A new online course in Biodiversity Finance will feature a case study of Ireland as the first Western country to apply the BIOFIN methodology in its Biodiversity Expenditure Review.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners are running a free online course on Biodiversity Finance from 15 April, 2019. This seven-week course is designed to train biodiversity policymakers and practitioners to use the language of business and finance to better conserve biodiversity while delivering on national economic priorities.

When?  April 15-May 31 (7 weeks)
Where?  Online 
How?  Register free here

According to the UNDP, humanity depends on nature, yet we have historically ignored its value – the world’s natural capital is worth US$125 trillion per year. Nature’s services are threatened by conflicting private and public interests, ineffective policy and governance, and insufficient financing. It’s vital to make an urgent business case for financially sound and politically feasible solutions for biodiversity. 

This course aims to teach participants how to assess the policy, institutional, and economic context for biodiversity finance; conduct a financial needs assessment to achieve a country’s biodiversity goals; and, develop a biodiversity finance plan for most suitable finance solutions. 

It will feature Ireland's Biodiversity Expenditure Review examining how researchers Craig Bullock and Rachel Morrison (University College Dublin) broke new ground in applying the Biodiversity Finance Initiative methodology to track and mobilise finance for biodiversity. This is now being followed up with a Financial Needs Assessment for biodiversity, which was one of the Seeds for Nature from the National Biodiversity Conference. Both projects are co-funded by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish Research Council.

See: ​www.biodiversityfinance.net/news-and-media/free-online-course-biodiversity-finance-starts-15-april-2019 for more details.

​The BurrenBeo Learning Landscape Symposium is an annual event, every March, that aims to “bring together leading national and international specialists on the theme of how best to use our local places as a learning resource through different principles and practice in place-based learning”.
 
As such, it seems a good place to discuss ideas about the natural capital values and ecosystem services that our landscapes provide us with, but often only very inadequately recognised by mainstream economists, policy makers, and sometimes even conservationists.
 
So this year, environmental writer Paddy Woodworth and environmental economist Craig Bullock of the IFNC offered the organisers a workshop entitled “What is a native forest really worth? Integrating ALL the values of woodlands into our national accounting system through natural capital valuation”.

We were given a slot on the Sunday morning of this year’s weekend event, and we decided to do the workshop outdoors, a common and appropriate feature of Learning Landscape sessions. And we chose the relatively ancient hazel woodland in Slieve Carran nature reserve, precisely because this little forest might be regarded as almost without value in today’s economy – but only if the only value we see in a forest is commercial timber.

We got a good turnout of 15 people on a day on which snow and even hail were sweeping in off Galway Bay. Paddy and Craig gave brief presentations on general natural capital concepts at the car park, and we then managed the 15 minute hike to the start of the wood before the next shower hit.

Sheltered in under its low but magical canopy, we talked about how we could find market values in this landscape: pollination, carbon sequestration and – though not in this particular case – flood mitigation, and we discussed savings to health services through the physical and mental well-being communities experience when they have access to biodiverse native woodlands.

Further into the forest, at the remains of an archaeological site associated with St Colman, we talked about non-market values, such as aesthetic and spiritual cultural responses to nature, and the intrinsic value of biodiversity for its own sake. All around us, the understory biodiversity mostly hidden in winter here – carpets of wild garlic and wood anemone – were just becoming evident, even as snow floated down on us.

There were lively discussions on issues like how the discounting concept in economics – the value a resource may have in the future – might be applied to natural capital. Some people felt that the values locked up in nature, but threatened by climate change, might actually be even more valuable to societies in future than they are now, as they become scarcer and scarcer, making their conservation in the present all the more important.

On the hike back we broke into small groups for further informal discussion. Feedback was very positive. And more than one attendee undertook to spread information about the IFNC, about TEEB and natural capital advocate Pavan Sukhdev, through their own networks. So here is one happy outcome:

https://galwaywalkingclub.wordpress.com/walking-and-our-environment-jan-2019-newsletter/ 

Prof Dieter Helm CBE, Professor of Economic Policy and Official Fellow in Economics, New College, Oxford will discuss the role of economics in a human-dominated epoch and the potential for the natural capital approach to take society off a trajectory of ecological collapse. He will outline the analytics required to progress such an agenda and outline the vision for the future articulated in his new book, Green and Prosperous Land.
 
When?  11am, May 1st 2019
Where?  PACCAR Theatre, Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin 2 (map)
How?  Registration is free, please register via Eventbrite.

