Natural capital

The The SuDS Manual, CIRIA C753, 2015 suggests that the term ‘natural capital’ refers to ‘…the elements of nature that produce value to people, such as the stock of forests, water, land, minerals and oceans. These provide benefits such as food, clean air, wildlife, energy, wood, recreation, and protection from natural hazards (Natural Capital Committee).’

The Value Toolkit Overview published by the Construction Innovation Hub in April 2021 defines natural capital as: ‘…the stock of renewable and non-renewable resources (e.g. plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people. In the context of the built environment, Natural Capital values the natural environment, addresses solutions to climate impacts and provides benefits to society throughout the full life cycle of the built assets.’

The Natural Capital Committee defined natural capital as: ‘...those elements of the natural environment which provide valuable goods and services to people’

Anticipate, react, recover; Resilient infrastructure systems, published by the National Infrastructure Commission in May 2020, defines natural capital as: ‘The stock of natural assets that directly or indirectly produce value to people, including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions.’

Assessing landscape value outside national designations, Technical Guidance Note 02/21, published by the Landscape Institute in 2021, defines natural capital as: ‘The elements of nature that directly and indirectly produce value or benefits to people, including ecosystems, species, fresh water, land, minerals, the air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions.’ (ref Natural Capital Committee, 2014)

North Ayrshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan, 2019-2031, published by North Ayrshire Council, states: ‘“The world’s stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible. The most obvious ecosystem services include the food we eat, the water we drink and the plant materials we use for fuel, building materials and medicines. There are also many less visible ecosystem services such as the climate regulation and natural flood defences provided by forests, the billions of tonnes of carbon stored by peatlands, or the pollination of crops by insects. Even less visible are cultural ecosystem services such as the inspiration we take from wildlife and the natural environment.’

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Biodiversity.
• BRE articles.
• BREEAM.
• Ecological baseline.
• Ecological value.
• Ecological survey.
• Ecosystem services.
• Ecology.
• Ecology compensation.
• Green infrastructure.
• Habitat.
• Habitat Suitability Index
• Habitat survey
• Home Quality Mark.
• Human capital.
• Natural capital, infrastructure banks and energy system renationalisation.
• Produced capital.
• Social capital.