Waters of LIFE, in partnership with Natural Course LIFE Integrated Project, the Wild Atlantic Nature Integrated Project and LIFE on Machair hosted a seminar exploring the topics of natural capital and environmental funding on 29th and 30th of March at Croom Community Enterprise Centre.

The event was opened by the Waters of LIFE Project Manager, Anne Goggin, who welcomed the participants to the seminar. The day and half that followed contained very interesting presentations on the seminar topics. It was great to hear about the experiences of the various projects and valuable lessons have been learned.

Over 30 people from various organisations including LAWPRO, Lough Carra LIFE Project, Mulkear EIP, Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Environmental Protection Agency, Maigue Rivers Trust, Corrib Beo Catchment Partnership, Ballyhoura Development, An Fóram Uisce, Mayo County Council, Bord na Móna, University of Limerick, Teagasc, Inishowen Uplands EIP and Natural Capital Ireland attended over the two days. Thank you to everyone who was there, we hope you got as much out of the event as we did.

Thanks to all our presenters, both on the day and those who pre-recorded presentations for the seminar. Thanks also to those who kindly made themselves available for the online Q& A sessions:

Chris West – West Cumbria Rivers Trust

Dan Turner – The Rivers Trust

Craig Higson – Programme Manager for Natural Course (Environment Agency)

Mark Turner – Natural Course Collaborative Team (Greater Manchester Combined Authority)

Esther Taylor – United Utilities

Rose Sumner – Natural Course Collaborative Team (Environment Agency)

Gina Tarantonio – Natural Course Project Officer (Environment Agency)

A special thanks to the Waters of LIFE Project Administrator, Bronwyn Hayes for taking care of the logistics for the seminar, which ran seamlessly.

Presentations and Videos from the seminar are available by selecting the links below:

Day 1 – 29th March 2023

Introduction to the Natural Course Integrated Project – Sarah Bazley (Natural Course)

Natural Capital – High level overview of our Natural Capital journey in Greater Manchester – Krista Patrick (Greater Manchester Combined Authority)

Irelands Natural Capital Journey – Dr. Catherine Farrell (LIFE on Machair)

Building Capacity – Overview – Sarah Bazley (Natural Course)

Ecological Network Tool – Tom Smart (Natural England)

How building capacity in the Rivers Trust helped to develop the evidence base for the Wyre NFM project – Dan Turner (The Rivers Trust)

Natural Flood Management in the Wyre Catchment – Dan Turner (The Rivers Trust), Thomas Myerscough (Wyre Rivers Trust)

Day 2 – 30th March 2023

Stakeholder Engagement – Overview – Sarah Bazley (Natural Course)

Stakeholder engagement – Engaging with landowners to manage land differently on the Tatton Estate / Rostherne Mere – Petula Neilson (Natural England)

Natural Course diffuse pollution – Petula Neilson, Dr. Paul Thomas (Natural England)

Working with stakeholders on the River Irt – Chris West (West Cumbria Rivers Trust)

Complementary Funding – Overview – Sarah Bazley (Natural Course)

Mobilising Water Industry Investment – Esther Taylor (United Utilities)

Wild Atlantic Nature LIFE IP Experience and process of leveraging complementary funding – Dr Gary Goggins (Wild Atlantic Nature)