This event is jointly hosted by Trinity College Dublin and the Irish Forum on Natural Capital (IFNC). 
Prof. Helm has spent his professional life working on energy, infrastructure and natural resources. He explores modern farming, the EU’s CAP and the use of pesticides such as glyphosate, and is the Chair of the UK Natural Capital Committee.​
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The financial policy landscape is evolving in response to environmental risk. How can Ireland leverage the natural capital approach to drive investment from capital markets towards better management of assets?

Join authors of the Natural Capital Protocol from S&P Global (Trucost) and eftec for a workshop that explores the trends in regulation and market-based incentives, examines the connections to corporate natural capital assessments, and maps out the pathway to ESG performance.
 
When?  2pm – 4pm, Monday 29th April 2019. Light lunch from 1-2pm.
Where?  Chartered Accountants House, Pearse Street, Dublin 2 (map)
How?  Registration is free, please RSVP to events@naturalcapitalireland.com

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Join us on Monday April 12th for a free workshop on the nuts and bolts of ecosystem accounting with one of the architects of the approach, Mark Eigenraam (IDEEA Group).

Ecosystem accounting is being used by countries all over the world to support policies on biodiversity, climate, resource efficiency, nitrogen, water, forestry and sustainable agriculture, as well as to better understand synergies and trade offs between biodiversity and land, resource, ecosystem service use. 

Mark will explore the origins of ecosystem accounting, the different types of account, the data behind them, the role of valuation, how the accounts interact to present information, and how they're being used by decision-makers around the world to support better policy. 

Learn more about this emerging approach by joining us for this free event:

When?  11am - 1pm on Friday April 12th, followed by lunch
Where?  Botany Lecture Theatre, Botany Department, Trinity College Dublin (map)
How?  Registration is free, but please rsvp to events@naturalcapitalireland.com

"Biodiversity underpins everything and there is an opportunity and obligation to reflect it in as many ways as possible in a natural capital account," writes AECOM's Sarah Krisht, in the lead-up to Ireland’s first National Biodiversity Conference on the 20th and 21st of February 2019.


More than ever, we recognise that we need to take care of the natural capital assets that our environment provides; that we cannot survive without these assets. There are conferences, papers, reports, newsletters and blogs (like this one!), which are trying to push the discussion forward and raise awareness about the need to manage natural capital more sustainably. The hope is that these initiatives will spark the most important thing of all: ACTION.

One such action is for organisations to routinely account for their impacts and dependencies on natural capital. There are many frameworks to do this and many great examples of organisations that have done exactly this [see footnote 1]. They all are trying to answer the following questions:

1. What natural capital assets do they impact and depend on?
2. What benefits do those assets produce?
3. What is the value of those benefits? and
4. What does it cost to maintain those benefits?

Somewhere in every organisation and hopefully in their natural capital accounts, there is an important role played by biodiversity. It is an asset in itself but also underpins the productivity and health of all other natural capital assets. If ‘natural capital’ were a movie, then biodiversity would be a strong contender for Best Actor.

So how exactly can we factor biodiversity into a natural capital account? There are many answers:

• Biodiversity is a natural capital asset in itself

It could feature in what we call the ‘natural capital asset register’ of an account. This is an inventory of indicators of the extent and condition (quantity and quality) of natural capital which, when tracked over time, helps us answer the first question above. We could reflect biodiversity in terms of species counts, environmental designations and even biodiversity metrics such the Defra metric, a habitat-based proxy of biodiversity value [see footnote 2].

• Biodiversity is also an ecosystem service which provides benefits to wider society

It underpins other services that natural capital provides us like fisheries, timber and genetic resources but also recreation and aesthetic value. It also supports some of the processes which regulate our environment including its climate, air quality and resilience to environmental hazards. In this sense, biodiversity as an ecosystem service can be reflected in the physical flow of these other services because counting it separately would be double-counting.

• There is a value to the benefits that biodiversity provides

It is also possible to estimate the monetary value of the benefits provided by biodiversity. Again, part of it will be reflected in the monetary value of other services it underpins. But, there is another part which will not: ‘non-use value’ which is the value we get from biodiversity without needing to use, consume or directly experience it. This can range from valuing biodiversity because it is important in itself, to valuing it for the sake of others including future generations. There is evidence that can be used to estimate the monetary value of this ‘non-use’ component of biodiversity. But, it is challenging to apply evidence that has been obtained in one particular context to another, even after making adjustments. There are, however, on-going efforts to develop more robust evidence of society’s current preferences for biodiversity, drawing on a variety of monetary and non-monetary valuation techniques.

