27Apr 2017
CEP awarded the evaluation of Heathlands Reunited project

CEP TO UNDERTAKE THE EVALUATION OF THE HEATHLANDS REUNITED PROJECT

CEP was commissioned by the South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) to undertake the evaluation of the Heathlands Reunited project.

Led by the SDNPA the Heathlands Reunited project brings together 11 organisations who have joined forces to expand and connect the existing 1% of heathland left in the national park. The project will run for 5 years, working with partners on 41 sites to create wildlife corridors forming an area of heathland greater than 1,200 football pitches by the end of the project.  The project is funded by partner contributions and a £1.44 million Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant.

CEP will support SDNPA with the evaluation of the impact of the Heathlands Reunited project on the following intended outcomes:

  • Heritage will be – better managed, in better condition, identified/recorded
  • People will have – developed skills, learnt about heritage, volunteered time
  • For communities, environmental impacts will be reduced; more people and a wider range of people will have engaged with heritage, the local area/community will be a better place to live, work or visit.

The evaluation will run for the full life of the project from May 2017 and until May 2021.

Teresa Bennett is the project manager.

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27Apr 2017
CEP running a workshop on identifying emerging environmental risks

Photo credit: ‘Atomium – Bruxelles, Belgium’ by Giorgio Galeotti on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP running a workshop on a proposed system for identifying emerging environmental risks

As part of our work to develop a methodological framework for the systematic identification of emerging risks to the environment for the European Commission’s DG Environment, CEP together with our consortium partner Milieu Ltd are organising and facilitating a one-day workshop to explore a proposed Framework for Identifying Emerging Environmental Risks. The event will take place in Brussels on Thursday 4th May 2017, and will bring together experts from across the European Commission as well as representatives of other organisations and individuals engaged in managing emerging issues and risks.

The workshop will be a participatory event involving group sessions and the practical testing of elements of the proposed approach. The CEP and Milieu team will facilitate working sessions with experts to discuss and explore topics including: a systematic methodological framework for identifying emerging environmental risks; institutional roles and responsibilities; and options for trialling the approach.

For more information on this event and the project please contact the CEP project manager Owen White (Principal Consultant).

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26Apr 2017
British Council publishes CEP’s case studies evaluating contribution to SDGs

British Council publishes CEP’s case studies evaluating programmes’ contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals

CEP was commissioned by the British Council to undertake a baseline study on the British Council’s contribution in developing and promoting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The study included the review of a selection of programmes across the British Council’s portfolio and the development of three case studies. As well as illustrating impact and lessons learned, these case studies highlight good practice and provide useful guidance for further developing British Council’s programmes.

The case studies are now available on the British Council’s website.

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26Apr 2017
CEP ran workshop on global megatrends and the Western Balkans

Photo credit: ‘Ljubljana’ by Miran Hojnik on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP delivered workshop in Slovenia exploring the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans

CEP led an expert workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 10/11 April 2017, as part of the project Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends undertaken for the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The workshop brought together 21 regional experts and stakeholders in a scoping exercise intended to identify and prioritise the implications of global megatrends (GMTs) for the Western Balkans region related to the water-food-energy nexus. The implications identified were assessed in terms of the likelihood of their occurrence, the magnitude of their effect and the timescale over which they may occur.

The outputs of this workshop will inform a second regional workshop to be held as part of this project that will focus on the risks and opportunities for the Western Balkans region arising from the GMT implications identified and any existing policy gaps and needs.

CEP is leading the work related to global megatrends, adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

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21Apr 2017
CEP part of a team commissioned to scope and develop Urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK

CEP part of a team commissioned by Defra to scope and develop Urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK

CEP is part of a team (led by eftec) commissioned by the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to undertake ‘A study to scope and develop urban Natural Capital Accounts for the UK’. The project is led by eftec and project partners include the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Countryscape and academic experts.

The aim of the project is scoping and developing natural capital accounts for the urban ‘broad habitat’ across the UK, which incorporates a range of individual habitats and ecosystem services. This study will support Defra and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in their ongoing work to develop a full set of natural capital accounts and estimates for the UK, as part of the 2020 Natural Capital Accounting Roadmap.

