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Natural capital

January 09, 2023

Natural capital is the world's stock of natural resources, which includes geology, soils, air, water and all living organisms. Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services, often called ecosystem services. All of these underpin our economy and society, and thus make human life possible.[3][4]

Mangrove swamp at Iriomote Island, Japan, providing beneficial services of sediment accumulation, coastal protection, nursery and fish-spawning grounds which may in turn support coastal fishing communities. At least 35% of the world's stock of mangrove swamps has been destroyed in just 20 years[1]
Remarks from 1937 by FDR on "natural capital" and "balancing the budget of our resources"
Honeybee (Apis mellifera) pollinating an Avocado crop. Healthy stocks of wild and cultivated pollinator species are important to support the farming industry and help ensure food security.
Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest. Looked at as a natural capital asset, rainforests provide air and water regulation services, potential sources of new medicines and natural carbon sequestration.
Fires along the Rio Xingu, Brazil – NASA Earth Observatory. Loss of natural capital assets may have significant impact on local and global economies, as well as on the climate.[2]
The many components of natural capital can be viewed as providing essential goods and ecosystem services which underpin some of our key global issues, such as food and water supply, minimising climate change and meeting energy needs.

It is an extension of the economic notion of capital (resources which enable the production of more resources) to goods and services provided by the natural environment. For example, a well-maintained forest or river may provide an indefinitely sustainable flow of new trees or fish, whereas over-use of those resources may lead to a permanent decline in timber availability or fish stocks. Natural capital also provides people with essential services, like water catchment, erosion control and crop pollination by insects, which in turn ensure the long-term viability of other natural resources. Since the continuous supply of services from the available natural capital assets is dependent upon a healthy, functioning environment, the structure and diversity of habitats and ecosystems are important components of natural capital.[5] Methods, called 'natural capital asset checks', help decision-makers understand how changes in the current and future performance of natural capital assets will impact human well-being and the economy.[6]

History of the concept

The term 'natural capital' was first used in 1973 by E.F. Schumacher in his book Small Is Beautiful[7] and was developed further by Herman Daly, Robert Costanza, and other founders of the science of Ecological Economics, as part of a comprehensive critique of the shortcomings of conventional economics.[8][9] Natural capital is a concept central to economic assessment ecosystem services valuation which revolves around the idea, that non-human life produces goods and services that are essential to life. Thus, natural capital is essential to the sustainability of the economy.

In a traditional economic analysis of the factors of production, natural capital would usually be classified as "land" distinct from traditional "capital." The historical distinction between "land" and "capital" defined “land” as naturally occurring with a fixed supply, whereas “capital,” as originally defined referred only to man-made goods. (e.g., Georgism[10][11]) It is, however, misleading to view "land" as if its productive capacity is fixed, because natural capital can be improved or degraded by the actions of man over time (see Environmental degradation). Moreover, natural capital yields benefits and goods, such as timber or food, which can be harvested by humans. These benefits are similar to those realized by owners of infrastructural capital which yields more goods, such as a factory that produces automobiles just as an apple tree produces apples.

Ecologists are teaming up with economists to measure and express values of the wealth of ecosystems as a way of finding solutions to the biodiversity crisis.[12][13][14] Some researchers have attempted to place a dollar figure on ecosystem services such as the value that the Canadian boreal forest's contribution to global ecosystem services. If ecologically intact, the boreal forest has an estimated value of US$3.7 trillion. The boreal forest ecosystem is one of the planet's great atmospheric regulators and it stores more carbon than any other biome on the planet.[15] The annual value for ecological services of the Boreal Forest is estimated at US$93.2 billion, or 2.5 greater than the annual value of resource extraction.

