Character and Quality of England’s Landscapes

What is this activity?

The Character and Quality of England’s Landscapes (CQuEL) project aims to assess change in the character and quality of England’s landscapes.
(See story on LWEC website)


What will the project do?

CQuEL seeks to provide ‘place-based’ evidence about the character and function of landscapes and the provision and quality of selected ecosystem services delivered by England’s natural environment, where the natural environment is understood through the concept of landscape.

The project seeks to develop a better understanding of the ways in which different landscapes are changing and what this means for the ecosystem services these places provide.

CQuEL project has 4 objectives:

  1. To provide Natural England with an Integrated Monitoring tool which will allow for assessment of the change in the character of landscapes and quality of selected ecosystem services which arise in these places.
  2. To provide ‘place-based’ evidence, combined with a compelling narrative, about the character and function of landscapes and the provision and quality of selected ecosystem services delivered by England’s natural environment.
  3. To provide local communities with evidence about the performance of the natural environment for their locality.
  4. To assess the contribution land managers are making to the delivery and quality of selected ecosystem services for their locality through land management under Environmental Stewardship.

In CQuEL ‘place’ provides a means of integrating different perspectives and concerns, and a means by which the cultural and ecological aspects of landscape and ecosystem services can be brought together in a coherent and unified way.

The basis for this paradigm is that places deliver ecosystem goods and services.  Natural England understands places through landscape. Natural England understands landscapes through the National Character Area geography. Natural England can help influence the delivery of the benefits that ecosystem goods and services provide via the Environmental Stewardship agri-environment scheme.

Expected outcomes are:

  1. An up-to-date understanding of the quality of the natural environment and an enhanced understanding of the complexities of the English landscape.
  2. A better informed communities with access to information on the quality of their local environmnent.

Who will benefit?

Policy and implementation
Natural England and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will use the evidence generated to help develop policies and interventions, specifically to the Environmental Stewardship agri-environment scheme that provides funding to farmers and other land managers in England to deliver effective environmental land management.

Society
The project will result in a better understanding on the links between specific places and the benefits that people derive from these places, for example delivering specific goods and services in specific places.



PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and end dates: 01/09/2009 to 12/2012 (and beyond)

Website: http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/landscape/cquel.aspx

LWEC partners involved:

Natural England
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs