The State of Natural Capital Report
“Our economy relies on natural resources and a whole range of benefits that nature supplies…. Society has taken nature and its benefits for granted which means they are not costed in the economy and are underrepresented in decision making. This results in decisions that cause damage to nature and increases risks for the economy and society into the future.”
This stark warning is taken from the introduction to The State of Natural Capital Report (https://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6683489974616064), Natural England’s first attempt to provide evidence for decision makers on the state of our ecosystem assets.
The report identifies the risks to our ecosystem assets from a range of threats (climate change, pollution, invasive species, land-use change and resource exploitation), identifying the impact and trend for each threat across 8 broad ecosystems. By linking these to specific policy areas, the report demonstrates to decision makers the direct link between damage to natural capital and delivery of six key policies: Economic Resilience, Net Zero, Climate Adaptation, Food Security, Health & Wellbeing and Water Security.
Three main ways to reduce risk are identified:
Achieving large-scale targeted restoration of ecosystems
Reducing drivers of change causing nature loss
Making natural capital central to decision-making.
Here at Tellus Natural Capital, we endorse the report’s call for natural capital to be brought into decision-making at all levels of government and in other sectors, including by:
Embedding priority actions in emerging policy development
Applying Nature Related Financial Disclosure in companies’ and financial institutions’ risk management
Promoting private and public investment in large-scale ecosystem creation and restoration
Filling evidence and data gaps and making information available to inform decision making.
As the report shows, the wider economy is facing significant risks from the depletion of our natural capital. Decision makers need to tackle those risks and support efforts to invest in natural capital now, to secure all our futures.
Kate Russell
Chief Operating Officer
October 2024