The economic value of 17 ecosystem services for the entire biosphere (calculated in 1997) has an estimated average value of US$33 trillion per year.[16] These ecological economic values are not currently included in calculations of national income accounts, the GDP and they have no price attributes because they exist mostly outside of the global markets.[17][18] The loss of natural capital continues to accelerate and goes undetected or ignored by mainstream monetary analysis.[19]

Within the international community the basic principle is not controversial, although much uncertainty exists over how best to value different aspects of ecological health, natural capital and ecosystem services. Full-cost accounting, triple bottom line, measuring well-being and other proposals for accounting reform often include suggestions to measure an "ecological deficit" or "natural deficit" alongside a social and financial deficit. It is difficult to measure such a deficit without some agreement on methods of valuation and auditing of at least the global forms of natural capital (e.g. value of air, water, soil).[20]

All uses of the term currently differentiate natural from man-made or infrastructural capital in some way. Indicators adopted by United Nations Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to measure natural biodiversity use the term in a slightly more specific way. According to the OECD, natural capital is “natural assets in their role of providing natural resource inputs and environmental services for economic production” and is “generally considered to comprise three principal categories: natural resources stocks, land, and ecosystems.”

The concept of "natural capital" has also been used by the Biosphere 2 project, and the Natural Capitalism economic model of Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins. Recently, it has begun to be used by politicians, notably Ralph Nader, Paul Martin Jr., and agencies of the UK government, including its Natural Capital Committee and the London Health Observatory.

In Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution[21] the author claims that the "next industrial revolution" depends on the espousal of four central strategies: "the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes, the reuse of materials as found in natural systems, a change in values from quantity to quality, and investing in natural capital, or restoring and sustaining natural resources."[22]

Natural capital declaration

In June 2012 a 'natural capital declaration' (NCD) was launched at the Rio+20 summit held in Brazil. An initiative of the global finance sector, it was signed by 40 CEOs to 'integrate natural capital considerations into loans, equity, fixed income and insurance products, as well as in accounting, disclosure and reporting frameworks.' They worked with supporting organisations to develop tools and metrics to integrate natural capital factors into existing business structures.[23]

In summary, its four key aims are to:

  • Increase understanding of business dependency on natural capital assets;
  • Support development of tools to integrate natural capital considerations into the decision-making process of all financial products and services;
  • Help build a global consensus on integrating natural capital into private sector accounting and decision-making;
  • Encourage a consensus on integrated reporting to include natural capital as one of the key components of an organisation's success.

Natural Capital Protocol

In July 2016, the Natural Capital Coalition[24] (now known as Capitals Coalition) released the Natural Capital Protocol.[25] The Protocol provides a standardised framework for organisations to identify, measure and value their direct and indirect impacts and dependencies on natural capital. The Protocol harmonises existing tools and methodologies, and guides organisations towards the information they need to make strategic and operational decisions that include impacts and dependencies on natural capital.

The Protocol was developed in a unique collaboration between 38 organisations who signed voluntary, pre-competitive contracts. This collaboration was led by Mark Gough, who is now the CEO of the Capitals Coalition.[26]

The Protocol is available on a creative commons license and is free for organisations to apply.

Internationally agreed standard

Environmental-economic accounts provide the conceptual framework for integrated statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy, including the impacts of the economy on the environment and the contribution of the environment to the economy. A coherent set of indicators and descriptive statistics can be derived from the accounts that inform a wide range of policies.

These include, but are not limited to:

The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) contains the internationally agreed standard concepts, definitions, classifications, accounting rules and tables for producing internationally comparable statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy. The SEEA is a flexible system in the sense that its implementation can be adapted to countries' specific situations and priorities. Coordination of the implementation of the SEEA and ongoing work on new methodological developments is managed and supervised by the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA). The final, official version of the SEEA Central Framework was published in February 2014.

In March 2021, the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) standard at its 52nd session.[27] The SEEA EA is a statistical framework that provides a coherent accounting approach to the measurement of ecosystems. Ecosystem accounts enable the presentation of data and indicators of ecosystem extent, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem services in both physical and monetary terms in a spatially explicit way.[28] Following its adoption, the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) released the ARIES for SEEA Explorer[29] in April 2021, an artificial intelligence-powered tool based on the Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) platform for rapid, standardized and customizable natural capital accounting.[30] The ARIES for SEEA Explorer was made available on the UN Global Platform in order to accelerate SEEA’s implementation worldwide.[31]

Private sector approaches

Some studies envisage a private sector natural capital 'ecosystem', including investors, assets and regulators.[32]

Criticism

Whilst measuring the components of natural capital in any region is a relatively straightforward process, both the task and the rationale of putting a monetary valuation on them, or on the value of the goods and services they freely give us, has proved more contentious.[33] Within the UK, Guardian columnist, George Monbiot, has been critical of the work of the government's Natural Capital Committee and of other attempts to place any sort of monetary value on natural capital assets, or on the free ecosystem services they provide us with. In a speech referring to a report to government which suggested that better protection of the UK's freshwater ecosystems would yield an enhancement in aesthetic value of £700m, he derided attempts 'to compare things which cannot be directly compared'.[34] He went on to say:

These figures, ladies and gentlemen, are marmalade. They are finely shredded, boiled to a pulp, heavily sweetened ... and still indigestible. In other words they are total gibberish.

