SSSIs - Surely Some Sound Investment!

My colleague, Kate Jennings, who's our Site Poilcy Officer - has been at the heart of working to protect our best wildlife sites  ... here she reflects on some significant recent publications.

Last week saw the little-heralded (although by some long-awaited...) publication of two Government reports  - Defra commissioned studies  into the ‘Benefits of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)’ and of ‘Ecosystem services delivered by the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

It’s great to see these reports finally published.  First it’s great because both I and a number of my RSPB colleagues were involved in the studies – we attended workshops, we provided relevant information, we hosted a site visit and, we commented on some of the findings during the development of the reports.

Second it’s great because the findings of both reports reinforce what many of us already know – that money spent on nature is money well spent! 

As I am sure most readers of these pages are aware, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are the best sites for nature in the UK. They not only protect areas of national importance for their wildlife and geology, but also underpin and are essential to the effective management of our internationally important  sites (Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation – collectively known as the Natura 2000 network).

We know that SSSIs are good for wildlife, but the Defra ‘Benefits of SSSIs’ study was commissioned to look at the wider social, economic and environmental benefits of these sites.

The report demonstrates that targeted action and investment in bringing the best sites for nature back into good condition delivers a wide range of benefits which are highly valued by the public.  These include not only biodiversity benefits, but also  leisure and tourism, clean air and water, flood defence and carbon storage. The study demonstrated a high level of willingness amongst the public  to pay for these benefits  - and what’s more it demonstrated that that willingness represents a very sound investment decision! - every £1 spent on maintaining SSSIs delivers benefits to society worth over £8.  This is all the more impressive as one of our criticisms of the study were flaws in the methods used which means that this cost:benefit ratio of 1:8+ is almost certainly a significant underestimate of the true value of the benefits that these sites provide.

The findings of this report are very timely – the Government’s environment white paper ‘Natural Choice ’  sets a target that at least 50% of SSSIs will be in ‘favourable condition’  (i.e. in good nick and able to deliver maximum benefits) by 2020, and yet in the last 12 months before this target was set, the percentage of English SSSIs in favourable condition  actually fell by a whopping 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) from 43.1% to 36.6%.  In recent years there has been a substantial increase in the proportion of unfavourable (i.e. bad nick) SSSIs for which the management required to aid recovery has been identified and  agreed.  However, cut-backs at Natural England mean that there may be a reduction in the effort required to make sure that this management is actually delivered and achieves real change on the ground.  If this report is anything to go by, then cutting effort on, or investment in our SSSIs is a false economy.

These reports compliment the findings of the National Ecosystem Assessment which demonstrated the many reasons why investing in nature repays us many times over and why looking after the environment is not only important for our wellbeing, its also key to the long term  health of our economy.  

So, further proof that in an age of austerity, banking on biodiversity brings benefits that extend far beyond the birds and the bees!

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