I wrote the article below for our local parish magazine in rural Suffolk, as I felt it would be of interest to many in the parish, a benefice of five churches in five rural villages of different sizes. I was invited to the launch meeting after doing a simple water survey of our local river, the Glem, as part of WaterBlitz on 22 September 2024. This was an international survey of water quality. They supplied a simple kit to test for nitrate and sulphate in the water.
It involves the Suffolk Wildlife Trust, working with DEFRA and with some Government funding, to implement re-wilding projects at landscape level in an area around Sudbury, Suffolk. It’s being called Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country, after two famous local landscape artists. This project takes re-wilding efforts beyond nature reserves only, involving 60 farmers in two established clusters, assessing their carbon footprint, planning what they could do in their own context, and seeking funding from both government and alternative sources.
I found it very encouraging to see that this work is going on and thought MKNHS members might be interested too. We hear so much about the problems, and here is a creative solution at landscape scale.
All the best,
Alison Peace (MKNHS member, now based in Suffolk)
Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country
On 22 October 2024, there was a launch meeting for this ambitious project, working at landscape scale, involving over 60 farmers in the Wool Towns Cluster and the Stour Cluster, and led by Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
DEFRA has provided significant funding for a 2-year development phase for this 20+ year initiative. The aim of the project is to enhance habitats and create connectivity corridors across the landscape for biodiversity and the benefit of wildlife, and for carbon sequestration, essential for reaching climate change mitigation goals.
The project is also supporting farmers to
– reduce carbon emissions from farming
– improve water quality of streams and rivers, and
– increase the resilience of their farming business
Completing individual farm carbon audits will help the farmer or landowner assess the carbon footprint of their enterprise, examining both inputs and outputs, carbon used in production, and carbon sequestered in the soil, hedgerows, or woodland. Methane quantities will also be calculated. This will provide a baseline from which the farmer’s possible choices or changes can be considered.
It is proposed to fund improvements by a mixture of public and private finance, with the suggestion that in the near future there will be a demand for investment in ‘tradeable units of biodiversity’, like carbon credits, which can be proven to benefit the environment, by providing investment in the landscape. DEFRA has rigorous monitoring requirements. Both public and private investment could be involved in plans to sequester carbon.
Other outcomes could include improvements to existing public rights of way and increased attractiveness of the area to tourists, bringing benefits to local towns and villages.
This is the beginning of the journey, and I look forward to keeping readers informed on developments.
There is more information on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust website, https://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/news/landscape-recovery-south-suffolk
Please contact Constable.Country@suffolkwildlifetrust.org if you are interested in becoming involved.
Alison Peace
November 2024