— G. Monbiot

Others have defended efforts to integrate the valuation of natural capital into local and national economic decision-making, arguing that it puts the environment on a more balanced footing when weighed against other commercial pressures, and that 'valuation' of those assets is not the same as monetisation.[35][36]

Global biogeochemical cycles critical for life

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Valiela, Ivan; Bowen, Jennifer L.; York, Joanna K. (2001). "Mangrove Forests: One of the World's Threatened Major Tropical Environments". BioScience. 51 (10): 807–815. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0807:mfootw]2.0.co;2. ISSN 1525-3244. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  2. ^ . www.rainforestconcern.org. Archived from the original on 2016-01-20. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  3. ^ . naturalcapitalforum.com. World Forum on Natural Capital. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  4. ^ . www.naturalcapitalcoalition.org. Natural Capital Coalition. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Search – The Encyclopedia of Earth". www.eoearth.org.
  6. ^ "UK NEAFO Work Package 1: Natural capital asset check – Annex 4: Case studies". uknea.unep-wcmc.org. UK National Ecosystem Assessment. p. 3. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  7. ^ Schumacher, E.F (1973). Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered. New York, Harper & Row. ISBN 978-0-06-136122-7.
  8. ^ COSTANZA, ROBERT; DALY, HERMAN E. (March 1992). "Natural Capital and Sustainable Development". Conservation Biology. 6 (1): 37–46. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1992.610037.x. ISSN 0888-8892.
  9. ^ Farber, Stephen (June 1999). "An Introduction to Ecological Economics. Edited by Robert Costanza, John Cumberland, Herman Daly, Robert Goodland and Richard Norgaard, St. Lucie Press. 1997, pp. 288". Ecological Economics. 29 (3): 488–490. doi:10.1016/s0921-8009(99)00029-4. ISBN 1-884015-72-7. ISSN 0921-8009.
  10. ^ [1] – Progress and Poverty by Henry George, Chapter 2.
  11. ^ "Economic Definitions". www.henrygeorge.org.
  12. ^ Edwards, P. J.; Abivardi, C. (1998). "The value of biodiversity: Where ecology and economy blend". Biological Conservation. 83 (2): 239–246. doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(97)00141-9.
  13. ^ Naidoo, R.; Malcolm, T.; Tomasek, A. (2009). "Economic benefits of standing forests in highland areas of Borneo: quantification and policy impacts". Conservation Letters. 2: 35–44. doi:10.1111/j.1755-263x.2008.00041.x.
  14. ^ Zhoua, X.; Al-Kaisib, M.; Helmers, M. J. (2009). "Cost effectiveness of conservation practices in controlling water erosion in Iowa". Soil and Tillage Research. 106 (1): 71–8. doi:10.1016/j.still.2009.09.015.
  15. ^ Jonsson, M.; Wardle, D. A. (2009). "Structural equation modelling reveals plant-community drivers of carbon storage in boreal forest ecosystems". Biology Letters. 6 (1): 1–4. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0613. PMC 2817262. PMID 19755530.
  16. ^ Costanza, R.; et al. (1997). (PDF). Nature. 387 (6630): 253–260. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..253C. doi:10.1038/387253a0. S2CID 672256. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-12-26.
  17. ^ Ferguson, K. (2006). "The True Value of Forests". Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 4 (9): 456. doi:10.1890/1540-9295(2006)4[452:D]2.0.CO;2. JSTOR 3868812.
  18. ^ Anielski, M.; Wilson, S. (2005). (PDF). Can. Bor. Ini., Pembina Institute, Ottawa. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-12-07.
  19. ^ Wakernagel, M.; Rees, W. E. (1997). "Perceptual and structural barriers to investing in natural capital: Economics from an ecological footprint perspective". Ecological Economics. 20 (1): 3–24. doi:10.1016/S0921-8009(96)00077-8.
  20. ^ "Sustainability Pathways: Full-cost accounting". www.fao.org. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  21. ^ Hawken, Paul; Amory Lovins; Hunter Lovins (1999). Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. ISBN 978-0-316-35316-8.
  22. ^ Book Review: Natural Capitalism 2010-01-03 at the Wayback Machine from . Retrieved April 2009.
  23. ^ . www.naturalcapitaldeclaration.org. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  24. ^ "Log In ‹ Natural Capital Coalition — WordPress". naturalcapitalcoalition.org.[permanent dead link]
  25. ^ "Natural Capital Coalition – Protocol". naturalcapitalcoalition.org.
  26. ^ "Natural Capital Protocol Launched". Capitals Coalition. 13 July 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  27. ^ UN adopts landmark framework to integrate natural capital in economic reporting un.org
  28. ^ Ecosystem Accounting seea.un.org
  29. ^ ARIES for SEEA un.org
  30. ^ Artificial intelligence saving the natural world un.org
  31. ^ UN launches the first artificial intelligence tool for rapid natural capital accounting unep.org
  32. ^ https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/fr/Documents/sustainability-services/deloitte_etude-emergence-natural-capital-2018.pdf[bare URL PDF]
  33. ^ Conniff, Richard (18 October 2012). "What's Wrong with Putting a Price on Nature?". e360.yale.edu. Yale University. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  34. ^ Monbiot, George (24 July 2014). "Put a price on nature? We must stop this neoliberal road to ruin". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  35. ^ Paddison, Laura (1 August 2014). "Is natural capital a 'neoliberal road to ruin'?- experts discuss". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  36. ^ . www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org. Natural Capital Committee. Archived from the original on 13 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.

