Ambitious plans to manage and protect our Natural Capital
With the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) having published its 4th Annual Report in January this year and with the general election just days away, we thought now might be the right moment to touch once again on the very important topic of England’s Natural Capital and how to protect it.
For those who don’t know what Natural Capital is, it can be defined as the world’s stocks of natural assets which include soil, geology, water, air and all living things. From this capital, we derive a wide range of services (often called ecosystem services) which essentially make human life possible. With that in mind, Natural Capital is a pretty important topic.
The NCC was re-established in 2016 in order to advise the government on the development and delivery of its 25 year environmental plan and earlier this year they released a new report detailing their recommendations of the somewhat radical changes the government needs to make to manage and make best use of our Natural Capital.
So, why can’t we just take what we need from the environment?
It could be likened to the financial market, where if we borrow money and spend more than we have, we are left with debts we are unable to pay back. The natural world is the same, if we take too much from the environment, the short answer is, it could lead to global ecosystem collapse. A straightforward example of this would be trees. If we cut down all the trees in an area (perhaps for fuel, product production, to clear space to build houses or a whole range of other reasons) but we don’t plant new trees, the simple fact is that we will eventually run out of trees. The impact of this being perhaps obviously no fuel and no product production but more significantly no clean air or water, greater risk of flooding or drought, loss of habitat therefore loss of certain flora and fauna and eventually long term damage to or loss of local and wider ecosystems.
Essentially, if we do not manage our natural capital effectively, we run the risk of putting ourselves at ecological, social and economic risk. Even if you aren’t a believer in protecting the environment and your motives are purely economic, the value of our natural capital in financial terms is priceless. Don’t believe me? A 2014 study published in the Journal of Global Environmental Change revealed that the total value of the World’s ecosystem services amounted to in excess of $124 trillion per year. That’s twice the global aggregate GDP.
So what can the government do?
This new report is pushing the government to make bigger and braver changes faster. It’s recommending that instead of the, until now, fairly ambiguous targets, the government begins to make itself accountable. The paper recommends “quantifiable and measurable” outcomes which are put to scrutiny under an independent body,
The NCC wants a new white paper to map out future legislation and for natural capital to be financially valued and for these valuations to guide budgetary decisions and future investments.
Importantly, the paper recommends integrated legislation. It wants the protection and management of Natural Capital incorporated into the climate change committee’s latest budget and post-brexit policy creation.
It advises that Natural Capital should no longer be a stand alone agenda item but be an integral part of government legislation and decision making across the board. Essentially it’s saying policy needs to be joined up at its very inception rather than added as an appendage to existing legislation. The NCC report has even set out how a range of public bodies should increase their engagement with the concept of Natural Capital including National Parks, The Office for National Statistics and The National Infrastructure Commission.
As a landscape professional, it’s heartening to see that finally the value and protection of our natural world is beginning to creep into core policy making processes at a national and even international level. That doesn’t make it any less important for each one of us to get involved and do our bit but the government is being called to order on its objective to be “the first generation to leave the natural environment of England in a better state than that in which we found it” because this new report finally challenges the government to produce a similarly ambitious plan in relation to Natural Capital. Let’s hope the next occupant of 10 Downing Street is up to the job.
Photo by Matthew Walsh