On this page you will find:
- Climate Change and Mitigation Overview
- Key Facts and Figures
- Sustaining the Landscape
- Management Influences and Forces for Change
- Climate Policies and Priorities
Climate Change and Mitigation Overview
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 oC in October 201862. The report sought to encourage the global reduction of damaging emissions by 45% to prevent the global temperature rising on average by 1.5oC since pre-industrial times. This caused a general promotion of a ‘climate crisis’ further endorsed by the IPCC in 2021 reporting that it was ‘unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land’. This is referred to as anthropogenic (human -induced) climate change.
Both national and local government in the UK have declared an ambition of ‘net zero’ where any harmful emissions are counter-balanced by mechanisms and practices that eliminate or reduce their effects in the atmosphere. These might be natural through photosynthesis or other biological processes or technological such as carbon capture. In April 202263 the UK Govt has agreed to follow a legal target of reduction of 78% carbon emissions from a 1990 baseline by 2035, in response to the national commitment at the Paris Conference of Parties (COP15). The UK net zero target will be reached by 2050.
The Isle of Wight Council has agreed to reach net zero by 204025 for both their own operations and the rest of the Island. Furthermore, no more than 15% would be offset on privately-owned land and the marine environment.
Sources of the carbon emissions (558,200 CO2e) of the Isle of Wight are shown below in percentage terms. Given the small population and predominately rural nature of the designated landscape the AONB contribution to these figures is approximately 6%.
Contributions of various sectors to Isle of Wight Carbon Emissions : Isle of Wight Council 202125
With a carbon budget target of 100,000 tonnes carbon by 2040 a 15% offset by tree planting alone would require 11961 ha of new woodland equating to 31% of the island’s land surface
Carbon Storage and Sequestration
The Isle of Wight AONB includes a variety of many habitats found in south-eastern England. These include habitats that have a significant role in the sequestration and storage of carbon including saltmarsh, peatlands, and woodland as well as coastal (blue carbon) habitats such as saltmarsh, seagrass beds and seaweed forests.
The UK Government’s Environment Improvement Plan12 and the Colchester Declaration64 have provided opportunities for Isle of Wight AONB to contribute to the maintenance and increase in the habitats that contribute to the reduction in carbon emissions.
Key Facts and Figures
Carbon Stored in Different Habitats in Isle of Wight AONB
| Habitat represented in IWAONB | Area (ha) | Carbon stored (tC / ha) |
| Maritime grassland | 34 | 2040 |
| Lowland calcareous grassland | 626 | 38812 |
| Lowland heath and acid grassland | 148 | 13172 |
| Saltmarsh and coastal habitats | 121 | 18431 |
| Unimproved grassland | 223 | 13826 |
| Broadleaved woodland | 2111 | 454921 |
| Conifer woodland | 230 | 40020 |
| Peatlands | 137 | 35894 |
| Agricultural improved grassland | 6284 | 389608 |
| Arable | 3921 | 220282 |
Carbon Sequestration in Different Habitats in Isle of Wight AONB
| Habitat represented in IWAONB | Area (ha) | Carbon captured (tC / ha/ yr) |
| Saltmarsh | 121 | 440 |
| Broadleaved woodland | 2111 | 5279 |
| Conifer woodland | 321 | 460 |
| Peatlands | 137 | 82 |
Note: tC – tonnes of carbon; ha – hectares
From: Anderson and Morris 202165
Sustaining the Landscape
There are obvious overlaps with the Nature and Land Use targets and objectives in the way forward to adapt to and mitigate the changes brought about by climate change. Habitats will need to be given opportunities to adapt with increased drought, prolonged flooding, and coastal squeeze and this will have direct impacts on coastal defences, development of housing and infrastructure and food production. All these challenges are active issues across the country, but the situation is exacerbated by the coastal nature of large areas of development in a community that celebrates its relationship with the sea.
Adaptation (changing behaviours acknowledging the impacts of anthropogenic climate change) and mitigation (positive management of habitats to reduce impacts) require access to long-term resources and access to land where land use can change to accommodate the ‘new’ situations. Therefore, managed retreat on the coast, abandonment of some developments and infrastructure, food production practices changed in floodplains and positive changes in vegetation cover in some habitats may all have to be adopted in order to continue balancing the needs of communities and nature. More detail can be found in Isle of Wight Climate Adaptation Report 201126.
Management Influences and Forces for Change
Climate Change:
- Increased rainfall in winter
- Increased drought in summer
- Increase rise in relative sea level
- Increased erosion of (coastal) land through landslip – a result of all three above
Climate Change Adaptation : changing behaviours
The Third National Adaptation Programme and Fourth Strategy for Climate Adaptation Reporting 202366: The UK government’s vision for adaptation is for a country that effectively plans for and is fully adapted to the changing climate, with resilience against each of the identified climate risks. Plans include a new Resilience Framework; accelerated investment in water quality and supply (Plan for Water); incorporate climate change adaptation into Environmental Land Management Schemes; increased investment in flood and coastal erosion schemes and updating the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)
Mission Zero – Climate and Environment Strategy 202125: the Isle of Wight Council have produced a Strategy to change practices and behaviours in both the Isle of Wight Council and the Isle of Wight community as a whole. Mitigation includes reduction of carbon emissions and water use; increase in land use practices that store and capture carbon and increase awareness of climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Isle of Wight Biosphere designation – following the designation of the Isle of Wight and its surrounding waters in 2019 the Isle of Wight National Landscape Partnership and Isle of Wight Council have been promoting the positive messages that this designation brings in terms of sustainable development and nature conservation and has led to changes in behaviour within the community and the local authority.
Climate Change Mitigation : nature-based solutions
Climate change mitigation can make an important contribution to net zero and other targets, but they cannot be used without the general adaptation practices described above. Nature-based solutions could include strategic tree planting (‘right tree in the right place’) through natural regeneration or positive management; allowing managed retreat in low-lying coastal areas; adopt regenerative farming practices that conserve soil and water and reduce need for fertilisers; reduce intensity of agricultural practices on marginal land67. It requires the strategic spatial planning used in development plans and the emerging Local Nature Recovery Strategy from local authorities.
It should be noted that changes of this magnitude have the potential to damage the historic environment and alter landscape character and these factors should be taken into consideration.
As shown above the management and enhancement of habitats in the Isle of Wight AONB can provide a number of these benefits where peatlands, woodland, saltmarsh, and hedgerows are all key features of the landscape.
Partnership working for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
Landowners and farmers are looking at new ways to farm and produce food as well as to enhance biodiversity and conserve soils. In the Isle of Wight AONB regenerative farming; soil conservation and biodiversity enhancements are all being carried out and supported through Farmer Clusters and IW Environmental Farmers Group
National Trust and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust have actively acquired land in the Isle of Wight AONB to reduce the impact of farming on the environment. These areas demonstrate positive land use for biodiversity and climate change mitigation.
Policies for Climate Change and Mitigation
P16 Support farmer clusters and other cooperative land use groups adopting climate adaptation and mitigation techniques in the designated landscape.
P17 Encourage local authority and wider National Landscape Partnership to educate and raise awareness of climate change to achieve carbon emissions reduction required by the DEFRA Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework
P18 Support land use change and land acquisition that creates opportunities for coastal managed retreat, peatland restoration, tree planting and floodplain restoration.
Priorities for Climate Change and Mitigation
- Work with wider partnership to produce a Climate Adaption Plan by 2028 (DEFRA target)
- Promote climate change mitigation techniques to contribute to DEFRA Protected Landscape Targets and Outcomes Framework
- Work to promote wider objectives of the Isle of Wight Biosphere initiative.