Further reading

  • Pearce, D. 1993. Blueprint 3: Measuring Sustainable Development. Earthscan. ISBN 1-85383-183-2
  • Jansson, AnnMari; et al. (1994). Investing in Natural Capital : The Ecological Economics Approach to Sustainability. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 504 pp. ISBN 1-55963-316-6.
  • Daily, Gretchen C. (editor) (1997). Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 392 pp. ISBN 1-55963-476-6.
  • Prugh, Thomas; Robert Costanza et al. (1999). Natural capital and human economic survival. Solomons, Md.: International Society for Ecological Economics, 180 pp. ISBN 1-56670-398-0.
  • Helm, Dieter (2015). Natural Capital – Valuing Our Planet. Yale University Press; 277 pp. ISBN 978-0-300-21098-9

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Natural capital.
  • Costanza, Robert (Lead Author); Cutler J. Cleveland (Topic Editor). 2008. "Natural capital." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth February 26, 2007; Last revised July 31, 2008; Retrieved September 5, 2008.
  • Earth Economics Natural Capital Accounting Solutions Article [2]
  • A joint venture among The Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund.
  • NOAA Economics
  • Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit
  • Lacombe Morgane and Aronson James, 2009. Restoring Natural Capital in Arid and Semiarid Regions Combining Ecosystem Health with Human Wellbeing 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine. Les dossiers thématiques du CSFD. N° 7.
  • Earth Economics [4]
  • http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seea.asp System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)
  • http://www.naturalcapitalcoalition.com[permanent dead link]
  • http://naturalcapitalforum.com 2021-03-15 at the Wayback Machine in 2015
  • http://teebweb.org The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)
  • SEEA Central Framework
  • Nick Breeze Interview with Economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, "What is Natural Capital?"

