Our Nature-based Solutions team are involved in piloting the Woodland Water Code, an emerging voluntary code which is in development by Forest Research.
The Woodland Water Code builds upon the established Woodland Carbon Code and could be integrated within it or operate as a standalone code. Now in phase two of the project ‘validating metrics and methodologies’ the team at Forest Research is working with project sites across the UK to undertake desk-based studies to test their methodology and calculations. During this phase Forest Research are also engaging with the Soil Association to look at validating version one of the Woodland Water Code.
The code focusses on three key quantified water benefits: water quality, flood alleviation and water shading, leading to the generation of Woodland Water Units, which will represent a new type of credit. Our NbS team are testing this on project sites in the Lake District and Peak District National Parks, other projects and stakeholders across the country are also feeding into this.
In the Lake District we have been trialling this on different sites, including testing the water quality calculator on our Revere project in Windermere – Revere is a collaboration between the UK National Parks and global impact firm Palladium that scales nature-based solutions to tackle the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis – This project is looking to improve water quality in the lake through the implementation of nature-based solutions across the catchment. Based on a financial model, developed to support the long-term (30+ years) management and maintenance of interventions, this project is now seeking finance to progress to implementation.
During the second phase of the project, our NbS team undertook market research with off-takers who had varying levels of connection to the catchment. This confirmed that we should be targeted in our approach, focusing on carbon+ credits for riparian woodlands and a smaller number of voluntary water quality credits for wetlands. A code such as the Woodland Water Code could help to further quantify the benefits associated with the nature-based solutions, demonstrating the premium associated with these projects and potentially unlocking additional markets in the future.
At other sites in the National Park, we are also testing the calculators and methodologies developed by Forest Research for flood alleviation and water shading (keeping water temperatures cool); this supports a multi-capital assessment and approach to the long-term management of sites.
During these pilots our NbS team are undertaking desk-based studies to run the methodology proposed by Forest Research through different scenarios and provide feedback. National Parks will not be generating any Woodland Water Units at this stage but will continue to support the work by Forest Research as they develop the code.