4. Valuing Green Infrastructure - South Yorkshire Forest Partnership

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THE SOUTH YORKSHIRE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY 18 Creating & Improving Our Green Network 4. Valuing Green Infrastructure Figure 7: European Environment Agency (EEA) DPSIR framework 15 Driving Forces Poor quality, blight and degradation coupled with other factors such as rising expectations for quality of life and good health. Responses Addressing pressure on communities, environment and by responding to climate change to ensure economic growth can happen. Pressures Stress caused by climate, development pressures and a host of other factors. Impact Adverse or positive effects. State The level of support and quality of services currently offered by the green network. 4.4 Figure 7 is based on Driving forces / Pressures / States / Impacts / Responses (DPSIR) causal framework for describing the interactions between society and the environment, developed by European Environment Agency; an extension of the Pressure / State / Response model developed by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
THE SOUTH YORKSHIRE GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY 4. Valuing Green Infrastructure Creating & Improving Our Green Network 19 Managing the Network 4.5 Green infrastructure management demands a thorough understanding of the linkages and interdependencies between different natural systems, in order to inform good decision-making as to the most efficient and effective longterm approach to using and conserving valuable resources (see Figure 2). Perhaps most important are the ideas of promoting multiple uses and functions of the same assets (e.g. areas of land) – and understanding how values drive decisions. 4.7 The result is a network of ecosystems of contrasting content, quality and value to people, which vary over the landscape of South Yorkshire. The green infrastructure elements might include parks, agricultural land, forests and woodlands, rivers, inland waterways, lakes and wetlands, local nature reserves, private gardens and allotments, geological features, access routes, and heath and moorlands. 4.6 Figure 7 helps identify the preconditions and pressures that affect the state of green infrastructure in the sub-region. Amongst other factors these include the geology of the area, its climate, previous land uses and other anthropological impacts, as well as existing infrastructure and social conditions (explored in Appendix F). Case Study 3 Sub-Regional Scale GI Benefits from Investment Since 2003, the Moors for the Future Partnership has piloted work to reverse 150 years of atmospheric pollution and fires that left large areas of the uplands of the Peak District and South Pennines bare of vegetation. The partnership aims to retain the huge existing carbon reserves already held in the peat moorlands – peat is the single biggest store of carbon in the UK, storing the equivalent of 20 years of all UK CO 2 emissions; 20 million tonnes of carbon are stored in the Peak District alone. 16 Damaged and eroding peat releases carbon and other greenhouse gases such as methane into the environment. Re-vegetating moorland also improves water quality and colour and reduces diffuse pollution and sediment, helping the sub-region comply with the Water Framework Directive. Improved water quality is also good for biodiversity and less energy is needed to treat water for domestic use. The Pennine uplands are also an important wildlife habitat and the Partnership has recently received a £5m grant from the EU Life+ Programme to undertake the largest conservation project in the UK to improve biodiversity within the South Pennine SAC – an EU Priority Habitat. The work has been focused on restoring degraded moorland by stabilising and re-vegetating bare peat to help absorb moisture (and carbon), while more recently working to re-introduce bog-building sphagnum mosses. These practical techniques restore the natural functioning of the uplands. This work has sub-regional and regional benefits. The Partnership is undertaking monitoring and modelling work to investigate the hydrology of the uplands and the impact that restoration work may have in mitigating flash flooding events further downstream where mid-catchment settlements are likely to be vulnerable to flooding while constrained by existing development. There is a need for a more holistic and spatial approach to understanding moorland processes and management, and a need to develop approaches that combine understanding of interlinked social and natural processes. 17 The work of the Moors for the Future partnership will further develop understanding of the multi-functional benefits of moorlands. © Moors for the Future Partnership
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