The UK government has made formal commitments to reduce GHG emissions (e.g. under the Climate Change Act 2008 and subsequent amendments) and to protect/improve natural capital and the environment (e.g. as part of the 25 Year Environment Plan published in 2018). Meeting these objectives requires an integrated approach to two parallel challenges i) decarbonising the energy system and ii) better understanding and valuation of natural capital and ecosystem services. From an academic perspective this involves bringing together two substantial, but rather weakly connected bodies of research, while also acknowledging that this integration in a UK setting needs to recognise the international context (i.e. a whole systems perspective). The ADVENT project (ADdressing Valuation of Energy and Nature Together) has been funded by the UK National Environment Research Council to develop conceptual frameworks and modelling tools which ‘integrate the analysis of prospective UK energy pathways with considerations relating to the value of natural capital’. A methodology has been implemented to downscale the outputs of pathways from national energy system models and incorporate environmental impacts into the assessment of different options. This has required defining spatially-optimised distributions of investments in new energy infrastructure using a range of financial and welfare criteria. These distributions are then compared in terms of their construction, transport and land opportunity costs, as well as the implications for biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, recreation, visual amenity and water resources. This paper will present results from comparing different UK energy pathways through to 2050 in terms of the implications of electricity generation from three types of renewables (bioenergy, solar and onshore wind). The results illustrate that i) individual pathways can vary appreciably in their environmental impacts, ii) overall societal welfare can be enhanced by using spatial modelling to incorporate valuations of such impacts into implementation of pathways and iii) assessment outcomes can be sensitive to modelling assumptions (e.g. regarding the proportion of biomass feedstock from domestic or international sources). More broadly, the results demonstrate how important improvements can be achieved in the integration of environmental considerations into the assessment of future energy pathways at regional and national scales. The approach is now being further refined through the UK Energy Research Centre Phase 4 programme and ADVANCES Landscape Decisions project in the UK, as well as the five-country IRENES project funded by Interreg Europe.

In 2010, the UK government launched the Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) platform to evaluate the extent to which on-farm mitigation measures can cost-effectively reduce the impacts of agricultural water pollution on river ecology whilst maintaining food production capacity. In this paper, we compare the impacts on soil health of two types of conservation tillage (direct drill and shallow non-inversion) against conventional mouldboard ploughing after five years (2013-2018) of adoption within the River Wensum DTC. Across the 143 ha conservation tillage trial area, temporal changes in the physical, chemical and biological condition of the soils were examined through the analysis of 324 soil samples, whilst the impacts on soil water chemistry were assessed through the analysis of 1176 samples of subsurface field drainage. Riverine water pollution was also explored through high-resolution (30 min) hydrochemistry measurements generated by an automated, in-situ bankside monitoring station located 650 m downstream of the trial area. Results revealed that conservation tillage did not significantly alter the soil physical, chemical or biological condition relative to conventional ploughing during the first five years. In addition, conservation tillage did not reduce nutrient leaching losses into field drainage and did not significantly impact upon river water quality, despite the trial area covering 20% of the catchment. Economically, however, conservation tillage yielded net profit margins 13% higher than conventional ploughing after five years of practice due to a combination of operational efficiency savings and improved yields. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that conservation tillage alone is ineffective at improving the short-term environmental sustainability of farming practices in this lowland intensive arable setting and indicates that a broader, integrated approach to conservation agriculture is required incorporating aspects of cover cropping, crop rotations and precision farming techniques. The improvements in farm business performance do, however, demonstrate land managers can make important financial gains by converting to a conservation tillage system.

