Upcoming meetings with recreational boaters as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project

CEP is looking for participants from the recreational boating community to take part in upcoming Zoom meetings as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project

CEP is seeking a range of recreational boaters to take part in meetings on boating practices and sea grass as part of the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project led by Natural England in partnership with RYA, the Green Blue, Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Plymouth City Council.

The meetings will be held by Zoom videoconferencing on Friday 25 September at 6.30pm for boaters in the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries area and Tuesday 6 October at 6.30pm for boaters in the Solent / Isle of Wight area.

CEP has been commissioned by the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project to run the meetings as part of a strand of work to understand and improve recreational boater practices and behaviours affecting seagrass. The information from the meetings with the recreational boater community and from a survey to be conducted soon after, will be used to identify and design approaches to improving the impact of recreational boating on seagrass.

We are really keen to involve as wide a range of recreational boaters as possible, so if you are able to help us to publicise the meetings and survey and encourage boaters to participate please do.

If you yourself are a recreational boater who boats in either the Solent Maritime / Isle of Wight or the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries areas, and own or crew on yachts or power boats then we are very interested in hearing from you. The meetings will be a great opportunity for local boaters to help shape action to protect seagrass in the areas they know well and to get involved in an exciting project that will have a range of benefits, both for boaters and the marine environment.

The meetings are voluntary, and your opinions and experiences will be very valuable.  All discussions will be anonymised and follow our GDPR and ethics protocol.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up.

The LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES project is working to improve the condition of four marine habitats of European importance. The project is led by Natural England in partnership with RYA, the Green Blue, Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Plymouth City Council.  The project has commissioned independent research consultancy Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP) to run the meetings as part of a strand of work to understand and improve boater practices and behaviours affecting seagrass.

If you have any queries about this survey, please contact Paula Orr (Technical Director)

CEP to deliver a new NE project on Behaviour Change

CEP has been awarded a new project to assist Natural England to understand the behaviours of recreational boaters

CEP, in partnership with the University of Plymouth and Plymouth Marine Laboratory, has been commissioned by Natural England to undertake a new project to understand the behaviours of recreational boaters with regards to anchoring and mooring in Seagrass.

LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES (LIFE18 NAT/UK/000039) Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affecting the Seabed.

Action C1: Changing Stakeholder Behaviour Project

The project is part of the wider project LIFE Recreation Reducing and Mitigating Erosion and Disturbance Impacts affecting the Seabed (ReMEDIES) to improve the condition of marine habitats of European importance.

The overall aims of the Behaviour Change Project are to develop a clearer understanding of the behaviours of recreational boaters in relation to anchoring and mooring in seagrass in two pilot sites, to facilitate the design and development of interventions to address any issues uncovered, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions in order to achieve measurable behavioural changes that can lead, in the long term, to positive biodiversity outcomes.

The project focuses on two Special Areas of Conservation: Plymouth Sound & Estuaries and Solent Maritime – Isle of Wight.

Through this project, we will conduct a review of existing evidence and undertake new research with members of the local recreational boating community to further explore and understand the behavioural context. We will develop and test methods for changing behaviours and grow understanding of what works, using behavioural insights, to encourage more responsible boating behaviours, and we will disseminate learning to other sites.

The project commenced in June 2020 and is expected to end in January 2022. 

For more information, please contact Dr Clare Twigger-Ross (Technical Director, CEP) or Dr Sian Morse-Jones (Principal Consultant, CEP).

New report by CEP on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours

New report provides baseline assessment on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours for the South Downs National Park Authority’s ‘Take the Lead’ campaign

CEP were commissioned by the South Downs National Park Authority to undertake a study to establish baseline data on key sites for dog walker behaviour and engagement among heathlands within the South Downs National Park.  The study has informed and is part of the Heathlands Reunited Heritage Lottery Funded project’s Take the Lead campaign which is being led by the National Park Authority.

The study, in 2018, conducted desk research and developed a public survey in order to gain baseline data on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours. This survey will be repeated during the final year of the Heathlands Reunited project (2021), in order to explore the impact of the Take the Lead campaign on behaviour change.

The final project baseline report has now been published: The Heathlands Reunited Evaluation of Behaviour Change in Dog Walkers Baseline Report

For more information contact Paula Orr (Technical Director) or Sian Morse-Jones

CEP to undertake REA on water efficiency for Defra

Photo credit: 'Water Drop' by Enid Martindale on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP to undertake REA on behaviour change approaches to water efficiency for Defra

The Centre for Hydrology & Ecology (CEH) and CEP have been commissioned by Defra to undertake a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) as part of the Managed Service Provider Framework for Evidence Reviews in the context of Water Resources and Flood Risk Management. The Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) on behaviour change approaches to promote household water efficiency, will review and assess existing academic and other literature about behaviour change relating to reducing the demand for water. The REA will focus on answering the following question:

'What behaviour change approaches have been used to reduce household demand for water and how effective are these approaches?'

To assess the effectiveness of the approaches, the REA will assess and rate each piece of evidence for its relevance and robustness following the recent JWEG guidance (Collins et al, 2015). The study will also seek to identify key gaps remaining in the evidence base and suggest how these could be filled.