The Scottish Government’s aspiration is to increase the contribution of natural capital to a broader range of economic and social benefits. This target is embedded in policies. However, the Dasgupta Report [1] and other documents stress that humanity underestimates the value of nature leading to its ‘overconsumption’. Thus, an improved understanding of the mechanisms to capture the values of natural capital is needed, exemplifying the importance of natural capital in relation to climate change [2], spurring the provision of ecosystem services (e.g., of public goods) and/or enhancing the condition of ‘nature’ (e.g., through rewilding [3]).
Natural capital valuation can offer a basis for decision-making and monitoring the effects of policies, and land and resource management decisions. Therefore, this inter- transdisciplinary research was designed to answer the questions of:
We are working in a participatory environment where stakeholder engagement, brand-new technology, and advanced scientific methodology are brought together. We believe that the proposed integration of methods and their use of in a socially innovative milieu, with a framework and new knowledge to be co-constructed with end-users (along with other benefits) will enable:
Staff involved and key contacts
The Project PI is Maria Nijnik [5] (Maria.Nijnik@hutton.ac.uk [6]). Other staff involved are Simone Martino [7], Stanislav Martinat [8] of SEGS [9] and Margaret McKeen [10] and Chen Wang [11] of ICS [12]. More colleagues are anticipated to join; the recruitment process is in place.
Acknowledgement
This project is supported by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government through its Strategic Research Programme (2022-2027). It is project JHI-D5-1 in the Natural Resources theme.
Links:
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review
[2] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/research/climatechangehutton/climate-change-forestry-and-woodland
[3] https://aecom.com/uk/natural-capital-laboratory/
[4] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221204161630479X
[5] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/maria-nijnik
[6] mailto:maria.nijnik@hutton.ac.uk
[7] http://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/simone-martino
[8] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/stanislav-martinat
[9] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/research/departments/social-economic-and-geographical-sciences
[10] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/margaret-mckeen
[11] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/chen-wang
[12] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/research/departments/information-and-computational-sciences
[13] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/staff/simone-martino
[14] https://www.hutton.ac.uk/research/projects/galvanising-change-natural-capital