Testing the natural Capital Protocol in an upland farm in Scotland: The Glensaugh case study
The Natural Capital Protocol (The “Protocol”) has been applied to Glensaugh farm to evaluate the impacts and dependencies of past, actual, and potential changes in Glensaugh farm management strategies through a natural capital lens. This work explored how the Protocol can be applied and how it can be used to support and evaluate land-based business decision-making in the context of a Scottish upland farm.
About the project
The Protocol served as a framework for a systematic analysis of dependencies, impacts, risk and opportunities involving natural capital in Glensaugh. The resultant natural capital assessment considers both a retrospective analysis of farm management strategies over the last 15 years and a prospective analysis involving natural capital investment aimed at enabling a transition to low carbon farming. Most concretely it explore the impacts of a further woodland expansion at Glensaugh farm on natural capital, and the trade-offs that may be involved when native woodlands or non-native fast growing species are planted.
- The executive Summary of this report can be found here: Application of the Natural Capital Protocol at Glensaugh Farm – Executive Summary
- The full report can be found here: Application of the Natural Capital Protocol at Glensaugh Farm – Full Report
- A video presentation can be found here:
- The conceptual basis for natural capital valuation and accounting can be found here: Report
Glensaugh application aims to contribute to the evaluation and synthesis of the lessons learned from the different natural capital assessment trial project for land-based business in Scotland developed by different organisations that form part of the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital.
This work is supported by the Macaulay Development Trust through a Fellowhip in Natural Capital. This fellowship aims to contribute to natural capital accounting and valuation approaches to inform land-based decision and policy making.
The work was carried out by Dr Paola Ovando Pol, who remains an honorary associate of the Institute. For more information about subsequent areas of work related to this project, please contact Simone Martino.