Energy, and access to energy, are essential to human life, civilisation and development. A number of energy issues - including energy security, energy prices and the polluting emissions for energy use - now have high prominence on global agendas of policy and diplomacy. In addressing these and other global energy issues, the purpose of this book is to lay out the broad global energy landscape, exploring how these issues might develop in coming decades, and the implications of such developments for energy policy. There are great uncertainties, which will be identified, in respect of some of these issues, but many of the defining characteristics of the landscape are clear, and the energy policies of all countries will need to be broadly consistent with these if they are to be feasible and achieve their objectives. The book therefore provides information about and analysis of energy and related resources, and the technologies that have been and are being developed to exploit them that is essential to understanding how the global energy system is developing, and how it might develop in the future. But its main focus is the critical economic, social, political and cultural issues that will determine how energy systems will develop and which technologies are deployed, why, by whom, and who will benefit from them. The book has three Parts. Part I sets out the current global context for energy system developments, outlining the essential trends of global energy supply and demand, and atmospheric emissions, from the past and going forward, and their driving forces. Part II explores the options and choices, covering both energy demand and energy supply, facing national and international policymakers as they confront the challenges of the global context outlined in Part I. Part III of the book brings together the discussion in Parts I and II with consideration of possible global energy and environmental futures, and of the energy policy choices which will determine which future actually comes to pass

To fully assess the sustainability of energy from home-grown biomass, the whole production combustion life cycle of the crops needs to be considered across a broad range of ecosystem service indicators. A sustainability framework needs to consider impacts within the UK and beyond arising across the life cycle. This paper presents a framework for making such an assessment using data collected by two different literature summary techniques but processed using the same qualitative scoring system, recording matrices and graphical presentation of results. It illustrates what is known about the impacts on ecosystem services of UK produced biomass crops (short rotation coppice and Miscanthus), suggesting a lack of research relating to upstream, operational and downstream elements of the energy life cycle, and a focus on the growth-cycle of the crops. The specific results obtained are sensitive to choices made in the literature review process, but the approach is useful in its ability to summarise a large amount of data and applicability to other energy feed-stocks, enabling a comparison of ecosystem impacts between energy systems.

This paper defines the potentially available land for perennial energy crops across Great Britain as the first component of a broader appraisal undertaken by the ‘Spatial Modelling of Bioenergy in Great Britain to 2050’ project. Combining data on seven primary constraints in a GIS reduced the available area to just over 9 M ha (40% of GB ). Adding other restrictions based on land cover naturalness scores to represent landscape considerations resulted in a final area of 8.5 M ha (37% of GB ). This distribution was compared with the locations of Miscanthus and SRC willow established under the English Energy Crop Scheme during 2001–2011 and it was found that 83% of the planting fell within the defined available land. Such a correspondence provides confidence that the factors considered in the analysis were broadly consistent with previous planting decisions.

Public attitudes were assessed towards two dedicated biomass crops - Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC), particularly regarding their visual impacts in the landscape. Results are based on responses to photographic and computer-generated images as the crops are still relatively scarce in the landscape. A questionnaire survey indicated little public concern about potential landscape aesthetics but more concern about attendant built infrastructure. Focus group meetings and interviews indicated support for biomass end uses that bring direct benefits to local communities. Questions arise as to how well the imagery used was able to portray the true nature of these tall, dense, perennial plants but based on the responses obtained and given the caveat that there was limited personal experience of the crops, it appears unlikely that wide-scale planting of biomass crops will give rise to substantial public concern in relation to their visual impact in the landscape.

The content of this report is a deliverable to the FP 7 project RUFUS (Rural future Networks) concerning the case studies made within the project. As a deliverable in a EU framework project it reports extensively on the methods and empirical data collected in the project’s case studies. The work has as an overarching motive to translate research findings into implications that are relevant for policy makers in the EU. The conclusions from the case studies are therefore of two types – the findings made and the implications they might give for policy making within the field of rural development.

