Presentation given by Jim Smyllie, Natural England's Executive Director of People, Landscape and Biodiversity at the Protecting and Enhancing the Urban and Natural Environment event in London on Tuesday 12th November 2013.

1. Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy
People
Jim Smyllie
Executive Director, People, Landscape and
Biodiversity

2. New policy framework
Making
Space
for
Nature
–
Lawton
Report
2010

3. New understanding of the value of nature
Provisioning services
Cultural services
Fresh water
Cultural heritage
Food (eg crops, fruit, fish, etc)
Recreation and tourism
Fibre and fuel (eg timber, wool, etc)
Aesthetic value
Genetic resources (used for crop/stock breeding and biotechnology)
Spiritual and religious value
Biochemicals, natural medicines, pharmaceuticals
Inspiration of art, folklore, architecture, etc
Ornamental resources (eg shells, flowers, etc)
Social relations (eg fishing, grazing, cropping communities)
Regulatory services
Supporting services
Air quality regulation
Soil formation
Climate regulation (local temp. /precipitation, GHG sequestration, etc)
Primary production
Water regulation (timing/scale of run-off, flooding, etc)
Nutrient cycling (water recirculation in landscape)
Natural hazard regulation (ie storm protection)
Water recycling
Pest regulation
Photosynthesis (production of atmospheric oxygen)
Disease regulation
Provision of habitat
Erosion regulation
Water purification and waste treatment
Pollination
Thanks to Mark Everad from EA for this slide
What you don’t
consider you may lose!

4. Why it matters
Multiple issues for our places and our people
• Air pollution reduces average UK life expectancy by 7-8 months
• Urban flooding costs £270 million a year in England and Wales.
• The cost of environmental damage from polluted urban wash-off
has been estimated at £150 - £250 million.
• Resources - South-East England has less water per head than
Morocco or Egypt.
• Maintaining the UK's green spaces would deliver £30bn in health
and welfare benefits each year. However, failing to do so would cost
£20bn each year.
• Mental illness was estimated as a £77.4 billion welfare loss to the
UK.
• Insufficient physical activity costs the UK £8.2 billion annually
• Biodiversity – specialist species being squeezed, loss of diversity

5. New delivery landscape
• 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships and
City Deals - helping develop a
strategic view of the economy and the
environment
• 48 Local Nature Partnerships –
bringing together local interests to best
manage the natural environment
• 12 Nature Improvement Areas –
locally driven partnerships working at a
landscape scale.
• Well supported NGO and voluntary
sector.

6. The Network of
Protection we have

7. Sharing evidence, advice, expertise, support
• Microeconomic Evidence for the Benefits of Investment in the
Environment (MEBIE)
• Monitor of Engagement with the Natural
Environment (MENE)
• Natural England’s Health and the Natural Environment web page
info pack contains a wealth of research references.
• GI valuation tools - an assessment
• GI as a catalyst for economic growth (with Defra)
• Local Environment and Economic Development toolkit (piloted by
New Anglia LEP)

8. The importance of
local places
Are about the places people relate
to
Provide the context and starting
point for a wide range of
partnerships and community
groups
Bring together biodiversity,
geodiversity, landscape character,
historic environment, access &
engagement, climate change,
ecosystem services.....................in
one place

9. Rethinking the environment – catalyst not
barrier
• encourages inward investment to an area
• attracts increased visitor spending in an area
• saves environmental costs
• provides health benefits
• generates employment

10. The environment as a catalyst
Nature encourages inward investment to an area:
•
95% of real estate developers and consultants across Europe believe that
open space adds value to commercial property
•
On average, developers would be willing to pay at least 3% more for land in
close proximity to open space, with some putting the premium as high as
15-20%
•
Before the development of the High Line Park (New York), properties in the
surrounding area were valued 8% less than the median in Manhattan.
Between 2003 and 2011 the values near the park increased by 103%
surpassing the New York average.

11. Tourism and biodiversity
•
•
•
Visits by UK residents to the countryside
and/or villages contribute £5.5 billion
annually for the economy in England and
that visits by UK residents contribute
£7.4 billion annually (1)
Recreational visits to Forestry
Commission estates have an economic
value of £3.354 million per annum32 (2)
It is estimated that people visiting
Osprey watching sites in the UK bring
total additional to the seaside
expenditure of £3.5 million per year to
the areas around the sites (3)
1) Deloitte and Oxford Economics, 2010.
2) Willis and Garrod, 1991.
3) Dickie et al., 2006.

