Ecosystem markets have the potential to fund significant reductions in greenhouse gases from the land use sector, while providing new income streams. Our research has provided new evidence on the barriers to and opportunities for ecosystem markets to contribute to a green recovery, as well as data and insight to support policy that promotes sustainable use of land and resources.
This Policy brief considers the role of public-private partnerships in post-Brexit agricultural policy and was produced by N8 AgriFood academics on the Dairy Resilient Landscapes project.
This Policy brief explores climate change mitigation, improved water quality and soil health and was produced by N8 AgriFood academics on the Dairy Resilient Landscapes project.
Dr Niki Rust, Sara Iversen, Prof Mark Reed and Rosmarie Neumann from Newcastle University contributed to this N8 AgriFood Collection article for Emerald Open Research.
This is paper is part of the N8 AgriFood Collection for Emerald Open Research, by academics from the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds with the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Peatlands Initiative.
This policy brief explores how farmer decisions about engagement in sustainable farm practices and policy initiatives are shaped by a range of external and internal factors, such as farm type, values, beliefs and norms, rather than just the financial calculation of costs versus benefits.
During the launch of the Policy Hub, Professsor Mark Reed, (former Newcastle N8 AgriFood Chair, now Director of the Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre at Scotland’s Rural College) and Professor Peter Howley from the University of Leeds held a webinar on exploring the role of ecosystem markets in a green recovery. The webinar, chaired by Colin Mackie, Head of Strategy in the Green Finance Team at Defra, stimulated discussion and interrogation of new evidence on the barriers to and opportunities for ecosystem markets to contribute to a green recovery. Discussion was informed by two new policy briefs which were produced for the webinar.
Prof Mark Reed, former Newcastle N8 AgriFood Chair is now Director of the Thriving Natural Capital Challenge Centre at Scotland’s Rural College. He continues to collaborate with us on many levels and as an output of our launch week, produced this policy brief in collaboration with iCASP and the Global Food Security funded Resilient Dairy Landscapes project. It outlines the policy action needed to stimulate demand for and supply of projects for new ecosystem markets. Ecosystem markets have the potential to fund significant reductions in greenhouse gases from the land use sector, while providing new income streams for a sector that has in some areas been significantly impacted by Covid-19. The brief outlines long term policy messages as well as recommendations for the next year, based on research evidenced in the brief.
N8 AgriFood academics at the University of Sheffield, have published a White Paper – Engaging ‘harder to reach’ farmers: the roles and needs of skilled intermediaries. The report presents the findings of research led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with the University of Reading, carried out in 2020 & 2021, which focused on engaging ‘harder to reach’ (HTR) farmers in policy design and delivery. In June 2021, Dr Ruth Little, from Sheffield’s Institute for Sustainable Food gave evidence from the White Paper to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee as part of its inquiry into Environmental Land Management and the Agricultural Transition. Dr Little had previously given evidence to the given to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in November 2020 as part of its inquiry on Biodiversity and Ecosystems. Her recommendations were published in the Committee’s June 2021 Report; Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust.
