156 - West Penwith : Natural Capital and Key Ecosystem Services

Introduction

The West Penwith NCA provides a wide range of benefits to society. Each is derived from the attributes and processes (both natural and cultural features) within the area. These benefits are known collectively as ‘ecosystem services’. The predominant services are summarised below. Further information on ecosystem services provided in the West Penwith NCA is contained in the ‘Analysis’ section of this website.

What is Natural Capital?

Natural capital means “the elements of nature that directly or indirectly produce value to people, including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions” (Natural Capital Committee, 2017).

It is helpful to consider natural capital in the form of a logic chain that represents the links between ecosystem assets, services, benefits and value to people. The figure below displays that logic chain. The quantity and quality of ecosystem assets (woodland, bogs, etc) support different types of ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration or water filtration. These ecosystem services then provide different benefits to society, providing value for people. The figure also shows how management interventions, as well as pressures and drivers of change, influence this chain. Other capital inputs are also often needed for people to obtain the benefits from ecosystem services (a simple example is the processing of trees to produce wood products).

As an example, an area of woodland (ecosystem asset) may reduce air pollution created by traffic on a nearby road. This woodland is therefore improving air quality (ecosystem service) in the local area which results in cleaner air and improved health in the adjacent residential street (benefit). This cleaner air has a value because we know it impacts the health and wellbeing of communities.

Sometimes for ease of understanding, economic framing is used to give these benefits a monetary value. The figure below shows how natural capital assets support the provision of ecosystem services, benefits and value. The roots of the tree show how aspects of asset quality are critical to the provision of ecosystem services. The roots also show that geodiversity underpins the ecosystem assets and therefore the ecosystem services and benefits they can provide. It is important to remember that this diagram, and natural capital frameworks more generally, are a simplification of how nature works in practice.

Natural Capital within this NCA

In 2018, Natural England published ‘Natural Capital Indicators: for defining and measuring change in natural capital’ (Lusardi et al., 2018). This report identified key properties of the natural environment vital for the long-term sustainability of benefits, which can act as indicators of change.

These indicators are designed to inform our understanding of the state of our natural assets. The indicators highlight the importance of our natural assets for delivering which ecosystem service and the benefits they provide for society. The indicators and datasets identified in Natural England’s Natural Capital Indicators Project provide the foundation for the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles.

Natural England’s Natural Capital Atlas Profiles provide an “off the shelf” natural capital evidence base for each county or city region. They have a wide variety of uses with more information in the How to Start Using Your Natural Capital Atlas.

The Natural Capital indicators are presented on the map below by broad asset theme, displaying the natural capital within the NCA.

It is noted that not all indicators listed within the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles are included within the map as data is not yet available to measure them. Refer to the “Indicator Gaps and Limitations” of the Natural Capital Atlas Profiles for further information.

Natural Capital Atlas Profiles

The following Natural Capital Atlas Profiles cover counties within this NCA:
 

• 6: Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

Provisioning services (food, fibre and water supply)

Food provision: Extensive high-quality beef from the upland and moorland area, and production of early vegetables and flowers, mainly distributed nationally, in the south of the area, relatively small dairy herds and farms exist throughout the area. Fishing from the surrounding waters and the Bay of Biscay is landed within the NCA at Newlyn and in smaller communities for local and national suppliers.

Water availability: While the area has high rainfall, a combination of the hard granite and the short streams and rivers means that much flows straight to the sea. Some water is abstracted and this is stored in Drift Reservoir for public water supply and agriculture. Water is a scarce resource in the area and often there is pressure on supply resulting in the need to import water. For information regarding the current state of water availability within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Abstraction Licensing Strategy).

Regulating services (water purification, air quality maintenance and climate regulation)

Climate regulation: The peaty nature of many of the area’s topsoils means that they have an important role to play in carbon storage. Preventing disturbance and drainage of these soils will be key to retaining and protecting this carbon store.

Regulating soil erosion: All the soil types within the NCA are susceptible to erosion both from water, wind and inappropriate agricultural techniques. Part of the NCA falls within the West Cornwall Priority Catchment which has identified the problem of soil erosion caused by surface run-off.

Regulating water quality:For information regarding the current state of water quality within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Draft river basin management plan maps).

Regulating coastal flooding and erosion: The hard geology in the area leads to a coastline that is resilient to coastal erosion. However, sea level rise will increase flooding risks in small coves, such as Lamorna. For information regarding current shoreline management within this NCA, refer to the Environment Agency (Shoreline management plans).

Cultural services (inspiration, education and wellbeing)

Sense of place/inspiration: The area has a strong sense of place with high cliffs, intimate coves with sandy beaches, deep zawns and rolling moorland, complemented by the irregular and ancient field patterns and variety of intermixed land uses. The sense of place is enhanced owing to the ever- present influence of the Atlantic Ocean. This rugged environment is a complex and contrasting landscape of natural and cultural assets: stormy, wild winter weather complemented by the squat granite cottages, stark industrial mining structures, intimate villages and hamlets, brooding, boulder-strewn moors and small, enclosed fields. The landscape has been and continues to be the inspiration for many artists, writers, poets and photographers.

Sense of history: The area has a rich cultural heritage stretching back at least 6,000 years, from prehistoric tombs, cairns and standing stones to the prominent beam engines of the recent tin-mining past. It has one of the richest archaeological records in Western Europe and a common cultural heritage with the ‘Celtic’ Atlantic seaboard from Iberia to the Western Isles and western Scotland. This importance is increased further by the ability to read the prehistoric features as a coherent landscape.

Tranquillity: The remoteness and isolation of the area result in a high level of tranquillity enhanced by a lack of main roads and infrastructure, little development and light pollution, a rugged coastline and dominant sea views. Levels of intrusion around the villages have increased with some development both for housing and in support of the tourist industry over the last 50 years.

Recreation: The area benefits from a dense network of rights of way, many based on historic track ways and supply routes, and open access land, and most notably the South West Coast Path National Trail. The area’s beaches also provide many recreation opportunities including sea kayaking, diving and surfing. The area is a popular visitor destination with the ‘art villages’ of Mousehole and Lamorna and the active fishing port of Newlyn an important draw.

Biodiversity: The area includes one Special Protection Area, ten Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) covering 800 ha and over 3,000 ha of Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitats made up of lowland heathland (2,000 ha), maritime cliffs and slopes (1,000 ha) and a wide selection of smaller habitats. These areas are all connected by a dense network of sunken lanes and Cornish hedgerows that provide commuting routes for bats, breeding and nesting sites for birds and important nectar sources for insects. In recent years choughs have returned, and successfully breed in the areas around St Just.

Geodiversity: The geological processes that underpin the area have generated much of the area’s industrial and now cultural heritage. This is acknowledged in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, and the identification of the St Just Mining District. Despite being almost entirely underlain by granite, a diversity of soils has developed through the interplay of climate, topography, vegetation and human influence, which in turn support the characteristic habitats and land uses across the peninsula.