In this piece colleagues from the University of Exeter working on the Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) project demonstrate how natural infrastructure could/should be used to boost growth and help to create a more resilient and sustainable economy for the UK.
Natural infrastructure of national importance: The role of rural regions in securing ecosystem services and natural capital
The value and diversity of rural communities is routinely underestimated in policymaking for economic development. In the context of growing international and national commitments to environmental restoration, these rural areas emerge as strategically important landscapes, home to natural infrastructures of national significance. Consequently, it is important that understandings of good growth are developed in ways which include the rural.
By natural infrastructure, we are referring to the foundational natural capital and ecosystem services created in these places. This includes the rivers and lakes, forests and peatlands, grasslands and soils that sustain ecological and societal wellbeing by providing food, fuel, clean water, and supporting flood and drought alleviation and carbon sequestration. However, these spaces are more commonly associated with their scenic and recreational value, with places such as the Lake District attracting over 18 million visitors each year. In this article, we explore the essential services that natural infrastructures provide for the country and the implications this has for developing new narratives about the value and contribution of rural areas to national wealth.
Rural areas are often argued to be ‘left behind’ with local populations facing significant challenges related to poor employment opportunities, low wages, inequality and high levels of service demand. Our recent report with Britain’s Leading Edge (BLE) demonstrates this by examining demographic, environmental and economic data from 12 rural upper-tier local authorities in England.
Our report also highlights that these rural areas play a pivotal role in sustaining natural systems and delivering a breadth of valuable ecosystem services which extend far beyond their rural locations. It demonstrates that England’s rural regions should be recognised as core contributors to the nation’s natural infrastructure.
We find that the 12 regions cover 27.5% of England’s land area and they collectively hold and manage 26.8% of England’s agricultural land, 19.8% of the country’s woodlands, close to a third of its Sites of Special Scientific Interest, over 40% of its Special Areas of Conservation and nearly a third of its reservoir capacity. These rural areas power the ecological services of the nation and the goods provided (e.g. food, drinking water, fuel, raw materials and flood alleviation) are significant for national security.
Of England’s total land area, 67% is utilised agricultural land, but national policy has not adequately supported farmers and the essential ecosystem services provided by rural landscapes remain largely invisible within national policy frameworks. For example, recent flagship policies from government do little to recognise or invest in rural locations:
- The Planning and Infrastructure Bill makes very limited mention of rural areas with greater emphasis on urban development. It does, however, highlight expectations that nature loss will be recovered through Environmental Delivery Plans and a Nature Restoration Levy. At present, it is unclear whether the ecological cost of urban development will be offset locally or displaced to distant rural areas. While the latter may reinforce the role of rural landscapes in delivering ecosystem services, it also risks reinforcing established practice whereby rural areas absorb environmental responsibilities without receiving equivalent investment or development in return.
- The AI opportunities Action Plan does not mention rural areas and focuses on the importance of London for AI development. Once again, the emphasis appears skewed toward urban locations, with little clarity about how the establishment of AI growth zones and their resource-intensive infrastructure, including the development of new data centres which have significant electricity and water demands, will impact rural environments.
Our report found that the rural local authorities belonging to BLE have a per capita budget 31.5% lower than the rest of England. Other research shows that state investment in infrastructure is 44% higher in urban than rural locations and the new Industrial Strategy has similarly bypassed rural regions. Further, we found that the GDP growth rate in the 12 BLE areas was nearly 19 percentage points lower than the national average between 1998 and 2022, with jobs and opportunities having relied on the strength of their visitor economies.
Our findings demonstrate that rural areas function as integral providers and exporters of natural capital. In addition to delivering essential ecosystem services to local populations (such as flood regulation and soil health) these landscapes underpin sectors like tourism and recreation, while actively supporting the broader environmental needs of the national population. For example, Thirlmere Reservoir in Cumberland can hold up to 39,000 million litres of water and plays a critical role in supplying drinking water to Manchester, over 100 miles to the south. Up to 227 million litres of water can be transported daily to the city via the longest aqueduct in Britain. The area is also important for tourism, with purpose-built walking routes, horse-riding trails and viewing platforms in place around the reservoir to facilitate visitors. This is just one example, but it illustrates the often-invisible contributions that rural areas make to national wellbeing and security.
Our work on the Nature Recovery and Regional Development project offers insights into how national policies are being interpreted and enacted in rural places. We are building a more thorough understanding of rural challenges and opportunities and exposing the way that current policy overlooks the contributions that rural areas make to the nation. For example, Kenny and Garling have examined the importance of infrastructure for good growth but do not account for natural infrastructures and the role rural areas play in sustaining and delivering them. Our research shows the need for a broader characterisation of national ‘infrastructure’ which recognises the role of rural ecosystems in supporting long-term national resilience, contributing to economic and environmental stability. This reframing would help to strengthen the case for investing in rural areas and unlock a range of benefits including local employment, skills development and sustainable growth. Our research suggests there is an urgent need to ensure that rural perspectives and contributions are better reflected, recognised and rewarded in national policy and decision-making.
The research also highlights the value of deploying cross-departmental rural impact audits to ensure that major national policy decisions actively support rural security and growth. This would facilitate a more joined-up approach across Whitehall, ensuring that rural considerations are embedded early in policymaking processes. Together, these actions would represent meaningful steps toward more spatially appropriate and responsive governance, reflecting a culture of policy making that values the distinct assets and contributions of England’s rural places. Recognising the strategic importance of rural areas would be an important first step towards envisaging and creating a more resilient and sustainable economy for the UK.
About the authors
Jack Reed is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the ESRC-funded Nature Recovery and Regional Development (NaRReD) project. He is affiliated with the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) in Penryn and also works in the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) in Exeter. Jack works at the forefront of interdisciplinary research exploring how nature recovery intersects with rural economies, technologies and public policy.
Georgina Treloar worked for over 15 years’ as a communications professional and completed her PhD in Environmental Social Science at the University of Kent in 2024 on framing in the climate/environmental movement. She also holds a postgraduate certificate in Methods of Social Research including qualitative and quantitative methods (distinction), an MA in Writing and Literature and an undergraduate degree in the Creative Industries.
Jane Wills is an Honorary Professor of Geography at the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science (CGES) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science (DEES) at the University of Exeter. She is affiliated to the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) on campus and used to be its Director between 2020 and 2023.
Joanie Willett is Associate Professor in Politics and co-director of the Institute of Cornish Studies. Her research focusses on the co-evolutionary relationship between people, communities, and geologies, geographies, and ecologies.
Ian Bateman is Professor of Environmental Economics and Co-Director of the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP) at the University of Exeter Business School. His main research interests revolve around the issue of ensuring sustainable wellbeing through the integration of natural, physical, economic and social science knowledge into policy and decision making.
Juliet Osborne is an Honorary Professor afflliated to the University of Exeter. She is an applied ecologist, studying how insects and plants interact within the environment, focussing on pollination ecology and services.
Photo Credit: Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash