Environmental Wellbeing

Environmentalism has traditionally been seen as communities and individuals taking action to protect the world around them. Environmental Wellbeing has a broader definition and recognises that;

Our environment and how we feel about it can have a huge impact on the way we feel overall.
Our environment offers opportunities for improving our physical wellbeing
Environmental Wellbeing includes protecting individuals and communities from environmental hazards
Environmental Wellbeing is about enabling lifestyle choices and business practices that minimize any negative impact of human behaviour on the environment
The impact of the built environment, particularly housing, on wellbeing.

The diverse habitats and landscapes across the two counties represent significant wellbeing assets. Snowdonia National Park the Clwydian Hills and Dee Valley Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. These are pleasant environments and provide opportunities for active leisure enhancing mental and physical wellbeing. The counties include significant bio-diversity and geo-diversity including many sites of local, national and international scientific importance.

Denbighshire has a rich natural heritage and variety of habitats like the windswept coastal sand dunes, majestic heather moorland and wide sweeping rivers. Denbighshire is home to many protected and special species and habitats; some species that can only be found in this area. Protected species and their habitats such as the lesser horseshoe bat, otters, great crested newts, the natterjack toad, sand lizards. Special species include: black grouse and the little tern.

The two counties are also outstanding in the richness of local heritage assets, many of which make a significant contribution to the economic and cultural wellbeing of the area. These include World Heritage Sites at Conwy Castle and Town Walls, and the Llangollen canal and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct that straddles the border between Denbighshire and Wrexham. Public engagement demonstrates the value people place on the natural and historic environment with many reporting a positive sense of wellbeing and identity linked to these features.

A sense of personal responsibility for the environment is important as it will change a person’s behaviour, for example they might throw away less rubbish by recycling more, they might shop locally, travel by public transport, car share or walk more. Evidence from public engagement through our ‘County Conversation’ show that young people in particular recognise the need to protect our environment and invest in renewable energy.

The environment also includes the built environment and housing. Housing in particular has been highlighted in our engagement work and other parts of the assessment as a key factor affecting wellbeing. Concerns have been raised about housing need and homelessness and the availability of affordable housing.

The impacts of climate change are growing, and are expected to worsen significantly, unless further action to tackle current and future risks are taken.

The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 produced by the Committee on Climate Change and published in 2016, found that the global climate is changing, primarily due to greenhouse gas emissions mainly the result of human activity, with milder winters and hotter summers and rising sea levels.[1] Severe weather events are widely accepted now to be the result of climate change and global warming. We are advised to prepare for further warming whilst simultaneously working to reduce emissions. The assessment found gaps in plans and spending commitments to tackle flood risk, to manage natural resources and the impact that climate change has on health and well-being.

What this means for Wales is significant. It is likely we will experience periods of too much or too little water, increasing temperatures and a rise in sea level. The impact on coastal areas could be significant and risks to infrastructure (rail, roads, housing) are severe. The report also cites particular risks to ‘culturally-valued buildings and landscapes from a combination of higher temperatures and rainfall intensities”. Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has said that the report highlights some potential opportunities that climate change may bring, such as: “longer growing seasons and economic opportunities for businesses such as tourism, and I want Wales to be taking action now.”

Flooding already poses a serious risk to the people, economy and environment of Conwy and Denbighshire, and it is likely that changes in our climate, such as increased severity of storms and wetter winters, will increase the risk, as well as the rate of coastal erosion, in the coming decades[i]. Communities at risk of flooding and coastal erosion can expect to see those risks realised more frequently and the magnitude of the impacts to be increased.

The Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub-Committee has said that the risks highlighted by the report are similar for all UK nations but that Wales, with “poor quality infrastructure” faced particular challenges. For example, with housing stock.[2]

The impact of the recent vote to leave the European Union does not change the overall conclusions of the risk assessment. However, the CCC has said that some individual risks may change if EU-derived policies and legislation are withdrawn and not replaced by equivalent or better UK measures. The Adaptation Sub-Committee will assess the implications of the EU referendum in its next statutory report to Parliament on the UK National Adaptation Programme, due to be published in June 2017.

The threats facing biodiversity, in part due to climate change, are serious. One in 14 species in Wales is at risk of disappearing altogether according to figures collected as part of the State of Nature Wales 2016 report. Pressures and threats to nature in Wales include:

habitat loss and degradation, such as the loss of blanket bog
fragmentation and isolation of habitats for many reasons, such as inappropriate development
human population increases
climate change
excessive nutrient input and other forms of pollution
over-exploitation and unsustainable use, including agricultural pressures
invasive species, for example rhododendron in Snowdonia, and non-native species

The increasing availability of digital services could help to resolve some of environmental challenges as they have the potential to reduce the necessity of travel. This has the potential to ease pressure on the current transport infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions through a reduction in the use of fossil fuels and the petro-chemical products used in the construction and maintenance of roads and other infrastructure.

Climate change in the UK including Conwy and Denbighshire is predicted to result in rising sea levels, increased average temperatures and more extreme temperatures as well as periods of flooding and periods of drought. These effects of climate change create a number of environmental risks:

Flooding and coastal change risks to communities, businesses and infrastructure.
Risks to health, wellbeing and productivity from high temperatures
Risk of shortages in the public water supply, and water for agriculture, energy generation and industry, with impacts on freshwater ecology.
Risks to natural capital, including terrestrial, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems, soils and biodiversity.
Risks to domestic and international food production and trade.
Risks of new and emerging pests and diseases, and invasive non-native species, affecting people, plants and animals.

Existing commitments in waste and recycling practice are designed to contribute to a general reduction in carbon and other ‘greenhouse’ emissions. Risks to delivering on these commitments come in the form of financial uncertainty. Reducing public sector funding and volatility in the market for recyclates may prove to be threats to the sustainability of current delivery models.

Conwy and Denbighshire have not been immune from the developing national housing crisis. The continued depressed conditions in the construction industry mean that supply of new housing has not kept up with demand as predicted in the Local Development Plans of the two counties. Our engagement work has highlighted growing public concern about the availability of affordable housing and we are beginning to see an increase in demand for housing support.

[1] The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Evidence Report https://www.theccc.org.uk/uk-climate-change-risk-assessment-2017

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-36764628

This post is also available in: Welsh