Lewes & Ouse Valley eco-nomics
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Floods in the news in York and Cumbria… Here in the Ouse Catchment there is natural flood management stuff going on NOW and you can help. There’s also lots more to do to get the Ecosystem Approach benefitting the Lewes Neighbourhood Plan. Read more on the latest L&OVe update |
– Lewes Neighbourhood Plan 3-day Community Engagement Design Forum
– Compensating our our carbon footprint– what a small area of wet woodland is doing for us
– Naturegain in motion … Update on successes
– Film of Lewes Neighbourhood Plan: Developing an Ecosystem Approach – released:
Worth a click…
Ecosystems Knowledge Network – a network for people that are putting the environment at the heart of decision-making.
During March L&OVe would like to try something out; We’d like to map L&OVe in a new way! How about a map of the area around Lewes on which everyone can mark the places they like, love and/or visit a lot? AND get the map to portray how people feel about these places? If those of you with the appropriate skills and creative visions chip in, we may be able to produce something rather unique! – can you help?
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Hosted by the Ouse & Adur Rivers Trust and the Sussex Flow Initiative Project, the first Lewes Water Fair will be taking place on 7th March 2015 at the Linklater Pavilion in Lewes. The Water Fair will focus on important issues for EVERYONE in Lewes – Community Flood Resilience; Water Saving Ideas; Environmental Improvements. The aim is to hear from the community about their water concerns and issues, whilst providing opportunities to learn about things that are going on locally, regionally and nationally on flooding and water supply. More here…
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The event will run from 10am – 4pm and there will be free cafe (donations to a local community group yet to be decided) providing light refreshments, a series of talks and presentations on the work being undertaken within the catchment and a chance to come and talk to us so that we can learn from the community whilst they learn from us. For further information contact peter.king@oart.org.uk or sandramanningjones@gmail.com |
Whether or not you can go, there’s an on-line survey which it’d be good if EVERYONE reading this completes – you could even win a prize if you do!!
L&OVe – planning for nature at the heart of well-being
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There’s lots going on to light things up as the days shorten and darkness comes earlier… L&OVe for Phoenix Rising; L&OVe for our Neighbourhood; L&OVe for trees and their benefits and L&OVe for Health & Happiness… Read it here… |
There is a group under the TTL banner, called Lewes & Ouse Valley eco-nomics (L&OVe). This group has been, is and will be looking at the things that the Lewes community, neighbourhood and economy gets from the local environment, (things like pollination, water provision, water purification, flood protection, nutrient cycling, carbon storage, etc.). Many of these benefits are already threatened or in decline nationally, mainly because of the way people use land and manage the environment. We will be trying to identify the most important of these ‘services’ for the local economy; which local businesses and institutions benefit from them; possibly putting a monetary value on them; and investigating what can be done to help the local economy by enhancing the health of ecosystems locally that provide these ‘services’. Similarly, there are a range of local benefits from our local environment (beauty, views, fresh air, tranquillity, sense of place, spiritual value, recreation, creative inspiration, etc. etc.) that contribute in major ways to our wellbeing and our health, both as individuals and as a community. We also wish to draw out from people what they find locally that makes them feel better and/or get healthier. How can we use and manage the land around us to increase its provision of health and wellbeing across the Lewes Community?
It’s all about the egg of wellbeing and the resilience of the local economy, so recognising that biodiversity and the health of our environment underpins our own wellbeing AND (what the mainstream economy currently doesn’t recognise nor put value on) all businesses. Natural capital provides our life support system and that of all life on earth; we need to start to value and build our local natural capital.
Read all about it…
New ways of thinking and a new word to match: ‘Naturegain‘ – coined by John Parry in 2013.
Summary: Local Nature Partnership – Nature & Health
How can nature make a difference to public health?
By Elisabeth van de Grift
L&OVe News Updates
L&OVe Workshops
The Lewes and Ouse Valley eco-nomics Group are developing and running excellent workshops exploring what we get from the local environment and why it is so important to value this ‘Naturegain‘. This is a new word coined by John Parry, Director of the Railway Land Project, and is defined as ‘ecosystem services that flow from natural capital stock; with the reflex that in order to continue to provide these services, nature must gain too by being kept healthy‘. more…
APPEAL!!!
Please read this report on our workshop: What does the local environment do for Lewes’s economy? and come and get actively involved in this timely and important activity, bringing together appreciation of our local environment, recognition of the value of local businesses and enterprises within the Lewes Economy and understanding that there are win-wins in the relationship between economy and environment as we set about adjusting to the impacts of climate change and peak oil. The more people we have engaging in the issue, the more we can achieve ….. and faster!
What does the local environment do for Lewes’s economy?
We held a very successful workshop at the Linklater Pavillion (on the 27th of April, 2011), using discussion/mapping exercises to explore the interdependence between the Lewes economy and the surrounding environment.
Here’s the introduction to the Workshop...
Take a look at what we found…
LOCAL LINKS
Sussex Wildlife Trust ‘Living Landscapes’
Sustainable Sussex – Business Forum
E. Sussex County Council Environment Strategy
From TEEB (see under INTERNATIONAL below)
…of particular relevance to local policy
NATIONAL LINKS
Natural Environment White Paper
Natural England – No Charge? Valuing the Natural Environment
INTERNTIONAL LINKS
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
TEEB’s Bank of Natural Capital
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)
The MA report for Business & Industry (particularly worth looking at!)
Linking the Lewes Pound to the Value of Local Nature
We shall also be exploring the potential of linking our local currency, the Lewes Pound, to the value of local nature. News on this to come.
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