Celebrating 10 Years of Natural Capital Ireland
- Jane Stout
- 2 hours ago
- 9 min read
At time of publication in December 2025, Professor Jane Stout is the Vice President for Biodiversity and Climate Action at Trinity College Dublin. Natural Capital Ireland expresses their warmest gratitude to her for compiling this retrospective on the organisation's first decade.
2011-2022: My Natural Capital Ireland Experience
Written by Professor Jane Stout in November 2024
In 2011, I was helping to organise a session at ESOF Dublin and invited the inspirational Professor Gretchen Daily to speak in a session on “Soil, land and food security: the challenges for science, economics and policy”. I was delighted that Gretchen accepted my invitation, and was supported by a Trinity College Dublin Visiting Professorship grant to come to Dublin in July 2012.
As well as speaking at the ESOF session, Gretchen came to Trinity to speak as part of the Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research seminar series on “Harmonizing People and Nature: A New Business Model”. She gave a hugely stimulating lecture on the work she was doing with the Natural Capital Project.
In the audience at this lecture was Paddy Woodworth, and over a cup of coffee afterwards, we discussed running a conference on the Natural Capital concept in Ireland. Paddy suggested bringing in Dr Catherine Farrell, then senior ecologist at Bord na Mona, and Dr Declan Little, then Project Manager at Woodlands of Ireland. The four of us drank many more cups of coffee as the concept of our conference grew. We became an everso slightly more formal committee, which I chaired, and in April 2014, we held the conference “Natural Capital: Ireland’s Hidden Wealth” at the beautiful National Botanic Gardens. The conference benefitted from the organising skills of Dr Cara Augustenborg with excellent assistance from Hannah Hamilton.
The conference heard national and international perspectives, and included some outdoor discussions in the native Irish habitats areas of the Botanic Gardens.
Rudolf de Groot, University of Wageningen “Why should we value Natural Capital and some lessons learned from the global TEEB study”
Micheál O’Briaín, DG Environment “EU commitment and support”
Feargal O’Coigligh, Dept. Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht “Ireland’s commitment to natural capital accounting under the Biodiversity Action Plan”
Jo Pike, World Forum on Natural Capital “The UK experience”
Paul Harris, Green IFSC “Natural capital: risks and opportunities for Irish businesses”
Dan O’Brien, Institute of International and European Affairs “An economist’s response”
Micheál Ó’Cinnéide, EPA “Natural capital and environmental protection: reality and practice in Irish case studies”
Declan Little, Woodlands of Ireland “The natural capital of native woodlands in Ireland”
Brendan Dunford, Burren Farming for Conservation Project “Valuing Natural and Cultural Capital in the Burren”
Catherine Farrell, Bord na Mona “Investing in Irish Peatlands”
Des Chew, Dublin Angling Initiative “Social Capital: Values of the Dublin Angling Initiative”
James Aronson, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive “Pioneering Projects in Restoring Natural Capital, integrating benefits to people and ecosystems - Examples from the Developing World.”
Organisers and speakers at the National Botanic Gardens, April 2014. Individuals: Declan Little (L) and Catherine Farrell (R).
The audience at this meeting unanimously accepted the core proposal that a national Natural Capital Forum be established, and we received support from National Parks and Wildlife Service and EPA to set up the Irish Forum on Natural Capital (IFNC). The IFNC Steering Committee (see overleaf) met for the first time in summer 2014, elected Declan Little as Chair, and contracted Hannah Hamilton to run the Secretariat.
In 2015, the IFNC officially launched via its website (in April) at a workshop held in Trinity College Dublin (in June). At the workshop, presentations were given by
Mark Gough, Executive Director of the Natural Capital Coalition “The global implications of the natural capital agenda for business and government”
Edward Wright, Sustainability Director at Business in the Community NI “Making natural capital make sense for business”
Gemma Weir, NPWS “Natural capital policy in the EU and Ireland and the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) project”
Micheál Ó'Cinnéide, Director, EPA “The research context for natural capital in Ireland”.
In addition, the steering committee were introduced, the key objectives of the IFNC were discussed, and four working groups were formed.
In September 2015, a high-level meeting on “Taking Nature into Account” was convened at the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) (with participation by Jock Martin (EEA), Micheál Ó Cinnéide (EPA), Jane Stout (TCD/IFNC), Liam Lysaght (NBDC), Ciaran O’Keefe (NPWS), and NESC representatives, Rory O’Donnell, Jeanne Moore, Noel Cahill, and Larry O’Connell). The meeting concluded that a common understanding is emerging in this area that wasn’t there before, but that policy shift was required towards systemic transitions.
In 2015, the IFNC also joined the Natural Capital Coalition, and towards the end of the year, myself and Hannah Hamilton represented the IFNC at the World Forum on Natural Capital in Edinburgh. At this meeting, HRH Prince of Wales gave a welcome address, highlighting ecosystem invisibility in accounting. In addition, Nicola Sturgeon, then First Minister for Scotland, emphasised that economic growth cannot be sustained if it comes at unsustainable cost to natural resources. She also highlighted that Scotland established the natural capital index in 2011, becoming the first country in world to establish this.
I took over as chair of the IFNC again in 2016, and the secretariat developed a comprehensive communications plan. The second national natural capital conference was held in November 2016 at the National Concert Hall, with the theme “Making Nature Count”. Again, we had national and international speakers, and a fantastic interactive event report, including recordings. As part of this event, IFNC partnered with Sustainable Nation Ireland in a Business Breakfast on Natural Capital.
Our Keynote Speakers were Tony Juniper (Author and Campaigner), Gary Gillespie (Chief Economic Advisor to the Scottish Government), Kathy Willis (Director of Science at Kew), and Dieter Helm (Chair of the UK Natural Capital Committee). Our Business Session featured Kathryn Jackson (Technical Director at the Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project), Mark Gough (Executive Director of the Natural Capital Coalition), Will Evison (Associate Director and environmental economist at PwC) and Gordon Rogers (Manager of Sustainability and Strategy at Yorkshire Water). Our National Case Studies Session featured Ciaran O’Keeffe (Ireland), Joop van Bodegraven (Netherlands), Jo Pike (Scotland) and Maarten Stevens (Netherlands) and a special contribution from Ambassador David Donoghue (Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations). Finally, our Research Session featured Dara Lynott (EPA), Yvonne Buckley (TCD), Mary Kelly-Quinn (UCD), Stephen Hynes (NUIG) and Caitriona Carlin (NUIG).
Other work undertaken by the IFNC during 2015-2017 included developing a Memo to Government on the natural capital approach, contributing to policy (including the National Biodiversity Action Plan and National Planning Framework), making links with businesses (via Business in the Community Ireland and Bord Bia), and developing materials for engagement (e.g. see infographic to the right).
In 2017, as well as hosting a seminar by Dieter Helm at Trinity College, and a Corporate Natural Capital Accounting workshop, the IFNC also held a strategy workshop to develop the organisation. This was facilitated by Lorraine Fitzgerald and Bernadette Phelan from Business in the Community Ireland and developed the 2020 vision for the IFNC. Part of this work involved mapping the skill sets of the steering committee.
The Vision and Mission and objectives for IFNC 2020 were articulated as follows:
Our vision is for an Ireland in which natural capital and ecosystem goods and services are valued, protected and restored.
Our mission is, through the collaboration and leadership of our diverse members, to help to value, protect and restore Ireland’s natural capital and ecosystem services. We will do this by supporting the adoption of natural capital concepts in public policy and corporate strategy, promoting informed public and private sector decision-making and assisting in the establishment of a national natural capital accounting standard.
