Monday, 25 November 2013 00:00
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Last week over 500 delegates from 35 countries gathered together to hold the world’s first-ever conference on natural capital. The basic idea being that putting a value on nature can help save it. At the forum, Scotland became the first country in the world to evaluate its nature and put a price tag of 23 billion pounds a year to it.
Natural capital is the world’s stocks of natural assets including geology, soil, air, water and the millions of species of plants and animals. It provides a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible. These include the provision of food, clean water, plant materials used for fuel, building materials and medicines. There are also many less visible ecosystem services such as climate regulation and natural flood defences provided by forests, the billions of tonnes of carbon stored by peat lands, or the pollination of crops by insects.
But amid growing global media interest, there is still a lack of understanding of natural capital among business leaders, the conference concluded. The World Forum on Natural Capital has highlighted the need for business to be involved in shaping the debate and turning that debate into action.
Protecting and rebuilding natural capital is a vital issue for society and business and requires immediate attention. The conference has highlighted that there is a pressing need for businesses, governments, scientists, environmental organisations and communities to work together to tackle the abuse of natural life-support systems and resources.
There has been a recognition from business that more must be done, simply put – conservation cannot keep up with the pace of depletion of resources and if the world is ever going to close that gap, more research, more education, better technology and, importantly, the commitment from business to act in all everyone’s interests is needed.
Speakers at the conference pointed out that mangroves in the Philippines could have saved many in the recent hurricane disaster. The value of mangrove is £1,000 per hectare. But if one factors in storm protection, the fact fish use them to breed in and their climate regulation – the mangroves are worth around £21,000 per hectare to the local communities. Such thinking, if factored into business decisions would, theoretically at least, result in more environmentally friendly outcomes.
Given the massive environmental challenges for developing countries, would not knowing the value of nature and communicating it to the business community and implementing it through Government policies be progressive? For example how valuable could the Sinharaja forest be for Sri Lanka? And how can it be protected so this value can be enhanced as natural capital for the future?
Conversely businesses would understand how environmental degradation is costing their ventures. Chief executives used to roll their eyes at the subject matter, but when then people like Paul Polman who runs Unilever pointed out that climate change is costing his business £250m a year. Kering, the company that owns brands such as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, is examining how the environment impacts the whole group, for example where the leather and precious metals used in these products are sourced.
Such statements show leading multinationals are waking up and this could lead to innovation. It’s an innovation that Sri Lankan businesses with their access to vast natural capital can also consider and tap into with a sincere wish for positive change.