BOND A. J., DOCKERTY T., LOVETT A., RICHE A. B., HAUGHTON A. J., BOHAN D. A., SAGE R. B., SHIELD I. F., FINCH J. W., TURNER M. M. and KARP A. Learning how to deal with values, frames and governance in Sustainability Appraisal, Regional Studies. The effectiveness of Sustainability Appraisal is highly contested because of the value-based nature of the assumed goal ( sustainable development), because effectiveness itself can be determined through different theoretical framings, and because good governance does not guarantee sustainable outcomes. Drawing on learning derived from the literature and a case study examining biomass crop planting on a regional scale in England, an approach for managing the Sustainability Appraisal development and application process is proposed. This incorporates analytic-deliberative techniques as the basis for more pluralism, combined with constraints mapping. Such an approach, it is suggested, can better accommodate multiple framings.

Concern about climate change and energy security is stimulating land-use change, which in turn precipitates social, economic and environmental responses. It is predicted that within 20 years in the UK, bioenergy crops could occupy significant areas of rural land. Among these, dedicated biomass crops, such as Miscanthus (Miscanthus spp.) grass and short rotation willow (Salix spp.) coppice, differ significantly from arable crops in their growth characteristics and management. It is important that the potential impacts of these differences are assessed before large-scale, long-term planting occurs.We used a Sustainability Appraisal Framework (SAF) approach to landscape planning in the UK to identify stakeholder aspirations (objectives) and associated criteria (indicators) for the planting of dedicated biomass crops.The use of environmental and physical constraints mapping allowed the SAF to focus only on environmentally-acceptable locations, thereby avoiding unsustainable trade-offs. The mapping identified 3.1 million ha of land in England as suitable for planting, suggesting the UK government target of 1.1 million ha by 2020 is feasible.Evaluation of the SAF identified that while biodiversity was of concern to stakeholders, some current indicators of biodiversity are not appropriate. Butterfly abundance proved the most appropriate indicator, and it was found that total abundance was greater in field margins of both willow and Miscanthus biomass crops than in arable field margins.Synthesis and applications. The potential conflicts of assuring food security, water availability, energy security and biodiversity conservation are recognized as a key challenge by governments worldwide. Methods with which decision-makers can compare the performance of different land-use scenarios against sustainability objectives will be crucial for achieving optimized and sustainable use of land-based resources to meet all four challenges. Using biomass crops planting as an example, this work illustrates the potential of a Sustainability Appraisal Framework, subject to identification and agreement of appropriate indicators, in securing a holistic understanding of the wide-ranging implications of large-scale, long-term changes to rural land-use in the wider context of sustainable land-use planning per se.

Angela Karp, Alison J. Haughton, David A. Bohan, Andrew A. Lovett, Alan J. Bond , Trudie Dockerty, Gilla Sünnenberg, Jon W. Finch, Rufus B. Sage, Katy J. Appleton, Andrew B. Riche, Mark D. Mallott, Victoria E. Mallott, Mark D. Cunningham, Suzanne J. Clark and Martin M. Turner Centre for Bioenergy and Climate Change and 1b Centre for Mathematical and Computational Biology, Rothamsted Research, West Common Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, UK; School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK; Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 8BB, UK; Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, SP5 1EF, UK; Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Laver Building, New North Road, Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QE, UK

The Water4All project funded by the EU InterregIIIB programme aimed to demonstrate groundwater protection in the context of spatial planning and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. Through a series of workshops, the four partner countries (Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK) developed a handbook containing an approach for risk-based land and water management to reduce diffuse pollution of groundwater from agricultural sources. Best practice guidelines were catalogued as a matrix of compensated and non-compensated ‘soft’ to ‘hard’ measures and were supported by illustrative case studies. The Water4All project also showed that spatially targeted measures can have wider benefits as part of a ‘whole landscape’ approach to planning and management. As an example, this paper explores a set of theoretical land-use scenarios, developed in consultation with stakeholders, which could potentially decrease nitrate concentrations in the regionally important Lincolnshire Limestone aquifer in eastern England. The results of a combined export coefficient and numerical groundwater modelling approach showed that a decrease in groundwater nitrate concentrations can be achieved over several decades with the implementation of a groundwater protection zone in which there is a significant element of land conversion from arable to woodland and grass. Hence, a long-term commitment to land management is required if the alternative and expensive end-of-pipe water treatment is to be avoided.

