CEP and partners to study the value of bathing waters in Scotland

CEP and partners commissioned by the Scottish Government to study the value of bathing waters in Scotland

CEP, with partners Economics for the Environment Consultancy (eftec) and experts from The South West Research Company (SWRC), University of St Andrews, University of Surrey and Mercatus Research, has been commissioned by the Scottish Government to study The Value of Bathing Waters and the Influence of Bathing Water Quality in Scotland.

CEP will be leading a multi-disciplinary team in developing a detailed and quantifiable socio-economic understanding of the current and future value of bathing water quality to Scotland and how water quality influences bathers, beach users and the national and local economies.

This study will provide the Scottish Government with key information on existing designated bathing waters and benchmark values to support decision-making relevant to the cost/benefit of driving further improvement to bathing water quality classifications under the revised Bathing Water Directive (BWD).

The socio-economic values explored will consider the wider aspects of Scotland’s reputational value for environmental excellence, and include less tangible values relating to health and wellbeing (e.g. benefit of being near blue spaces). These validated reference values will be used in policy development and decisions when assessing new sites and managing existing protected area designation (including de-designation).

CEP's Dr Peter Phillips is the project manager.

Environmental Psychology conference presentations available

Photo credit: 'Two trees' by Jan Tik on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Environmental Psychology conference presentations available

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross gave a keynote lecture at the British Environmental Psychology conference hosted by the University of Surrey, Sept 21 – 22nd 2016.  The theme of the conference was Healthy and sustainable places: Providing evidence based solutions to real world problems and it was attended by a mixture of researchers, academics and practitioners from a range of disciplines.  The conference shows that the field of environmental psychology in the UK is vibrant, energetic and has much to offer in relation to current real world issues of sustainability and place-making.

A reflection on the conference, presented by Sara Grenni of SUSPLACE, can be found in her blog post here.

A link to all the presentations can be found here.

CEP leading session at Health & Social Benefits of Nature Workshop

HEALTH & SOCIAL BENEFITS OF NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION WORKSHOP

As part of the consortium undertaking a study for the European Commission, led by IEEP,  CEP will participate in a workshop dedicated to understanding the health and social benefits of nature and biodiversity protection.

The two-day workshop will explore the latest scientific evidence and practical real world examples of how nature and biodiversity can help improving public health and social cohesion. The event will bring together the health, social and environmental communities from research, policy and practice. This workshop will  include high-level representatives from the WHO, European Commission, Parliament and Council, country, regional and city level actors as well as think tanks, NGOs and academia. The participants will develop collectively a roadmap to exploit the synergies and interdependence between public health, society and nature.

The workshop is hosted by the Committee of the Regions and will take place in Brussels on 27 and 28 of January 2016. Attendance is by invitation only.

Clare Twigger-Ross representing the CEP project team will be leading the session on the 27th January "Social Benefits: social inclusion, sense of place, engagement and employment". She will be giving a short overview and then chairing a number of case studies.  She is also facilitating a session on the role of civil society in facilitating links between nature, health, wellbeing and social cohesion.