January 09, 2023
natural, capital, world, stock, natural, resources, which, includes, geology, soils, water, living, organisms, some, natural, capital, assets, provide, people, with, free, goods, services, often, called, ecosystem, services, these, underpin, economy, society, . Natural capital is the world s stock of natural resources which includes geology soils air water and all living organisms Some natural capital assets provide people with free goods and services often called ecosystem services All of these underpin our economy and society and thus make human life possible 3 4 Mangrove swamp at Iriomote Island Japan providing beneficial services of sediment accumulation coastal protection nursery and fish spawning grounds which may in turn support coastal fishing communities At least 35 of the world s stock of mangrove swamps has been destroyed in just 20 years 1 Remarks from 1937 by FDR on natural capital and balancing the budget of our resources Honeybee Apis mellifera pollinating an Avocado crop Healthy stocks of wild and cultivated pollinator species are important to support the farming industry and help ensure food security Aerial view of the Amazon Rainforest Looked at as a natural capital asset rainforests provide air and water regulation services potential sources of new medicines and natural carbon sequestration Fires along the Rio Xingu Brazil NASA Earth Observatory Loss of natural capital assets may have significant impact on local and global economies as well as on the climate 2 The many components of natural capital can be viewed as providing essential goods and ecosystem services which underpin some of our key global issues such as food and water supply minimising climate change and meeting energy needs It is an extension of the economic notion of capital resources which enable the production of more resources to goods and services provided by the natural environment For example a well maintained forest or river may provide an indefinitely sustainable flow of new trees or fish whereas over use of those resources may lead to a permanent decline in timber availability or fish stocks Natural capital also provides people with essential services like water catchment erosion control and crop pollination by insects which in turn ensure the long term viability of other natural resources Since the continuous supply of services from the available natural capital assets is dependent upon a healthy functioning environment the structure and diversity of habitats and ecosystems are important components of natural capital 5 Methods called natural capital asset checks help decision makers understand how changes in the current and future performance of natural capital assets will impact human well being and the economy 6 Contents 1 History of the concept 2 Natural capital declaration 3 Natural Capital Protocol 4 Internationally agreed standard 5 Private sector approaches 6 Criticism 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Notes 8 2 Further reading 9 External linksHistory of the concept EditThe term natural capital was first used in 1973 by E F Schumacher in his book Small Is Beautiful 7 and was developed further by Herman Daly Robert Costanza and other founders of the science of Ecological Economics as part of a comprehensive critique of the shortcomings of conventional economics 8 9 Natural capital is a concept central to economic assessment ecosystem services valuation which revolves around the idea that non human life produces goods and services that are essential to life Thus natural capital is essential to the sustainability of the economy In a traditional economic analysis of the factors of production natural capital would usually be classified as land distinct from traditional capital The historical distinction between land and capital defined land as naturally occurring with a fixed supply whereas capital as originally defined referred only to man made goods e g Georgism 10 11 It is however misleading to view land as if its productive capacity is fixed because natural capital can be improved or degraded by the actions of man over time see Environmental degradation Moreover natural capital yields benefits and goods such as timber or food which can be harvested by humans These benefits are similar to those realized by owners of infrastructural capital which yields more goods such as a factory that produces automobiles just as an apple tree produces apples Ecologists are teaming up with economists to measure and express values of the wealth of ecosystems as a way of finding solutions to the biodiversity crisis 12 13 14 Some researchers have attempted to place a dollar figure on ecosystem services such as the value that the Canadian boreal forest s contribution to global ecosystem services If ecologically intact the boreal forest has an estimated value of US 3 7 trillion The boreal forest ecosystem is one of the planet s great atmospheric regulators and it stores more carbon than any other biome on the planet 15 The annual value for ecological services of the Boreal Forest is estimated at US 93 2 billion or 2 5 greater than the annual value of resource extraction The economic value of 17 ecosystem services for the entire biosphere calculated in 1997 has an estimated average value of US 33 trillion per year 16 These ecological economic