Natural Capital 3

Natural Capital 3

1. Natural Capital Assessment design considerations

   • Step 4: Assess sector dependencies on ecosystem assets
     • identify and map where priority sector activities that are dependent on ecosystem assets are taking place.
     • assesses the nature of these dependencies and identifies any ecosystem assets delivering services that cannot be readily substituted.
     • 1: Mapping priority sector activities and vulnerable beneficiaries: provides a good foundation for exploring sector linkages with ecosystem assets, while also establishing a spatial planning context for decision-making.
     • 2 Assessing the links between ecosystem assets and priority sector activities: describe how geographically defined areas of sector activities (and any associated vulnerable beneficiary groups) depend on specific ecosystem assets and the flow of the particular ecosystem services they provide.
     • 3 Step summary: helps decision-makers to account for the specific needs of vulnerable groups with high dependencies on ecosystem assets.
   • Step 5: Identify priority sector impacts on natural capital:
     • This is key to informing the sustainable use of natural capital in the planning unit.
       • Defining drivers and impacts: the resulting effects of sectoral activities on ecosystem assets and/or ecosystem services, encompassing both negative and positive effects.
       • Impact drivers are generally expressed in quantitative units
       • Examples of direct drivers: Habitat changes, overexploitation, invasive alien species, pollution, climate change
       • Examples of indirect drivers: Population change, change in economic activity, socio-political drivers, cultural (and religious) drivers, Technological change
   • Step 8: Use the Natural Capital Assessment
     • If natural capital is to continue to yield benefits to current and future generations, policies and regulatory frameworks need to be in place to support a transition to a green economy
     • This requires the formulation of policy targets to arrest and reverse worrying trends in natural capital and to support the creation of enabling conditions for natural capital investments.
     • 1 Scope policy targets to support transition to a green economy
       • The purpose of this sub-step is to analyse how trends in natural capital can impact on priority sector activities and human well-being in the planning unit
         • Scope indicators in relation to green economy targets
           • this process establishes the broad economic implications of these trends
         • Scope indicators for natural capital improvement
           • As part of a Green Economy Plan, natural capital investment opportunities need to be identified and realised.Scoping potential investment opportunities should include the following actions:
             • Identify indicators for natural capital types that are delivering the greatest benefits for priority sector activities.
             • Identify sectors with positive impacts on natural capital and access to ecosystem service flows
             • Identify ecosystem assets providing ecosystem service flows whose value is not being realised.
         • Scope the economic implications of passing ecosystem asset thresholds
           • is identifying specific ecosystem assets within the planning unit that are approaching thresholds at which ecosystem service delivery may collapse.
         • Scope SMART natural capital policy targets to support a transition to a green economy
           • Once you have determined a broad set of indicators for natural capital issues, investment and management, scope the structure of suitable policy targets
     • 2 Extending the assessment: Using Total Economic Valuation (TEV) to make the case for investing in natural capital
       • Acknowledging and estimating the value of the ecosystem services provided by ecosystem assets is an important step for a transition to a sustainable green economy.
     • 3 Using the SEEA-Central Framework to set policy targets for a green economy
       • The purpose of the framework is to organise and communicate data, aggregates and indicators to inform sustainable development.
         • Natural capital resource use from production and consumption
         • Decoupled indicators for emissions and resource use
         • Environmental goods and services
         • Green jobs

2. Natural Capital Assessment Design Considerations

   • Step 6: Establish the status and trends in natural capital:
     • Focuses on how to select and determine biophysical indicators for communicating related issues. Using a tiered approach to analyse the status and trends of natural capital can be helpful.
   • Step 7: Use scenarios to assess future changes in natural capital
     • how scenarios can be used in forward-looking assessments of natural capital to support decision-making at sub-national or larger scales.
     • Scenarios: plausible and often simplified descriptions of how the future may develop based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about key driving forces and relationships. Also, provide a structured approach to address the uncertainties and complexities of exploring the impacts of future events on ecosystem service delivery at different scales
     • 1 Determine the purpose of the scenarios exercise
       • Can be designed for different purposes, so it is important to have a clear understanding of the goals of a scenarios exercise from the outset.
         • Understanding and knowledge generation: Compares the implications of different assumptions about the drivers of change.
         • Developing common goals, visioning: Defines a vision/goal for the future
         • Communication, shared understanding: Uses plausible scenarios to illustrate the different possibilities for the future or the consequences of different trends and choices.
         • Policymaking, policy evaluation: Compares the implications of different policy options
         • Planning and management: Compares the implications of different management or planning strategies.
     • 2 Adapt storylines from existing scenario analyses
       • Go With The Flow – society carries on with business as usual, based on the current situation in the system.
       • Green and Pleasant Land – society adopts a preservationist attitude towards UK ecosystems.
       • Nature at Work – society promotes ecosystem services through the creation of multifunctional landscapes.
     • 3 Explore the impacts of climate change as part of the scenario development process
       • Depending on the agreed purpose of your scenarios exercise, it may be appropriate to develop plausible futures that assess the impact of climate change in order to inform climate adaptation planning or climate mitigation policy
     • 4 Identify opportunities to engage stakeholders in the scenario development process
       • Participatory mapping approaches for scenario development allow you to integrate local stakeholder knowledge of how the system of interest works into your assessment.
     • 5 Exploring how natural capital might change under different plausible futures
       • The idea of scenarios analysis within a Natural Capital Assessment context, is to explore how natural capital – specifically, ecosystem services – might change under different futures
     • 6. Communicate the results to target groups
       • To inform decisions on the management and use of natural capital, you need to communicate and use the results of your scenarios analysis.
       • Engaging with stakeholders, such as decision makers, to establish the goal of the exercise and to develop the scenarios themselves is an important step towards the results being credible, legitimate, relevant and used

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