of implementing PES schemes
across a range of sites in the Channel region.
Pilots schemes across the area demonstrating improvement in water quality and business
economics
Development of PES based business plans and frameworks protecting 200 jobs and
2,300km2 of catchment across the Channel’s marine and transitional waters
15 presentations to policy makers and 1 impact report showing where policy has been
affected
1 Cross Channel final event promoting use of PES schemes through pilot studies to raise
awareness of the opportunities and benefits developing best practice.
1 summary document with recommendations for successful PES schemes building on shared
knowledge & expertise.
Changes that the project will contribute to /
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/
Under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) between 60 and 70% of our freshwater and marine
water bodies entering into the Channel are in moderate, poor or bad ecological status coming under
pressure from issues such as pollution from agriculture, urban areas, sewage treatment works and
septic tanks. Additionally, many of the marine based designated sites that drain the freshwater area
are also under pressure with many in an unfavourable condition. Pressures on water quality also
have a direct adverse impact on many of the businesses across the Programme Area and in many
cases limits business growth. The CPES project will:
-
-
Develop clear and informative business models that highlight the benefits of PES, and the
critical factors required for its success.
Support successful embedding of PES schemes into business plans (for both buyer and seller
e.g. water companies and farmers)
Support a reduction in treatment and management costs associated with coastal and
transitional waters in the Channel region (e.g. one case study expects to reduce the costs
associated with water treatement in southern England)
Promote an improvement in existing ecosystem services through the use of more effective
management practices and land use activities around the Channel region.
Support the achievement of good environmental status within the Channel’s coastal and
transitional waters.
Cross border added value /
The coastal communities in France and England share agricultural, maritime and tourism
backgrounds that generate economic growth but also cause environmental pressures and perversely
limit future growth. Improving water quality in the Channel, while delivering growth for the
associated business sectors (e.g. agriculture, and tourism), can only happen through cross border
working and by building trust amongst community partners. In particular, the CPES project will
support the improvement of water quality within the region’s coastal and transitional waters,
resulting in an overall improvement in the ecosystem services provided by the Channel. In addition,
it is noted that the need for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is critical in solving this problem
with private investment required to supplement dwindling public funding. The CPES project will use
case study based pilot studies to develop a best practice business model that supports successful
implementation of PES schemes across the Channel region.
The CPES project will run pilots where concrete results and business models that will be used to
support the inclusion of PES schemes to future plans and land management strategies across the
Channel region. Additionally, the approach will be applied to different catchment types and policy
frameworks to give a transnational impact on WFD. Ecosystem-based management is a recognised
approach to effective management of resources, and this project will add to the understanding of
how this can be applied in way that supports both the ecosystems, and the businesses dependent on
them. This project is an opportunity to review existing models for Payments for Ecosystem Services
schemes, and develop a model that can be tested in the project region, through a number of case
studies/ pilot projects. The aim will be to generate best practice recommendations to support
schemes of this nature that can encourage sustainable environments and development across
Europe.
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/
In addition the project will:
-
Support the development of a coherent approach to ecosystem based management of the
Channel’s coastal, marine and transitional resources.
Strengthen business understanding of the role and benefits of PES schemes in terms of
improving environmental quality and minimising business risk,
Support knowledge exchange and learning through joint experiences and sharing of best
practice
Contribute to the ongoing debate around the use of PES schemes as an effective
management strategies,
Encourage community and stakeholder involvement in development of policies and plans
that impact them.
Allow the formation of new partnerships and collaboration between partners.
Capitalisation on previous initiatives/
Sustainability/
Partners (with their geographical areas) already involved in the project idea /
University of Chichester
Southern Water
Arun and Rothers Rivers Trust
South Downs National Park
West Country Rivers Trust
Environment Agency
Syndicat Mixte du Grand Bassin de l'Oust
Potential partners sought (skills wanted) /
England /
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/
France /
Regional council – Haute Normandie
Water companies
Start date and end date of the project /
Start date : December 2016
End date : December 2019
Estimated project cost /
3.4 millions Euros
Other comments /
Has a programme facilitator from the InterregVA FCE Joint Technical Secretariat provided
advice to the project applicant? /
Keep only one and erase the others/
Yes /
If yes, facilitator’s name /
Name /
Aistė Petraitytė
The Interreg VA France (Channel) England Programme is financed by European Regional Development Funds/