Clients: Clinton Devon Estates
Year: 2026
eftec team: Ian Dickie, Duncan Royle, Victoria Reeser
Service Area: Natural Capital Accounting
Location: England
Full reports:
Heaths to Sea Landscape Recovery proposal
The Heaths to Sea Landscape Recovery Project aims to transform 3,945 hectares the Lower Otter Valley – in Devon from the lowland heath of the Pebblebed Heaths to the tidal wetlands of the River Otter estuary in Devon – into a more connected and resilient landscape for nature, while also providing food production, carbon sequestration, air quality, timber, and recreational access.
eftec created a natural capital assessment and scenario analysis of the landscape change to support Clinton Devon Estates’ bid to Defra for Landscape Recovery Funding.
The assessment covers an ambitious area of land across several habitats. The Landscape Recovery project will create productive woodland with climate-resilient conifer and broadleaf species (90 hectares), wood pasture and scrub mosaic habitats grazed by traditional livestock breeds (185 hectares), and wetland habitats including ponds, wet woodland, and grazing marsh to reconnect the river to its floodplain (290 hectares).
The project is predicted to create £200 million (PV) uplift in ecosystem services over the project duration of 20 years - several times the additional costs. The assessment communicated these benefits in monetary terms that can be used by Defra to justify public spend on nature recovery via the Landscape Recovery fund. The types of benefits expected to improve due to the project are maintaining the services mentioned and biodiversity and improved habitat connectivity.
Accounting for Landscape Recovery is a rewarding challenge because it covers a large area with the potential for significant positive impact on the local environment and communities. It also involves working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders to gather data and insights, making the work relevant and useful for achieving long-term positive impact at the landscape-scale.
For more details on the Heaths to Sea proposal, see their submission to Defra