Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health

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Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Natural England, Health and
 Biodiversity

 Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment &
 Human Health

www.naturalengland.org.uk
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Who are Natural England?

    Natural England is here to conserve and enhance the natural environment
    for its intrinsic value, the wellbeing and enjoyment of people and the
    economic prosperity that it brings.

    We will achieve this by:
•   promoting nature conservation and protecting biodiversity;
•   conserving and enhancing the landscape;
•   securing the provision and improvement of facilities for the study,
    understanding and enjoyment of the natural environment;
•   promoting access to the countryside, open spaces and encouraging open
    air recreation; and
•   contributing in other ways to social and economic wellbeing through
    management of the natural environment.
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Natural England’s health and wellbeing policy
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
The natural environment can help with the major
health problems facing society

Indirect benefits              Direct benefits

Reducing health inequalities   Moderating impact from extreme
                               weather
Improving mental health        Shelter from UV, noise, wind
Improving physical activity    Carbon sequestration
Reducing obesity               Improved water and air quality
Enhancing social cohesion      Food
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Natural England , biodiversity, health?
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
What is Walking for Health?

•   WfH is the largest programme in the UK
    promoting physical activity to sedentary
    people in urban and rural areas.

•   Launched in 2000, the successful WfH
    programme is already helping 32,000
    people each week to join led health
    walks in their local natural environment.

•   A new partnership between Natural
    England and the Department of Health
    will enable 130,000 people to walk
    regularly to benefit their health.
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Walking for Health’s successes

•   537 walking schemes.

•   6,500 volunteer walk leaders trained each year.

•   Over 2,500 walks per week.

•   30,000 per week walking.

•   Individual walker participation averages 3 times per week.
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Walking for Health - a partnership
Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
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Natural England, Health and Biodiversity - Dave Stone, Principal Specialist Environment & Human Health
Drug Rehabilitation with Phoenix Futures

•   Natural England have been working
    with Phoenix Futures, since 2003.
•   Conservation therapy component to the
    Phoenix Futures residential drug
    rehabilitation programme.
•   This takes place as supervised weekly
    practical activity on National Nature
    Reserves.
•   Clients who participate in conservation
    therapy component are:
     – 45% more likely to complete the full
        rehab programme;
     – 23% less likely to lapse back in to
        drug use 12 months after rehab
Natural Extension of GP Practices. Natural England / NHS
Alliance
•   Scheme run by BTCV with commercial
    and government support
•   Conservation work specifically to improve
    health some through referrals from NHS
•   Over 100 schemes benefiting 10,000
    people
•   Over 60% (72% if referred by NHS) of
    participants were new to volunteering
    and to environmental volunteering.
The NHS Forest
•   This is an initiative between Natural
    England, Forestry Commission,
    Woodland Trust, NHS
    Sustainability Unit and the charity
    Knowledge into action.

•   Aim to plant 1.3 million trees (one
    for each NHS employee) in and
    around hospitals, health centres
    and local communities

•   Initial £50k to set up structure.
    Ongoing funding from acute trusts
    and patients
Green Infrastructure
A key concept: Multifunctionality

Combining different functions on the same
piece of land
Something to aspire to: the ANGSt* standards

•That no one should live more
than 300m from at least 2ha of natural
greenspace.

•Provision of at least 1ha of
Local Nature Reserve per 1,000 population.

•At least one accessible 20ha site within 2km
from home;

•One accessible 100ha site within 5km;

•One accessible 500ha site within 10km

*Accessible Natural Greenspace
Incidence rate ratios for all-cause mortality in groups of exposure to
      green space, relative to group 1 (least exposure to green space)
     Currently over 1300 premature deaths in poorer areas saved from
                             existing green space
Mitchell R Popham F; Effect of exposure to natural environment on health inequalities: an observational population study The
Lancet, Volume 372, Issue 9650, Pages 1655 - 1660, 8 November 2008
The Natural
                                        Health Service

               Increasing high                                                 Connecting
                quality Green                                                 people to the
                    Space                                                     Green Space

                                                               NICE Guidance
   Planning                                                   Change4life

    NHS Forest                                           WHI                  Blue Gym               Green Gym
                                Coastal             To create 10,000       activities connected       all conservation
     Twinning
                                Access              walks per week             with Marine              volunteering

                                     MRC / Natural England Research Network
The Whole of the Natural Health service will be underpinned by research being led by the Peninsula Medical School that will
answer the main questions. 1) How can people get connected to their Natural Environment. 2) What are the direct health
benefits of green space? 3) What physiological mechanisms cause the health benefits 4) What changes in health are
generated by a change in environment (Intervention studies)
Characteristics of the Natural Health Service

• Encouraging good quality public green space where
  people live, work and play.
• Supporting people to make the best use of this public
  green space.
• Promoting more research into the health benefits of
  green space.
• Partnering with health organisations to use green space
  in disease management where there is good supporting
  evidence.
Environmental Stewardship

•   Environmental Stewardship is an agri-environment scheme that
    provides funding to farmers and other land managers in England
    who deliver effective environmental management on their land.
•   The primary objectives of Environmental Stewardship are to:
     • conserve wildlife (biodiversity)
     • maintain and enhance landscape quality and character
     • protect the historic environment and natural resources
     • promote public access and understanding of the countryside
     • protect natural resources.
Countdown 2010 Biodiversity Action Fund
2008 - 2011

•   Working to halt the loss of biological diversity
•   This £5.5 million fund was launched on 22 May 2008 to help achieve the UK government’s
    commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010, through supporting the recovery of priority
    species and habitats in England.
•   This commitment to halt biodiversity loss was made by European leaders at the 2001 EU Summit
    in Gothenburg and the Countdown 2010 initiative seeks to raise awareness of this target.
•   a. how the proposal benefits BAP priority species and/or habitats in England;
•   b. how the proposal benefits the best sites for wildlife in England (including local wildlife sites);
•   c. the extent to which the specified gains for BAP priority species and habitats achieved by the
    project also support enhancements at a landscape-scale (for example through reducing the
    effects of fragmentation);
•   d. how the project is developing the evidence base for BAP priority species and habitats, for
    example through surveying and monitoring, trialling of habitat management techniques;
•   e. effective partnership working, for example by engaging with regional or local biodiversity
    partnerships, schools and local businesses, in order to deliver particular outcomes for BAP priority
    habitats and species;
•   f. that the benefits of the project are sustained after the funding period ends, i.e. that there is a
    lasting legacy;
Countdown 2010: Habitat restoration and
expansion heathland in the Charnwood forest

                             •   Run by the Leicestershire and
                                 Rutland Wildlife Trust this project
                                 works on lowland heathland at
                                 Charnwood Lodge National Nature
                                 Reserve and Ulverscroft nature
                                 reserve. Over a two year period
                                 project staff, supported by over 350
                                 volunteers, carried out 14 hectares
                                 of bracken control, 9 hectares of
                                 scrub clearance and 4.75 hectares
                                 of bramble and gorse control to
                                 encourage the spread of heathland
                                 flora and fauna.
© Leicestershire & Rutland
Wildlife Trust
Access to nature

•   Access to Nature is a £25 million grant scheme to encourage people
    from all backgrounds to understand, access and enjoy our natural
    environment.
•   Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Sowe Valley Project The River Sowe
    runs through the City of Coventry meandering through a diverse
    range of communities, each unique in its make up. This 3 year
    project will bring to life the river and its wonders to local people,
    many of whom may have failed to even notice its presence within
    their community. Engaging local people to undertake practical
    conservation activities along the river corridor each aimed at
    managing and improving biodiversity, and by training and educating
    people with a real and thorough understanding of their natural
    environment, its importance and the benefits it brings aims to leave
    a legacy well beyond the 3 year duration of the project.
Opportunities for Volunteering

•   In the 2004 ‘Make a Difference Day’ Survey 47% of respondents
    said that volunteering had improved their health and physical fitness,
    with 32% identifying weight lose as a benefit. 22% of 18-24 year
    olds surveyed said that volunteering helped them to consume less
    alcohol. Also 48% of respondents who had volunteered for more
    than two years said that volunteering had reduce their feelings of
    depression (CSV, 2004).
Barton, H. and Grant, M (2006) A health map for the local human habitat. Perspectives
in Public Health, Vol. 126, No. 6, 252-253 (2006)
A biodiverse natural environment for human health

Fuller et al (2007) – psychological well-
    being (e.g reflection, distinct identity)
    vs biodiversity value (e.g.sp richness,
    heterogeneity). P
Evaluation / Endorsement from NICE

Single Item Metric – fully validated has undergone: Cognitive Testing: Test-Retest
Reliability: Concurrent Validity
Data Crown
Copyright
Ordnance
Survey.
Used under
license.
Health Impacts of Climate Change

                                   WHO, 2007
Heatwave PLAN FOR ENGLAND
PROTECTING HEALTH AND REDUCING HARM FROM
EXTREME HEAT AND HEATWAVES

                                           DH 2009
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