AER Rural Development Conference October 2005

1. AER Rural Development Conference October 2005 Activating the rural environmental opportunity mark.robins@rspb.org.uk

3. Rural environmental development - the Chough returns to Cornwall

4. Rural development outcomes from Cornwall chough project • Cornwall - only site in England for choughs – a species recovery environmental GOLD STAR • In 2004, 18,000 people came to the chough viewpoint (half were holiday makers) • These visitors spent £407,563 ( 617,702 euros) on the day of their visit • Of this, £180,943 was additional expenditure: in the area, attracted by choughs, supporting 4.9 full time jobs • Lots of emotion! Ref: The Lizard Cornwall – Economic impact of choughs on the local economy: contact claire.mucklow@rspb.org.uk

6. Defining the ‘Environmental Economy’ • Activities concerned with the protection, management and enhancement of the environment • Building and Maintaining Environmental Capital • Activities that benefit from the quality of the environment • Using Environmental Capital to Produce other Goods and Services

7. Figure 1: Sectoral Definition of the Rural Environmental Economy Sectors Activities Habitat re-creation Habitat management Nature conservation Agri-environment schemes Food processing and marketing Agriculture Forestry Woodland creation and management Timber processing and marketing Fisheries Fisheries management Fish processing and marketing Built/historic environment Restoration and maintenance Planning and development Renewable energy Rural energy efficiency Energy Green rural transport initiatives Development of cycle ways and footpaths Transport Rural production of environmental goods and services Rural environmental industries Goods and services to envt motivated visitors Visitor infrastructure, tourism marketing Tourism Film, media, the arts Events, festivals, exhibitions Creative Industries Inward investment and in-migration Marketing and PR aimed at firms, workers Other sectors

8. Figure 2: Environmental Capital Based • Definition of Rural Environmental Economy Actions to maintain/enhance environmental capital: Nature conservation: habitat re-creation and management Agri-environment schemes Woodland management schemes Fisheries management initiatives Renewable energy projects etc. Rural Economic Activities that Impact on Environmental Capital: Nature conservation, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy, transport etc Stock of Rural Environmental Capital Biodiversity, landscape, built environment, air, water, natural resources etc Economic Activities that Benefit from Rural Environmental Capital: Tourism, food marketing, inward investment, creative industries etc Actions to encourage/facilitate economic activity based on rural environment capital: Tourism infrastructure and marketing Marketing to inward investors Food and timber processing/marketing etc Cultural events

9. Figure 4: Environment/Economy Focus and role of Partners Environmental partners lead “Environment” focus Habitat recreation and management Environmental schemes in agriculture, forestry, fisheries Renewable energy Food labelling and marketing Economic development partners lead Tourism marketing and infrastructure “Economy” focus

10. Approaches to defining rural environmental economy • Sectoral • Environmental linkages/ environmental capital/ environmental “supply chain” • Territorial

11. Briefing paper…………… • The Environmental Economy in the Rural Areas of South West England. 2003. A briefing paper. • A Report to SW RDA, English Nature and the RSPB www.rspb.org.uk/policy/economicdevelopment/greeneconomy/southwest.asp or www.southwestrda.org.uk

12. Environmental economy

13. Activating the Rural Environmental Economy • Developing the rural environmental economy offers substantial opportunities for the rural areas/regions • The linkages are varied, complex and dynamic • Further research is needed to explore potential action in more detail, to identify where opportunities are strongest • Packages of activity likely to offer greatest benefit • Success depends on building capacity and ensuring appropriate skills, knowledge, partnerships & leadership • Next step – develop a regional action plans or ‘RDR roadmaps for the environmental economy’.