The future evolution of our agricultural landscapes and Countryside is the subject of considerable debate and policy discussion, alongside which is an increasing emphasis on the inclusion of public consultation and participation within planning and decision making systems. However, communicating different proposed policy options in a manner that facilitates informed decisions from stakeholders can be far from straightforward. This is particularly true with more abstract and uncertain issues such as potential impacts of climate change.Scenarios depicting the possible Outcomes of policy options provide a useful tool to evaluate the potential consequences of choices. This paper documents an approach to constructing scenarios that can incorporate potential climate change impacts. and reflect the uncertainty in climate change projections due to different environmental policies. It describes the construction of scenarios using the Humberhead Levels in the UK as a case study and portrays the scenarios using two forms of visualisation-digital photo-montage and a real-time landscape model. The method is equally applicable to other study areas across Europe where suitable data are available. Preliminary reactions from an audience to scenario images are discussed, as well as the technical and practical challenges Of using visualisation techniques to support decision making. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Climate change is an issue that will increasingly require policy consideration, but for which knowledge and information at the local or landscape scale is either lacking or largely inaccessible. This paper explores the possibility of reinterpreting climate impacts information and presenting it through GIS-based visualisations in a manner that might assist decision-making at the local level. A GIS database was constructed for an agricultural landscape in Norfolk. Future land-use changes under climate change scenario for the 2020s, provided by a land use allocation model at 1 km grid-square resolution, were downscaled to the field-level database using a series of decision rules. The predicted land use changes were then visualised using photorealistic image rendering software. As a technical exercise this work illustrates the extent of recent advances in GIS-based visualisation, but it is also recognised that there needs to be further work on a range of topics (including impact assessment methodologies, the representation of uncertainty and design guidelines) if such images are to be widely used as a information provision and decision support tool in relation to climate change.

The use of computer-based visualisations to depict landscape futures is increasingly common in environmental decision-making, particularly where information must be communicated to a wide and non-expert audience. Continuing technological development makes it possible to use real-world data as a base for such visualisations, with modifications made to the landscape data as appropriate depending on the scenario to be illustrated. The effects of factors such as the level of realism in the images produced and the capability for viewer interaction with the scene are beginning to be addressed by researchers, but relatively little attention has been given to the representation of uncertainty. The complexity of environmental systems means that uncertainty always exists to some degree when illustrating possible or proposed future states for any landscape, and it is essential that this be communicated to stakeholders, decision-makers and other audiences. Cartographic techniques exist and have been used to illustrate error and other quality issues relating to spatial data, but there has been no large-scale application to landscape visualisation. Options for communicating levels of uncertainty are being explored using a study area in Norfolk, in the eastern part of the UK. This work first considers sources of uncertainty; it then moves on to examine various illustration methods in terms of technical feasibility and data needs as well as audience reaction and perception. In helping visualisation producers to illustrate uncertainty in the clearest and most accessible way, the results of the study have the potential to enhance environmental decision-making processes.

Climate‐space models were constructed for 241 plant species from a sample of 86 nature reserve communities in Great Britain. Convex Hull climate envelopes were used to compile Mutual Climatic Range diagrams for selected species at each site. Present‐day and potential future climatic values over the next 100 years were compared against the climatic ranges of the species. A new Combined Envelope (a quadratic logistic regression probability surface constrained by a Convex Hull envelope) was used in a Climate Change Trend Analysis to determine future climatic suitability for species at each site (defined as a change in probability of species’ presence). Results indicate that the warming climate could favour a large proportion of plants on Scottish reserves (excepting montane species) and be less favourable for many plants on reserves in the south of England. The situation appears to be one of ‘no change’ for the majority of species on Welsh reserves and those further north in England.