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Application of the Natural Capital Protocol in Glensaugh farm

Integrating natural capital thinking into land-based decision-making
Glensaugh research farm (© Paola Ovando, 2019)

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.

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.

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 organizations that form part of the ‘Sustainable Land Management’ working group 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

For any inquiries, please contact Paola Ovando Pol.

Comments on the research

“am writing (from Australia) to express my appreciation and gratitude for your work demonstrating the application of the NCP at Glensaugh Farm. We are working on several natural capital accounting projects and have greatly appreciated the rigorous, clear and explicit report of the approach you’ve taken to this case study” Sue Ogilvy (Ecological Accounting and Investment Solutions)

Project Information
Project Type: 
Active Project

Research

Areas of Interest


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The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.