So yes, there are many answers which themselves raise other questions. This is not a bad or confusing place to be. On the contrary, it makes evident the fact that biodiversity underpins everything and there is an opportunity and obligation to reflect it in as many ways as possible in a natural capital account, but more importantly in any decision involving the environment – especially because we are losing global biodiversity at an unprecedented rate in human history! [see footnote 3]

It is fitting that the Irish Forum on Natural Capital and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht are hosting Ireland’s first National Biodiversity Conference to discuss precisely these issues. Join them on the 20th and 21st of February 2019 to hopefully help spark the most important thing of all: action.

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Sarah Krisht is a Principal Environmental Economist at AECOM who specialises in developing economic evidence to inform decisions that affect natural capital. She is part of AECOM’s Policy and Appraisal team, which includes expertise in natural capital and ecosystem services, strategic environmental assessment, sustainability appraisal, and climate policy. For more information, please contact sarah.krisht@aecom.com.

1 See for example the Natural Capital Coalition’s website for more information: https://naturalcapitalcoalition.org/
2 See the proposed new biodiversity metric: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6020204538888192
3 See WWF’s Living Planet Report 2018: https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/living-planet-report-2018

Andrea brings a wealth of experience in sustainability, green economy, enterprise and energy. She has worked with over 500 businesses on issues as varied as environmental, energy, social and economic development and advised local government on sustainable development and economic development issues. She holds a BA in Environmental Geography, MSc in Environmental Resource Management and is currently completing an MBA in International Business.

We are also delighted to welcome Bernadette Phelan, Head of Sustainability Services at Business in the Community Ireland, as our new Deputy Chair.

Bernadette is a senior executive in corporate responsibility and sustainability practice, and has worked on regional, national and EU programmes at leading public and non-profit organisations. Currently she sits on the Management Team of BITCI, the leading Irish network for responsible business. She holds a Msc in Regional Development from UCD, a BA (mod) in Economics and Geography from Trinity College and an Advanced Certificate in Renewable Energy from Limerick IT.

Both Andrea and Bernadette have been members of IFNC since its inception, and served on the Steering Committee since 2016. For more information on the Board, Chairs and other SC members, see here.

Many thanks to our outgoing Chair Jane Stout from Trinity College Dublin who will continue to be closely involved with the Forum as a director and member of the Steering Committee

Great news for people across Ireland working on biodiversity; the 'Together for Biodiversity' awards, supported by Irish Wildlife Trust & Dublin Port, have just been launched. The winners will be announced in February at the National Biodiversity Conference (www.biodiversityconference.ie) in Dublin Castle, which is being co-organised by the Irish Forum on Natural Capital and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, has welcomed these innovative awards: “The ‘Together for Biodiversity Awards’ are a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the wealth of work being done at local level to protect wildlife and create and restore habitats across Ireland. By inviting nominees to present their work at the National Biodiversity Conference and announcing the winners at the event, we are ensuring that the voices of community groups are represented at this major national conference. We are delighted to partner with Dublin Port Company and the Irish Wildlife Trust on this collaborative initiative and I look forward to meeting the nominees and hearing about their efforts to enhance Ireland’s biodiversity.

Have you or your community been involved in a project to help protect local wildlife or habitats this year? Perhaps you planted a school wildlife garden, made your village more pollinator friendly or helped protect a local wetland. If so, all you have to do to enter is tell us about the work you carried out and how it helped your local biodiversity. More information here.

The Together for Biodiversity Awards are part of the National Biodiversity Conference, which takes place at Dublin Castle on 20th and 21st February 2019. The National Biodiversity Conference is being organised by the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Irish Forum on Natural Capital. 

There are categories for community groups, farmers, schools and individual biodiversity champions. The awards are a great opportunity to showcase the work of biodiversity champions in our society. The deadline for entries is December 3rd 2018. After this date, entries will be reviewed by the organisers and posted online so that the public can vote on their favourite. The projects with the highest number of public votes will progress to the judging panel, who will select the top three finalists in each category, along with the category winner.

Finalists will be invited to the the National Biodiversity Conference to exhibit a poster on their project. Winners will be announced by the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, TD, and CEO of Dublin Port Company, Eamon O’Reilly. The winner of each category will receive €2,000 to spend on a future biodiversity project, while runners up will receive €500-worth of vouchers to support their work.

In 2012, the 'System for Environmental-Economic Accounts - Central Framework' (SEEA-CF) was published and approved by the UN Statistical Commission, becoming the international standard for Natural Capital Accounting (NCA). Today, work is underway to standardise an additional set of 'Experimental Ecosystem Accounts' that consider biodiversity and habitats. 

