Events and Blogs

  The Capitals Coalition and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative recently published new guidance, aiming to enable businesses and financial institutions to better value biodiversity in their decision-making processes. The guidance is the latest in a growing suite of complementary guides for the Natural Capital Protocol. What is the Natural Capital Protcol? The Natural Capital Protocol (NCP) is a decision-making framework…

  Introduction There is increasing interest in natural capital risks and opportunities for sustainable investment and policy practices. Consequently, natural capital accounting approaches provide important metrics for the environment. Both private and public sectors have been exploring how natural capital accounting may offer new approaches to decision-making with focus on more sustainable outcomes for society and the environment. Those efforts…

  Biodiversity Net Gain is increasingly talked about, and is being introduced into legislation and guidance. Hear Scottish Forum on Natural Capital members SLR Consulting share their views about what this actually means, and how it is being used: What is meant by Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)? Biodiversity Net Gain or BNG is generally defined as “development that leaves biodiversity in a…

  Convened by NatureScot, and the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital, the Natural Capital Roundtables bring together senior representatives from across the public sector in Scotland, with the aim to explore natural capital approaches, share best practice, and develop joint actions. This year's Roundtable theme was "Investing in nature-based solutions for a green recovery", and was chaired by Francesca Osowska, NatureScot CEO. In her opening…

The Scottish Forum recently submitted our priorities to RESAS, (Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services), part of the Environment and Forestry Directorate of The Scottish Government. This was in response to a draft consultation seeking priorities for the next five year cycle of research on the environment, natural resources and agriculture, beginning in 2022.    The Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Research Programme is a large,…

On the 27th November 2017, Edinburgh hosted the world's first Government Dialogue on Natural Capital. Representatives from 16 countries, the European Commission and a range of non-governmental organisations met to discuss governments’ role in creating an enabling environment for the natural capital agenda. Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, opened the Dialogue with an…

An analysis of the economic and social benefits of investing in the natural environment of Stirling has been carried out and will soon be available here.  If you urgently require a copy of the full report, please contact Punit Desai, Project Officer, by email at pdesai@naturalcapitalforum.com.

On the 23rd November 2017, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital convened a high-level roundtable in Edinburgh to determine how to take forward the Scottish Government's commitments of protecting and rebuilding natural capital. Bringing together 18 public sector bodies in Scotland, including NHS – Health Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Water, the discussion was the first…

What is biodiversity? Whilst often perceived as simply representing exotic and endangered species, biodiversity includes all of the life on Earth, in all of its forms – from bluebells to redwoods, molluscs to whales – and all its interactions. It is the interactions between biodiversity and non-living resources that generate most of the benefits that flow from natural capital. In…

The policy drivers for agriculture and land management within Scotland are changing, with a much greater focus on actively working with nature and developing a better appreciation of our dependencies on the natural world to promote a more sustainable future. Post-Brexit policy, while uncertain, is anticipated to have a greater focus on public payments for public goods, while improving the…