Developing a Payment for Ecosystem Service Scheme

Work Package 1 (addressing Objective 1 above): Starting with DEFRA's PES Best Practice Guide (to be published later this year, and co-authored by Mark Reed, an advisor on this application), the intern will identify any additional evidence, case studies and policy guidance, that could inform the design of a future multiple benefit
PES scheme in the South West. This will include a review of academic literature on the establishment of multiple benefit PES schemes, adapted to the context of SWW. It will also include a comparative analysis of multiple benefit PES case studies to identify features that could be translated into the SWW context, including field visits to case studies where necessary to find out more about their work.

Work Package 2 (objective 2): The intern will use existing GIS based analyses of the restoration-potential at different sites to deliver water quality, quantity and carbon to develop tools that can identify where restoration is likely to deliver greatest economic advantage to SWW and land managers (for example, targeting pockets of land that may pose a risk to local water abstraction). Research currently being undertaken between SWW and University of Exeter will feed into the calculation of likely economic benefits.

Work Package 3 (objective 3): In collaboration with IUCN, water@leeds and Mark Reed, the intern will: i) identify potential co-benefits associated with peatland restoration in relevant SWW catchments; ii) identify methods (including indicators and proxies) for quantifying co-benefits and potential risks where this is possible; iii) compare the merits of bundling carbon and other co-benefits with payments for clean water under the Upstream Thinking project versus layering1 a separate carbon scheme on top of the existing Upstream Thinking scheme;
iv) identify likely investors in the multiple benefit PES scheme, and any factors that could help target future marketing of the scheme (possibly including focus group(s) to get more in depth feedback from potential investors, professional advisors and beneficiaries of the scheme);
v) identify scheme accreditation options e.g. under the UK Peatland Carbon Code versus the Voluntary Carbon Standard, and in relation to OFWAT requirements; and vi) develop a methodological framework for scheme implementation, showing how key operational tasks fit together.

Work Package 4 (objective 4): i) sharing findings from Work Packages 1-3 with the group led by IUCNwho are developing standards and protocols for the UK Peatland Carbon Code; and ii) working closely with members of the IUCN advisory science panel, and with advice from Mark Reed, translate emerging technical guidance on peatland restoration and monitoring into the South West context, providing feedback on practicability of the guidance.