values are not currently included in calculations of national income accounts the GDP and they have no price attributes because they exist mostly outside of the global markets 17 18 The loss of natural capital continues to accelerate and goes undetected or ignored by mainstream monetary analysis 19 Within the international community the basic principle is not controversial although much uncertainty exists over how best to value different aspects of ecological health natural capital and ecosystem services Full cost accounting triple bottom line measuring well being and other proposals for accounting reform often include suggestions to measure an ecological deficit or natural deficit alongside a social and financial deficit It is difficult to measure such a deficit without some agreement on methods of valuation and auditing of at least the global forms of natural capital e g value of air water soil 20 All uses of the term currently differentiate natural from man made or infrastructural capital in some way Indicators adopted by United Nations Environment Programme s World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the Organisation for Economic Co operation and Development OECD to measure natural biodiversity use the term in a slightly more specific way According to the OECD natural capital is natural assets in their role of providing natural resource inputs and environmental services for economic production and is generally considered to comprise three principal categories natural resources stocks land and ecosystems The concept of natural capital has also been used by the Biosphere 2 project and the Natural Capitalism economic model of Paul Hawken Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins Recently it has begun to be used by politicians notably Ralph Nader Paul Martin Jr and agencies of the UK government including its Natural Capital Committee and the London Health Observatory In Natural Capitalism Creating the Next Industrial Revolution 21 the author claims that the next industrial revolution depends on the espousal of four central strategies the conservation of resources through more effective manufacturing processes the reuse of materials as found in natural systems a change in values from quantity to quality and investing in natural capital or restoring and sustaining natural resources 22 Natural capital declaration EditIn June 2012 a natural capital declaration NCD was launched at the Rio 20 summit held in Brazil An initiative of the global finance sector it was signed by 40 CEOs to integrate natural capital considerations into loans equity fixed income and insurance products as well as in accounting disclosure and reporting frameworks They worked with supporting organisations to develop tools and metrics to integrate natural capital factors into existing business structures 23 In summary its four key aims are to Increase understanding of business dependency on natural capital assets Support development of tools to integrate natural capital considerations into the decision making process of all financial products and services Help build a global consensus on integrating natural capital into private sector accounting and decision making Encourage a consensus on integrated reporting to include natural capital as one of the key components of an organisation s success Natural Capital Protocol EditIn July 2016 the Natural Capital Coalition 24 now known as Capitals Coalition released the Natural Capital Protocol 25 The Protocol provides a standardised framework for organisations to identify measure and value their direct and indirect impacts and dependencies on natural capital The Protocol harmonises existing tools and methodologies and guides organisations towards the information they need to make strategic and operational decisions that include impacts and dependencies on natural capital The Protocol was developed in a unique collaboration between 38 organisations who signed voluntary pre competitive contracts This collaboration was led by Mark Gough who is now the CEO of the Capitals Coalition 26 The Protocol is available on a creative commons license and is free for organisations to apply Internationally agreed standard EditEnvironmental economic accounts provide the conceptual framework for integrated statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy including the impacts of the economy on the environment and the contribution of the environment to the economy A coherent set of indicators and descriptive statistics can be derived from the accounts that inform a wide range of policies These include but are not limited to Green economy green growth Natural resource management Sustainable developmentThe System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting SEEA contains the internationally agreed standard concepts definitions classifications accounting rules and tables for producing internationally comparable statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy The SEEA is a flexible system in the sense that its implementation can be adapted to countries specific situations and priorities Coordination of the implementation of the SEEA and ongoing work on new methodological developments is managed and supervised by the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental Economic Accounting UNCEEA The