The atlas maps out our natural capital assets and describes the benefits that they provide for people.
Nature provides people with a wide variety of benefits, for example, clean water, clean air, protection from hazards and beautiful views. Using a natural capital lens can help us understand and explain these benefits.
The government has published a series of guidance, tools, datasets and case studies intended to help put an economic value on the natural environment.
The ‘Enabling a Natural Capital Approach’ (ENCA) package was published today, to sit alongside the Treasury’s ‘Green Book’ on the financial appraisal of policies and projects. It should encourage the wider adoption of natural capital techniques across government, though is also suitable for use across the broader public and private sectors.
Following the publication of the Natural Capital Synthesis Reports as part of the Valuing Nature Programme, Valuing Nature will be running a series of webinar sessions in early 2019. Each session will feature a short presentation by a report author followed by questions.
Natural infrastructure
Water management that integrates natural features reduces costs and increases benefits, but integrated approaches are not yet standard practice. Rather than restoring degraded headwaters and the services they provide, spending continues to focus on traditional infrastructure to solve water problems with little consideration of alternatives.
The Natural Capital Coalition (NCC) is looking for methodologies for producing a tool to help decision-making for businesses.
NCC is running a project with the Cambridge Conservation Initiaitive, a collaboration between the University of Cambridge and leading biodiversity-focused conservation organisations, to strengthen the way in which the Natural Capital Protocol addresses biodiversity.
Four new reports on Natural Capital which were published this week as part of the Valuing Nature Programme will enable governments and businesses to take an evidence-based approach to valuing the UK's natural assets.
"As fires raged across moorland in the Peak District, representatives from the Environment Agency’s Cumbria pioneer project discussed their experience of applying a natural capital approach within a river catchment.
The project aims to test new tools and methods to document natural capital assets, map ecosystem services and design plans for investing and intervening in three Cumbrian sub-catchments covering 170 square kilometres.
Hosted by MappingGM, these maps provide an overview where interventions would be most likely enhance the ecosystem services and in turn, increase the natural capital value.
Opportunity maps are included for:
A framework for developing natural capital accounting for soil has been developed by a team of scientists led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).
The framework, published on 27 July, should help countries establish a monitoring and assessment information system for soil that can inform economic, social and environmental policy.
The UK’s woodlands are worth £1.8bn in pollution removal services, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
