Project Description
I am leading the development of a Natural Asset Famework that states the case for nature recovery and protected areas in ways meaningful for citizens, politicians, and investors.
Intial development work was conducted in Brazil together with my colleagues Prof. Richard Ladle and Dr Ben Caldecott with funding from WWF-UK and under a Brazilian CNPg Senior Visiting Researcher grant. The framework comprises four interacting system elements: land and natural assets, value-generating practices, forms of value & domain of accrual and sources of finance.
It offers a creative and systematic means to explore four critical questions: 1) What forms of value are land/natural/PA assets currently generating and for whom? 2) What forms of value could natural asset recovery generate and for whom? 3) What forms of value are wanted, how soon will they materialise, and what are the trade-offs? 4) How can natural asset restoration and natural area management become financially viable?
I have adapted the framework to the UK context as a service for landowners, developers and local authoritities that expand, grounds and personalizes the natural captial concept. In Brazil, Rich’s team is applying the framework to generate new thinking on the management of five state protected areas in Alagoas Province and Chipada National Park.