final official version of the SEEA Central Framework was published in February 2014 In March 2021 the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting SEEA EA standard at its 52nd session 27 The SEEA EA is a statistical framework that provides a coherent accounting approach to the measurement of ecosystems Ecosystem accounts enable the presentation of data and indicators of ecosystem extent ecosystem condition and ecosystem services in both physical and monetary terms in a spatially explicit way 28 Following its adoption the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs UN DESA in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and the Basque Centre for Climate Change BC3 released the ARIES for SEEA Explorer 29 in April 2021 an artificial intelligence powered tool based on the Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability ARIES platform for rapid standardized and customizable natural capital accounting 30 The ARIES for SEEA Explorer was made available on the UN Global Platform in order to accelerate SEEA s implementation worldwide 31 Private sector approaches EditSome studies envisage a private sector natural capital ecosystem including investors assets and regulators 32 Criticism EditWhilst measuring the components of natural capital in any region is a relatively straightforward process both the task and the rationale of putting a monetary valuation on them or on the value of the goods and services they freely give us has proved more contentious 33 Within the UK Guardian columnist George Monbiot has been critical of the work of the government s Natural Capital Committee and of other attempts to place any sort of monetary value on natural capital assets or on the free ecosystem services they provide us with In a speech referring to a report to government which suggested that better protection of the UK s freshwater ecosystems would yield an enhancement in aesthetic value of 700m he derided attempts to compare things which cannot be directly compared 34 He went on to say These figures ladies and gentlemen are marmalade They are finely shredded boiled to a pulp heavily sweetened and still indigestible In other words they are total gibberish G Monbiot Others have defended efforts to integrate the valuation of natural capital into local and national economic decision making arguing that it puts the environment on a more balanced footing when weighed against other commercial pressures and that valuation of those assets is not the same as monetisation 35 36 Global biogeochemical cycles critical for life Nitrogen cycle Water cycle Carbon cycle Oxygen cycle Phosphorus cycleSee also Edit Environment portal Ecology portal Earth sciences portalBioeconomics biophysical Biocapacity Conservation biology Earth Economics organization Ecodynamics Ecological deficit Ecological economics Ecological footprint Ecology Econophysics Ecosystem services Energy accounting Environmental degradation Environmental economics Environmental protection Habitat conservation Natural capital accounting Natural Capital Committee Natural Capital Initiative Oil depletion Payment for ecosystem services Population dynamics Renewable resource Sustainability Sustainable development The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity ThermoeconomicsReferences EditNotes Edit Valiela Ivan Bowen Jennifer L York Joanna K 2001 Mangrove Forests One of the World s Threatened Major Tropical Environments BioScience 51 10 807 815 doi 10 1641 0006 3568 2001 051 0807 mfootw 2 0 co 2 ISSN 1525 3244 Retrieved 5 January 2016 Why are Rainforests Important www rainforestconcern org Archived from the original on 2016 01 20 Retrieved 5 January 2016 What is natural capital naturalcapitalforum com World Forum on Natural Capital Archived from the original on 6 October 2019 Retrieved 31 December 2015 What is Natural Capital www naturalcapitalcoalition org Natural Capital Coalition Archived from the original on 2 June 2016 Retrieved 31 December 2015 Search The Encyclopedia of Earth www eoearth org UK NEAFO Work Package 1 Natural capital asset check Annex 4 Case studies uknea unep wcmc org UK National Ecosystem Assessment p 3 Retrieved 31 December 2015 Schumacher E F 1973 Small is Beautiful A Study of Economics As If People Mattered New York Harper amp Row ISBN 978 0 06 136122 7 COSTANZA ROBERT DALY HERMAN E March 1992 Natural Capital and Sustainable Development Conservation Biology 6 1 37 46 doi 10 1046 j 1523 1739 1992 610037 x ISSN 0888 8892 Farber Stephen June 1999 An Introduction to Ecological Economics Edited by Robert Costanza John Cumberland Herman Daly Robert Goodland and Richard Norgaard St Lucie Press 1997 pp 288 Ecological Economics 29 3 488 490 doi 10 1016 s0921 8009 99 00029 4 ISBN 1 884015 72 7 ISSN 0921 8009 1 Progress and Poverty by Henry George Chapter 2 Economic Definitions www henrygeorge org Edwards P J Abivardi C 1998 The value of biodiversity Where ecology and economy blend Biological Conservation 83 2 239 246 doi 10 1016 S0006 3207 97 00141 9 Naidoo R Malcolm T Tomasek A 2009 Economic benefits of standing forests in highland areas of Borneo quantification and policy impacts Conservation Letters 2 35 44 doi 10 1111 j 1755 263x 2008 00041 x Zhoua X Al Kaisib M Helmers M J 2009 Cost effectiveness of conservation practices in controlling water erosion in Iowa