Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group OnePlanet

Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group

Case Study

Land

Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG South West)

FWAG SW provide independent advice and delivering real change on farmland by working with land managers and landowners across the region. Combining an understanding of farming systems, land management and farm businesses with habitat creation, habitat management and species conservation, FWAG SW is able to effect positive environmental change in the wider landscape.

They also focus on helping farm businesses manage their natural capital assets like soil, water and carbon. FWAG SW specialises in making government policy, environmental incentives, regulations and emerging environmental markets accessible for farmers and land managers at a practical delivery level.

FWAG have piloted the use of OnePlanet as part of the Defra ‘Local Delivery ELM (Environmental Land Management) Test & Trial (T&T)’ they are leading, in Somerset. From Autumn 2024, they expect to begin phase 4 of the T&T focusing on collaboration, and advice and support models, involving wider and more integrated use of the OnePlanet system as a variety of stakeholders are brought onboard.

Challenges

Supporting and enabling the achievement of county shared objectives spanning relevant local strategies, eg:

1. Somerset County Council’s Climate Strategy

2. Somerset’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS)

3. Protected Landscaped Targets and Outcomes framework

Working with groups of farmers to facilitate various collaborative projects.

Streamlining partnership working towards shared goals, with various partner organisations, inc. Somerset Wildlife Trust, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, RSPB, Wessex Water, Somerset Rivers Authority, Natural England, Environment Agency, Exmoor National Park Authority, Mendip, Quantocks and Blackdown National Landscapes, and the council.

Collaborative work with communities, using the Integrated Local Delivery model to inspire and enable them to protect their local environments and build local resilience.

OnePlanet Solution

Strategy mapping – Systems mapping the various projects and farmer collaborations being facilitated by FWAG as Action Plans. This is done with support from OnePlanet, to convert PDFs into the OnePlanet common language of ‘OAIs’, allowing strategies to communicate and collaborate around ‘Shared Outcomes’.

Ecosystem plan – Strategic organisation of the T&T around core delivery areas and KPIs. With support of a OnePlanet Consultant, FWAG developed an Ecosystem plan containing the core Outcomes and Indicators from each delivery area.

Training – Individual online sessions and webinars were delivered to deliver basic training to project participants and advanced training for workspace managers.

Teams – Coordination of the various ‘digital planning areas’ and spatial designations using ‘Teams’ functionality in OnePlanet.

Notifications – Automatic updates for Workspace Managers when important updates are made by Editors, as well as to remind Editors when they need to provide updates for the areas of delivery they are responsible for.

Benefits and Return on Investment

Simple evidencing – Use of ‘Report Generator’ to evidence the pilot’s delivery around the three core delivery areas for the pilot programme.

Overcoming systemic barriers – Taking a joined-up approach to delivery of the three core areas, by working around a common framework (Ecosystem Plan) for all participants in the T&T area.

Project progression – We are anticipating the project to progress to Phase 4 of the T&T in Autumn 2024, following Defra’s approval and funding.