SEEA uses concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules that are consistent with Systems of National Accounts, and therefore are internationally comparable. In recent years, a number of other initiatives have emerged that aim to measure, value and account for natural capital. These include the Natural Capital Protocol, launched in 2015 by the Natural Capital Coalition and aimed at the private sector, and methodologies such as Corporate Natural Capital Accounting, led by the UK’s Natural Capital Committee. Today, efforts to harmonise this work are underway to progress a joint approach to recognising, valuing, protecting and restoring natural capital.

Carl Obst (IDEEA Group) is one of the architects of the SEEA Central Framework and the Experimental Ecosystem Accounts, and earlier this year, he joined us for a workshop at Trinity College Dublin to help us get to grips with the concepts and the methodology. This blog is a synopsis of his talk, but you can watch the video below and download the slides in PDF form.

​Types of Natural Capital Accounts

Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) is a tool to measure the changes in the stock of natural capital at a variety of scales and to integrate the value of ecosystem services into accounting and reporting systems at a variety of levels. Accounting for natural capital is seen as an important step in ensuring integrated economic and political decision-making, supporting inclusive development and improving economic management. It is said to add value to macro-economic policy and the development of macro-indicators alongside GDP, sectoral policies, responsible business practices and a globally consistent approach to accounting for ecosystems and their value.

The EU’s 7th Environmental Action Programme (EAP) defines natural capital as biodiversity, including ecosystems that provide goods and services. The SEEA however takes a broader view, defining “environmental assets” as biotic and abiotic components of the Earth, which may provide benefits to humanity. It does not specifically define natural capital.

SEEA enables effective and internationally comparable NCA by offering an organising framework for information that falls outside the production boundary of the economy. Typically, such information consists of environmental goods and services that are not traded in markets. SEEA captures the flows of ecosystem goods and benefits (i.e. ecosystem services) entering the economy, the residuals coming out, as well as residuals that may stay within the economy (for instance through recycling), and in doing so, supports a conceptualisation of the economy as a system within the environmental system, as opposed to outside it.

SEEA’s Central Framework comprises three main types of accounts:

1. Environmental Flow Accounts for physical assets like water, energy, waste and GHG emissions, which record information and link it to economic activity, allowing - for instance - resource use to be mapped through economic supply chains.
2. Natural Resource Accounts that assess stocks and use of ecosystem goods that have market value, such as timber, fish or minerals. These assets can be valued in either biophysical units, or in monetary units using the Net Present Value of individual resources.
3. Environmental Transaction Accounts, which comprise information on resource management expenditure, environmental taxes, subsidies and environmental protection expenditures. These transactions are already recorded in standard economic accounts but this account separates them out and facilitates connection to areas such as green jobs and green economy.

In 2014, the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA-EEA) guidelines were published. An emerging area of statistics, this fourth type of account focuses on ecosystem assets and services to integrate biophysical data and track changes in their stocks and flows, and link them to economic activity. The asset, for example a forest, is measured in terms of its health (condition) and size (extent), which informs understanding of the state of the asset, how that state changes over time, which flows of services we get from which assets, the extent of their contribution to the economy and society, as well as the groups that benefit from those flows. Such information can support the analysis of competing policy outcomes and inform management decisions on investment in and/or exploitation of the asset.

Unlike the other three types of accounts within the SEEA that are done at national level, ecosystem accounts are done at a spatial level and can therefore be applied to a country, a county, a catchment, or a land parcel. Within each area, there will potentially be a number of types of ecosystem asset (stocks) delivering different sets of services (flows) that can be mapped and valued. This can be done using biophysical data and/or financial metrics: accounting for any type of stock and flow is essentially a quantitative description of relationships that emerge through transactions between economic units. Traditionally, these economic units have included businesses, households and Governments, etc. By creating a new set of economic units based on ecosystem assets, it is possible to map the transactions between them and existing economic units. How these relationships are defined (i.e. monetarily or biophysically) is a choice that depends on the type of decision that the analysis seeks to inform.


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 - Applications for this position are now closed -
 
The Irish Forum on Natural Capital (IFNC) seeks a motivated, part-time, freelance/self-employed administration assistant. Tasks will include arranging Forum committee meetings, compiling agendas and minutes; promoting the Forum on social media, compiling a newsletter, updating the website, managing blogs; managing emails and member registrations; and occasionally attending relevant external meetings and writing up notes.

It is envisaged that these tasks should take approximately five days per month, at a rate of €200 per day. Applicants should have skills in administration and communications, a background in business/natural sciences and an interest in the natural capital concept. Applicants should send a short letter outlining their suitability for the post, plus a CV containing the names and contact details of at least two referees to Hannah Hamilton naturalcapitalireland@gmail.com.