BRICS - Building Resilience in Catchments

What is BRICS?  

BRICS is a project that will:

• Improve water, nutrient and habitat management on farms
• Reduce the level of nutrients entering the Milford Haven Waterway
• Create a nutrient trading scheme
• Give potential for future investment opportunities in Pembrokeshire  

BRICS will achieve this by:

• Providing expert advice, guidance and support to farmers
• Delivering nutrient focused advisory plans (for up to 30 farms)
• Helping to secure funding for targeted nutrient soil mapping, precision farming and where applicable constructed farm wetlands
• Developing a framework for creating an enterprise capable of running a nutrient based trading scheme that is able to:
• pay land managers for undertaking actions that benefit the natural environment beyond regulatory requirement and
• secure sustainable economic development and future investment opportunities

Why are we doing this?

The water in the Milford Haven Waterway and the surrounding Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation contains too much nitrogen and phosphorus. This means it fails to meet statutory water quality standards and the nutrient enrichment threatens important and protected wildlife and their habitats.

It also means that the waterway is considered “full” with no capacity to accept any additional input of nutrients, which is a potential barrier to any future development.

The BRICS approach is about preventing pollution from getting into watercourses rather than relying on ‘end of pipe’ solutions, like water treatment, while delivering other benefits for the economy and environment. 
BRICS takes a wider view of the environment and considers relationships between the environment and the people managing it.  This is an example of Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (SMNR).   Building resilience into catchments and the way they are managed means they will be better able to stand the effects of a changing climate and increased pressure and demands on land and river management.

The project will benefit farms, economically as well as environmentally, creating a business leader culture.

Case Study - BRICs.pdf

[.PDF, 161.48 KB]