Dr Peter Phillips is CEP’s project manager.

 

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19Apr 2017
CEP commissioned to evaluate the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills Project

CEP commissioned by Natural ENGLAND to evaluate the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills Project

CEP has been commissioned by Natural England to undertake the evaluation of the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills using National Nature Reserves (NNRs) project funded under the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) Skills for the Future Programme. The evaluation is expected to run until summer 2017.

The aim of the Nurturing Nature Conservation Skills project is to evolve work-based training programmes and develop the skills of people entering the nature conservation sector or wanting to enhance specialist skills. It aims to demonstrate how practice-based learning models can provide the priority heritage skills required to care for England’s most valuable wildlife and geological heritage.

The project has been delivering training through placements across Natural England’s National Nature Reserves. Skills developed include habitat and species identification and recording, ecological surveying, habitat management and landscape restoration.

CEP is carrying out the evaluation of the project to establish whether and how its aims and objectives have been met and to provide evidence of successes. Key elements of the evaluation include:

  • Developing qualitative and quantitative evaluation tools;

  • Coding and analysing the information delivered by these tools;

  • Reporting on the evaluation findings using a methodology that ‘tells the project story’.

Teresa Bennett is the evaluation project manager.

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11Apr 2017
CEP delivering keynote at ESCom conference 2017

CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips will deliver a keynote address on participatory land use planning at the ESCom 2017 conference 

CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips will be delivering a keynote presentation at the ESCom 2017 conference on ‘Participatory land use planning in the Pentland Hills: using ecosystem service values to inform decision-making’. The keynote on Monday 24th April 2017 will be based on CEP’s current work in the Pentland Hills Regional Park which is supporting an established stakeholder group to apply the ecosystem approach to collaborative land use and management. The keynote presentation will be co-delivered with Neville Makan from Scottish Natural Heritage and Katja Schmidt from the University of Potsdam.

For further information contact Dr Peter Phillips (Senior Consultant) p.phillips@cep.co.uk

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10Apr 2017
CEP carried out National Park SEA

Photo credit: ‘The Days Ending’ by john mcsporran on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP carried out Partnership Plan SEA for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority

CEP was commissioned to carry out an environmental assessment and prepare an Environmental Report as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority’s updated National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) 2018-2023. The NPPP is the high level management plan for the Park setting out the strategic direction for all lower level plans and projects. It also requires Ministerial approval.  The SEA Environmental Report including non-technical summary can be viewed here.

The project was undertaken by CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips and Dr Bill Sheate. Bill and Peter are also delivering training in May and June this year on ecosystem services and environmental assessment for the Ecosystems Knowledge Network. Full details are available here.

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4Apr 2017
Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus

CECAN w Strapline (CYMK).jpg

CECAN (the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus, based at the University of Surrey, has published the final report of CEP’s meta-evaluation study of 23 selected evaluation projects we have undertaken relating to Nexus issues – water, environment, food, energy – over the last 10 years.  

The full report  – Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects – is available here.

We evaluated the evaluation approaches and findings from a range of case studies – national and EU policy level down to programme level policy interventions and other initiatives – and sought to address three aims:
1.    To learn the lessons from past policy evaluations; 
2.    To understand the factors that support or inhibit (barriers or enablers to) successful evaluations: and
3.    To explore the value of different types of approaches and methods used for evaluating complexity

An important finding was the extent to which the contexts for evaluations at the EU level and UK levels differ: a very strong policy cycle exists for EU evaluations, which creates a more rigid framework for monitoring and evaluation, compared to the much greater degree of policy flux in the UK, and the resulting need for greater flexibility in the way in which evaluations are undertaken, and hence the greater utility of qualitative data collection and analysis methods.

Consequently the use or influence of evaluations in policy making differs considerably – there is much more instrumental (direct) use of EU evaluations compared to more conceptual or process (indirect) use of UK evaluations.

For further information contact Dr Bill Sheate or Dr Clare Twigger-Ross 

The key findings from the study are summarised in the infographic below:

CEP meta-evaluation Summary Infographic Jan 2017fin.jpg

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