30 January 2025.
Dr. Lewis White.
Planning for a healthy seascape.
Welcome to our second Sussex Bay blog. At the end of my first six months at Sussex Bay, I wanted to reflect on the journey so far and explore the potential we have. As the research and evidence lead for Sussex Bay, producing our blueprint for seascape recovery, I am driven by making sure that the decisions and actions we take are led by the best science, and that we put nature at the centre of it all. My background is in academia where I was awarded a PhD in Mechanistic Biology, utilising techniques from outside of ecology to answer ecological questions about climate change and species interactions with their environment. I eventually took a jump to Defra, where I was the science lead for the Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme (more about natural capital later). Here I was supporting the inclusion of ecological, social and economic evidence bases to support and protect our marine environment. These two areas of my career taught me a lot about research and how it can be used to benefit the environment and local communities, something that resonates with me and the mission of Sussex Bay.
Why a blueprint?
Nature restoration is needed at scale to combat the combined effects of the climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, and a suite of other environmental issues affecting us all today. Done in a coordinated way that understands the important links between our ecosystems and the services they provide to society and the economy, Sussex Bay can benefit together in support of nature recovery. Importantly, restoration needs to be planned out correctly, taking into account a wide evidence base.
And to do this we are developing our first blueprint for seascape recovery. A blueprint helps to determine how different components fit together. In construction, it tells you which materials to use for walls or flooring depending on the needs of the occupants, where to put the windows to maximise natural light, and how it fits in its desired location. In much the same way, this blueprint for seascape level research and recovery is fitting different components together and planning for the use of space. Our materials are research from different fields such as natural sciences, social sciences and economics, and we need to know how they fit together to know how to support our blue ecosystems through restoring, protecting or managing different habitats in their required locations.
Right now we are in the process of pulling all this together, looking at the available evidence, working with collaborators and doing new research to work out what Sussex Bay should look like in the future. Crucially, we want to understand what our environment needs to flourish and how our communities do, and want to, interact with it in a sustainable way to ensure a strong future for people and wildlife.
Taking a natural capital approach.
Natural capital is defined as our stocks and assets which provide value, either directly or indirectly, to the wider environment and the people which rely on it via goods and services. These goods and services are known as ecosystem services. In our seascape, assets include our water, species and habitats, whereas ecosystem services may refer to places for recreation, food for us to eat, space for plants and animals to thrive, or the protection we get from storms. By using natural capital approaches we aim to show the importance of nature in and of itself, and to illustrate how with a fuller understanding we are able to manage and protect it for multiple benefits. Importantly, natural capital approaches can support decision-making, by acknowledging impacts that change may have to users and those who rely on the environment for a variety of reasons, as well as to the wider ecosystem. Using a natural capital approach ties in nicely with the production of our blueprint, helping inform what actions to take where and help us understand the benefits we can create if we do it right!
To construct our blueprint we are looking to pull in evidence from diverse sources and where possible do new projects to support positive change for nature. Here are some examples of where we are building up collaboration to make sure we reach that breadth of information needed.
Spotlight on: University of Sussex collaboration workshop.
On the 21st of January 2025 we convened researchers from different fields to discuss the vision for Sussex Bay. The workshop was organised with the University of Sussex as part of our growing collaboration and was such an insightful day to see all the amazing research going on. As I have said, we need to include evidence which explores the wide benefits we receive from our marine and coastal ecosystems, from understanding artistic inspiration to the health benefits of nature, and carbon stock levels and bioremediation potential. This day allowed us to talk about the breadth of research we can use to support a thriving blue ecosystem. Alongside myself talking about the blueprint and the needs of Sussex Bay, we had collaborators discuss their research around kelp monitoring as well as on another of our projects, blue governance (more on that at a later date). In addition to talks we physically mapped out where the different research in Sussex is currently happening, giving us that wider sense of scale. Of course, this is just the beginning and I hope that the conversations and connections we made lead to more great projects to support the future of Sussex Bay.
Spotlight on: Design to Deliver - Satellite Applications Catapult.
Sussex Bay was selected as one of only three location partners for the Design to Deliver programme. By providing funding and design expertise for SMEs tackling big challenges, Design to Deliver aims to support the development of better products and services. As a location partner, our role is to enhance that place-based specific collaboration. The SMEs which we have been paired with for this programme are already working with some of our amazing network to test their tech and add value locally. From working with the Knepp Estate and The Rivers Trust to better connect people to nature through AI, to showing how satellite tech can support the development of new coastal flood risk management plans. This project only launched at the start of the year but already great connections are being made and the potential that bringing in SMEs working on innovative tech is being realised. This project runs till the end of March where we will get a better idea of the impact but so far its been exciting seeing the projects as they develop. To celebrate the SMEs and their work in Sussex Bay we will be hosting a showcase at the end of March.
In my next blog post I will focus in on some of the interesting research we are carrying out, from sharing the results for our Sussex Bay Ocean Literacy Survey and showcasing the work we are doing on Blue Governance.
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About Lewis.
Dr. Lewis White is research and evidence lead for Sussex Bay. With a background in academia, Lewis gained PhD in Biology from the University of York, utilising knowledge of ecological systems and the expertise from complimentary sciences to help improve the environment for the benefit of all. Lewis is a proud Dog Dad and spends time between London and Sussex Bay.
