1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Sunderland
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Biodiver-city in Elba Park
Short description of the intervention
In 2015, 20,000 British Pounds have been raised to help wildlife in the Elba Park in Sunderland. The funding was granted to create new habitat for priority species in Shiney Row in Elba park. Community groups and schools were one of the major parts of the project. People were engaged to enhance their learning experience. This project was partly crowd-funded (Ref 1).
Address

Houghton le Spring
Sunderland
DH4 6GU
United Kingdom

Location
The NBS is situated in an area, with clear delineation of boundaries and a specific shape (polygon). The NBS project can also have more than one area location (more than one polygon, situated close by).
Area boundary
POINT (-1.508196 54.854836)
POINT (-1.505943 54.851198)
POINT (-1.501963 54.851921)
POINT (-1.499581 54.856059)
POINT (-1.503755 54.855942)
POINT (-1.5053 54.855189)
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Public Greenspace Area
Website of the intervention
https://www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/northeast/news/groundwork-meets-funding-tar…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
unknown
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2015
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
1. Create new habitats for priority species,
2. teach local community groups, schools and residents about different species in the park,
3. Help the park to act as an important wildlife corridor to other areas (Ref 2, 3).
Quantitative targets
Unknown.
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown.
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity restoration
Green space creation and/or management
What types of restoration goals are / were defined for the NBS intervention?
Ecosystem-focused
What activities are implemented to realize the restoration goals and targets?
Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore native species
Restore valued species
Restore endangered species
Implementation activities
1.Create new habitat for priority species such as water voles, otters and dingy skipper butterflies, 2. Set up a "Bioblitz" where the local community helps to survey all the species in the park over a 24-hour period (Ref 1, 2).
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Ecological restoration of ecosystems
Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Parks and urban forests
Large urban parks or forests
Vegetation Type
Grass
Shrubs
Trees
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown
Amenities offered by the NBS
Benches and drinking water stations
Playgrounds
Educational or biodiversity trails
Viewing and outlook points
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Scale
Spatial scale
Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Government-led
Key actors - initiating organization
Regional government
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Regional government
Public sector institution
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Citizen science
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Voluntary enhancement of habitats and introduction of a one-time citizen science initiative (Ref 1).
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The national Groundwork "X Marks the Spot" campaign pledged to donate 15.000 pounds if the local Groundwork NE & Cumbria raised the first 5.000. (Ref 2 & 3)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The Groundwork federation and its regional subgroups (e.g. Groundwork NE & Cumbria provide investments in green infrastructure for the city (Ref 2).
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
No
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
No
Financing
Total cost
€10,000 - €50,000
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
5.000 British Pounds were crowdfunded by the regional Groundwork NE & Cumbria (Ref 4) and the remaining 15.000 was funded by the Groundwork national federation (Ref 2).
Source(s) of funding
Public regional budget
Crowdfunding
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Donations
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Business models
Urban offsetting model (biodiversity or water)
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)
Type of innovation
Technological
Infrastructural innovation
Social
Governance innovation
Please specify technological innovation
Green infrastructure creation and restoration (Ref 1, 2,).
Please specify social innovation
Set up a "Bioblitz" where the local community helps to survey all the species in the park over a 24-hour period (Ref 1).
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown.
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown.
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased number of species present
Increased protection of threatened species
Description of environmental benefits
1. The project created new habitats for priority species such as water voles, otters and dingy skipper butterflies. (Ref 8)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Education
Increased support for education and scientific research
Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Please specify other environmental justice issue
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
1. The project engaged with local community groups, schools and residents to help them learn about the different species living at the park. (Ref 8)
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
The participation of community members, school pupils and wildlife amateurs and professionals in the BioBlitz biodiversity mapping event (Ref 1).
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Voluntary work opportunities
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Other
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of November, 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown.
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Ref 1: Community rallies to the call of the wild.
Ref 2: Groundwork meets funding target for local wildlife project.
Ref 3: £10,000 award to be used to build wildlife city in Sunderland
Ref 4: Biodiver-city Elba Park (crowdfunding)
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Ref 5: Sunderland Green Infrastructure Strategy Framework. (3.45 MB) 3.45 MB
List of references
Ref 1: SUnderland Echo. (2015). Community rallies to the call of the wild. Retrieved from http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/community-rallies-to-the-call-of-the-wild-1-7327118
Ref 2: Groundwork. (2015). Groundwork meets funding target for local wildlife project. Retrieved from https://www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/northeast/news/groundwork-meets-funding-target-for-local-wildlife-project
Ref 3: Sunderland Echo. (2014). £10,000 award to be used to build wildlife city in Sunderland. Retrieved from http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/10-000-award-to-be-used-to-build-wildlife-city-in-sunderland-1-6750503
Ref 4: Groundwork. (n.d.). Biodiver-city Elba Park. Retrieved from https://www.groundwork.org.uk/Sites/xmarks/Appeal/biodiver-city-elba-park
Ref 5: Sunderland Partnership. (2011). Sunderland Green Infrastructure Strategy Framework.
Ref 6: Chronicles Lives (2015) Park in wildlife boost. Retrieved from https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/local-news/community-news-brief-wednesday-april-8961723 on 11th November, 2020.
Comments and notes
Comments
4/Enablers: Interestingly, despite the existence of a Green Infrastructure Strategy Framework that predates this intervention, it does not appear to be an enabling factor for this intervention. The document merely mentions Elba Park as a case where green infrastructure was created despite that "there are no current council programmes for the provision of new parks" (Ref 5, p. 10).
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/elba_park.jpg