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Wetland Futures Report 2013: The Value of Healthy Wetlands
Healthy wetlands for land management
Jason Beedell, Head of Research, Smiths Gore
How best to engage land managers and
farmers in wetland projects?
The presentation largely focussed on the role land
managers can play in reducing flood risk, but the
principles will apply to other wetland objectives too.
Not all land managers are the same and they have
different objectives. Generally, their main reason for
managing land is to make money and they are not social
entrepreneurs. It is important to think about what they,
as well as you - the service buyer - want from a wetland
agreement.
Service buyers have to justify the expenditure of time,
effort and money and so need to ask:
•
Will the approach achieve its objective? – as well as
how attractive the policy instrument will be for land
managers
•
Will the approach give best value for money or overall
net benefit? – especially compared with perhaps
more certain options such as engineered defences
•
How fairly spread the benefits of the approach are to
service buyers and sellers? – unbiased by knowledge,
skills and status
•
How easy the approach is to administer? – some,
like land purchase, can be complex to set up but
easier to administer afterwards; others, like payment
schemes or more novel approaches, need more time
input but the benefits might be greater. Approaches
seeking to deliver multiple objectives and involve
multiple stakeholders are more challenging.
•
Does the approach fit with other relevant policies
on the balance of private / public land ownership,
national vs. local agendas and balance economic
and environmental objectives
•
It needs to be robust but flexible, and allow changes
to react to new policy requirements
For the land managers, the requirements seem more
straightforward – but they will need convincing to enter
into an agreement and that is not straightforward. They will
be cautious and want to be certain of:
•
That they will be better off as a result of taking up
a payment or incentive – and this includes their
assessment of finances, risk, reputation, effect on
land values
•
The approach has to be easy to understand and
implement – otherwise it’s easier to say no
•
It has got to generally fit with their values and
motivations. Two of the most significant are likely
to be being compatible with commercial farming
practices and that the purpose is valued by society
as a whole. For example, land managers are likely
to strongly prefer approaches that retain their land
ownership
•
They will often want to see and possibly trial an
approach – to make sure theory works in practice
So designing an approach to deliver wetland objectives
with land managers is not simple. And different
approaches will be relevant and effective in different
situations.
It is clear that land managers expect certain things from
a deal and that certain elements of policy design work
better for them – such as retaining long-term control of
the land and having reliable, objective data on the proven
benefits of what is being proposed to them. Some of the
these issues are deal breakers and if a service buyer can
demonstrate that they have considered the deal from a
land manager’s point of view, the land manager is likely to
be more receptive.
Finally focus on some of the factors that land managers
will think about. Smiths Gore has an understanding of
some of them as we advise land managers and often
negotiate on their behalf – although we also act for
service buyers too.
Presentation slide
