Recipient organisationUniversity of ExeterSource-published name: University of Exeter
Funding£4.1M
PeriodFeb 2017 — Jan 2023
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
The South West of England is turning its coastline, farmland, and moorlands into an economic asset by putting a financial value on the natural services they provide—such as clean water, flood protection, and tourism—and using that value to guide business and government decisions. This matters because the region’s economy is unusually dependent on its natural environment, yet it has the lowest average incomes in the UK and a productivity gap 20% below the national average. Traditional decision-making treats farming, fishing, tourism, and development as separate sectors, so policies that help one—like agricultural subsidies—can accidentally harm others by polluting rivers or degrading landscapes. SWEEP aims to replace this fragmented approach with an integrated “whole system” model that accounts for how changes in one part of the environment ripple through the economy. If successful, the project will produce practical tools that businesses and local authorities can use to predict the economic and social consequences of their decisions—for example, weighing the cost of building on a floodplain against the value of preserving a wetland that naturally absorbs stormwater. It will also create new markets for “natural capital,” giving private companies financial incentives to restore habitats or improve water quality. Because two of the UK government’s five national “Pioneer” test sites for its 25-year environment plan are in the South West, SWEEP’s results could become a template for environment-led economic growth across the country.
View original technical description
SWEEP brings together a unique blend of academics, businesses and policymakers to place 'natural capital' - those elements of nature producing value for people - at the heart of regional decision-making and business processes in the South West (SW). Focussing on the Heart of the South West and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) regions, SWEEP will radically transform the extent to which NERC science drives sustainable economic growth, improves policy, decision-making and resilience, delivers value for money and enhances health and wellbeing. The UK Government has placed sustainable use of natural capital at the centre of its 25 Year Environment Plan (25YEP). With 800km of spectacular coastline and over a quarter of land within National Parks/Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the SW is rich in natural capital. It is particularly reliant on these natural assets and the ecosystem services deriving from them to power economic growth, attracting more domestic tourists and with higher employment in direct natural capital usage (e.g. agriculture, fisheries) than any other UK region. However, there is also more potential for natural capital-led economic growth; productivity is low, with Gross Value Added 20% below national average and the lowest mean incomes nationally. Heavy reliance on natural capital also brings economic vulnerability and challenges from increasing occurrences of storms, flooding, degradation and pollution that damage that capital and limit economic growth. SWEEP and its business and policy partners have co-designed a work programme utilising NERC-funded research to develop an integrated, cross-sectoral, 'whole system' approach to natural capital-led growth. The region's natural assets are inextricably linked, so traditional decision-making focussing on one sector at a time can result in unintended negative consequences for others. For example agricultural subsidies can lead to. contaminants from land bordering rivers lowering downstream water quality, affecting aquaculture, fisheries, tourism and health. SWEEP will address these problems, realising the benefits of integrated, whole system decision making through five interwoven 'Impact Themes', aiming to: 1) co-build tools to help business and government understand both the economic and environmental consequences of decisions; and 2) co-develop new business opportunities and natural capital markets giving both private and public sector organisations the means and incentive to improve nature's services, reducing their costs and risk exposure and improving their benefits. With partners we have developed an initial set of 'Impact Cases', each addressing one or more Impact Themes, which will commence at the outset for rapid delivery of impact. They include development of new tools for natural hazard prediction and evaluation of economic/social benefits of enhancing natural capital. Careful integration across these Cases will demonstrate how the SW's high dependence on its natural environment can provide unprecedented opportunities to deliver transformative economic benefits. The SWEEP consortium brings together a uniquely strong mix of environmental scientists, economists, social and health scientists. A team of 'Impact Fellows' will be embedded with partners to deliver the Impact Cases and scope new SWEEP activities. Partners will be integral to design, management and delivery, ensuring that all activities are aligned with user needs and fully integrated, maximising return on NERC's investment. Further value comes from alignment with the new 'Pioneers', which will be exemplars for the Government's 25YEP. Of only five 'Pioneers' nationally, two will be in the SW, providing the only integrated terrestrial-marine testbed for the 25 YEP. By working with the business and policy institutions involved in the Pioneers, SWEEP will act as a national flagship for environment-led regional growth.
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