Soil and Tillage Research 106 1 71 8 doi 10 1016 j still 2009 09 015 Jonsson M Wardle D A 2009 Structural equation modelling reveals plant community drivers of carbon storage in boreal forest ecosystems Biology Letters 6 1 1 4 doi 10 1098 rsbl 2009 0613 PMC 2817262 PMID 19755530 Costanza R et al 1997 The value of the world s ecosystem services and natural capital PDF Nature 387 6630 253 260 Bibcode 1997Natur 387 253C doi 10 1038 387253a0 S2CID 672256 Archived from the original PDF on 2009 12 26 Ferguson K 2006 The True Value of Forests Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4 9 456 doi 10 1890 1540 9295 2006 4 452 D 2 0 CO 2 JSTOR 3868812 Anielski M Wilson S 2005 Counting Canada s Natural Capital Assessing the Real value of Canada s Boreal Ecosystems PDF Can Bor Ini Pembina Institute Ottawa Archived from the original PDF on 2005 12 07 Wakernagel M Rees W E 1997 Perceptual and structural barriers to investing in natural capital Economics from an ecological footprint perspective Ecological Economics 20 1 3 24 doi 10 1016 S0921 8009 96 00077 8 Sustainability Pathways Full cost accounting www fao org Retrieved 2020 03 10 Hawken Paul Amory Lovins Hunter Lovins 1999 Natural Capitalism Creating the Next Industrial Revolution ISBN 978 0 316 35316 8 Book Review Natural Capitalism Archived 2010 01 03 at the Wayback Machine from Socialfunds com Retrieved April 2009 Natural Capital Declaration www naturalcapitaldeclaration org Archived from the original on 8 December 2015 Retrieved 5 January 2016 Log In Natural Capital Coalition WordPress naturalcapitalcoalition org permanent dead link Natural Capital Coalition Protocol naturalcapitalcoalition org Natural Capital Protocol Launched Capitals Coalition 13 July 2016 Retrieved 15 June 2021 UN adopts landmark framework to integrate natural capital in economic reporting un org Ecosystem Accounting seea un org ARIES for SEEA un org Artificial intelligence saving the natural world un org UN launches the first artificial intelligence tool for rapid natural capital accounting unep org https www2 deloitte com content dam Deloitte fr Documents sustainability services deloitte etude emergence natural capital 2018 pdf bare URL PDF Conniff Richard 18 October 2012 What s Wrong with Putting a Price on Nature e360 yale edu Yale University Retrieved 5 January 2016 Monbiot George 24 July 2014 Put a price on nature We must stop this neoliberal road to ruin The Guardian Retrieved 5 January 2016 Paddison Laura 1 August 2014 Is natural capital a neoliberal road to ruin experts discuss The Guardian Retrieved 5 January 2016 Natural Capital Does putting a value on natural capital mean it will be sold off www naturalcapitalcommittee org Natural Capital Committee Archived from the original on 13 January 2016 Retrieved 5 January 2016 Further reading Edit Pearce D 1993 Blueprint 3 Measuring Sustainable Development Earthscan ISBN 1 85383 183 2 Jansson AnnMari et al 1994 Investing in Natural Capital The Ecological Economics Approach to Sustainability Washington D C Island Press 504 pp ISBN 1 55963 316 6 Daily Gretchen C editor 1997 Nature s Services Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems Washington D C Island Press 392 pp ISBN 1 55963 476 6 Prugh Thomas Robert Costanza et al 1999 Natural capital and human economic survival Solomons Md International Society for Ecological Economics 180 pp ISBN 1 56670 398 0 Helm Dieter 2015 Natural Capital Valuing Our Planet Yale University Press 277 pp ISBN 978 0 300 21098 9External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Natural capital Costanza Robert Lead Author Cutler J Cleveland Topic Editor 2008 Natural capital In Encyclopedia of Earth Eds Cutler J Cleveland Washington D C Environmental Information Coalition National Council for Science and the Environment First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth February 26 2007 Last revised July 31 2008 Retrieved September 5 2008 Earth Economics Natural Capital Accounting Solutions Article 2 Natural Capital Project A joint venture among The Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University The Nature Conservancy World Wildlife Fund NOAA Economics US Economic Benefits of Natural Systems to Business and Society Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit 3 Lacombe Morgane and Aronson James 2009 Restoring Natural Capital in Arid and Semiarid Regions Combining Ecosystem Health with Human Wellbeing Archived 2013 10 02 at the Wayback Machine Les dossiers thematiques du CSFD N 7 Earth Economics 4 http unstats un org unsd envaccounting seea asp System of Environmental Economic Accounting SEEA http www naturalcapitalcoalition com permanent dead link http naturalcapitalforum com Archived 2021 03 15 at the Wayback Machine in 2015 http teebweb org The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity TEEB https web archive org web 20150426071137 http unstats un org unsd envaccounting White cover pdf SEEA Central Framework https web archive org web 20160909034301 http envisionation co uk index php blogs nick breeze blogs 151 partha dasgupta natural capital Nick Breeze Interview with Economist Sir Partha Dasgupta What is Natural Capital Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Natural capital amp oldid 1122421819, wikipedia, wiki, 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