12. Flood control
Urban flooding costs £270 million a
year in England and Wales(1).
• It is been predicted that this will
increase to between £1 and £10
billion a year by 2080 unless
preventative action is taken(1).
• Sustainable Urban Drainage
Systems (SUDS) are cost-effective
ways to reduce flood risk(2).
• Green roofs(3) and urban trees(4)
retain rainwater reducing flood risk.
1)
2)
3)
4)
PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2007. Urban flooding
DUFFY, A, JEFFERIES, C, WADDELL, G, SHANKS, G, BLACKWOOD, D & WATKINS, A 2008. A cost comparison of traditional drainage and SUDS in
Scotland. Water Science & Technology, 57, 1451-1459. SUDS involve retaining water above ground near to where it falls. Duffy found the capital
costs of SUDS to be less than half that of traditional drainage and maintenance costs to also be lower.
MENTENS, J, RAES, D & HERMY, M 2006. Green roofs as a tool for solving the rainwater runoff problem in the urbanized 21st century? Landscape
and Urban Planning, 77, 217-226.
XIAO, Q, MCPHERSON, EG, SIMPSON, JR & USTIN, SL 1998. Rainfall interception by Sacramento's urban forest. Journal of Arboriculture, 24, 235244.

13. Mental Health
Mental illness estimated as a £77.4
billion welfare loss to the UK(1).
•
•
1)
2)
3)
4)
Time ‘in nature’ promotes recovery
from stress and attention fatigue, and
has positive effects on mood,
concentration and self-discipline(2).
There are is evidence which
strongly suggests a long-term
relationship between chronic
stress and access to green
space(3,4).
THE SAINSBURY CENTRE FOR MENTAL HEALTH 2003. The economic and social costs of mental illness.
HEALTH COUNCIL OF THE NETHERLANDS 2004. Nature and Health. NATURE AND FOOD QUALITY AGRICULTURE. The Hague
GRAHN, P & STIGSDOTTER, UA 2003. Landscape planning and stress. Urban forestry & urban greening, 2, 1-18.
NIELSEN, TS & HANSEN, KB 2007. Do green areas affect health? Results from a Danish survey on the use of green areas and
health indicators. Health & Place, 13, 839-850.

14. Health & Physical activity
Insufficient physical activity costs the UK
£8.2 billion annually
• These is a relationship between quantity
of accessible green space and
population health – even when you
control for wealth and other factors(1,2,3,4)
• People use green space much more when
its in short walking distance(5,6).
• Local context is crucial, poor-quality green
space where there are concerns for
personal safety will be used less(7).
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
DE VRIES, S, AVERHEIJ, R, PGROENEWEGEN, P & SPREEUWENBERG, P 2003. Natural environments-healthy environments? An exploratory analysis of the relationship
between greenspace and health. Environment and Planning A, 35, 1717-1731
MAAS, J, VERHEIJ, RA, GROENEWEGEN, PP, DE VRIES, S & SPREEUWENBERG, P 2006. Green space, urbanity, and health: how strong is the relation? Journal of
epidemiology and community health, 60, 587.
TAKANO, T, NAKAMURA, K & WATANABE, M 2002. Urban residential environments and senior citizens’ longevity in megacity areas: the importance of walkable green
spaces. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 56, 913.
MITCHELL, R & POPHAM, F 2008. Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study. The Lancet, 372, 1655-1660
GILES-CORTI, B, BROOMHALL, MH, KNUIMAN, M, COLLINS, C, DOUGLAS, K, NG, K, LANGE, A & DONOVAN, RJ 2005. Increasing walking:: How important is distance to,
attractiveness, and size of public open space? American journal of preventive medicine, 28, 169-176.
NEUVONEN, M, SIEVÄNEN, T, TÖNNES, S & KOSKELA, T 2007. Access to green areas and the frequency of visits-A case study in Helsinki. Urban forestry & urban
greening, 6, 235-247.
URBAN GREEN SPACES TASK FORCE 2002. Green Spaces. Better Places. LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS/ DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT. London.

15. Reconnect people and nature
"It will be said of this
generation that it found
England a land of beauty,
and left it a land of beauty
spots"
CEM (Cyril) Joad, The
Horrors of the Countryside
(1931)