Our Aims:
Establish the Irish Forum on Natural Capital as a professional and sustainable organisation
Progress Natural Capital Accounting at national-level, integrate natural capital in Government policy and build expert capacity in Ireland
Work with Irish businesses to adopt the natural capital approach to inform their own strategies and decision-making
Raise awareness of natural capital with key stakeholders, relevant groups and the general public
Develop large-scale natural capital case studies
In late 2017, for the second time, myself and Hannah Hamilton represented the IFNC at the World Forum on Natural Capital in Edinburgh. IFNC also organised a “Natural Capital Stewards” meeting, which was held at NPWS. The meeting aimed to identify common challenges, explore research questions, inspire actions and identify positive solutions and next steps. Representatives from a broad rage of public and private sector bodies attended, including (Bord Bia, Bord na Mona, Coillte, Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine, Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, Dublin City University, Eirgrid, Environmental Protection Agency, Failte Ireland, Fingal County Council, Forest Service, Intel, Local Authorities Water & Communities Office, National Biodiversity Data Centre, National Economic & Social Council, National Parks & Wildlife Service, National University of Ireland, Galway, Office of Public Works, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin).
In May 2018, the IFNC organised a workshop “Natural Capital Accounting and its relevance for Ireland in the context of the National Planning Framework”, which was held at Trinity College Dublin, with special guest speakers, Carl Obst (IDEEA Group) and Gerry Brady (CSO).
During 2018, the steering committee and secretariat worked to reform the Irish Forum on Natural Capital, which had been operating as a voluntary group, with a small budget managed via the Woodlands of Ireland, as a company limited by guarantee. Trading as Natural Capital Ireland, the initial Board of Directors comprised myself as Chair, along with Pat Costello (Secretary) and Micheal O’Cinneide. Hannah Hamilton remained as the Secretariat, and the Steering Committee, the high-level advisory board to the Forum, was Chaired by Andrea Carroll, with Bernadette Phelan as Deputy Chair.
Along with the administrative work involved with forming the company, myself and Hannah Hamilton also put together a successful proposal to the EPA research funding call for INCASE, a research project to develop natural capital accounting case-studies at the catchment scale. This project, led by myself at Trinity College Dublin, was developed as a collaboration with Mary Kelly Quinn at UCD, Stephen Kinsella at UL, Cathal O’Donoghue at NUIG and Carl Obst at the IDEEA Group in Australia and started in 2019.
A large part of the work of the IFNC in 2018, particularly by Hannah Hamilton, working closely with Deirdre Lynn from the NPWS, was to organise Ireland’s first National Biodiversity Conference “New Horizons for Nature” in February 2019. This landmark conference extremely well attended by participants from a range of backgrounds, and featured addresses by President Michael D. Higgins and Inger Andersen (Director of UNEP), among others (see the interactive conference proceedings for full details and links to all the talks 2019 Conference Report | National Biodiversity Conference 2022 ). The meeting resulted in commitments from public and private bodies (“Seeds for Nature”) and from individuals (“1thing4nature”).
Other events organised in 2019 included a lecture from Dieter Helm at Trinity College Dublin on “Economics in the Anthropocene: can a natural capital approach prevent ecological collapse?”, a special session at the Macgill Summer School, moderated by Micheal Ó Cinneide, and a senior stakeholder breakfast at Bord Iascaigh Mhara on “Exploring Natural Capital Solutions for our Shared Marine Environment” at Dublin's Royal College of Physicians (including presentations from Jane Stout, and IDEEA Group's Mark Eigenraam and Carl Obst). In addition, Jane Stout and Hannah Hamilton presented on the natural capital approach to an initially sceptical audience at a meeting of the Dublin Branch of the Irish Wildlife Trust.
In October 2019, Hannah Hamilton left her role as Executive Coordinator, after five and a half years of excellent and energetic work. Happily, Orlaith Delargy, already a Steering Committee member, took over, and Fiona Smith stayed on to coordinate communications. We held our first AGM in January 2020, and during 2020, the Board of Directors also changed, with Micheal O’Cinneide stepping down, and Alan Costello, Emer Crowley and Kate Hotten joining as Directors, and Chloe Lipscombe as Finance Officer.
A lot of the work during 2020 was necessarily online, but highlights included a Data4Nature meeting, a policy-briefing and the launch of the INCASE video explainer on Natural Capital Accounting. The CSO established an Ecosystem Accounting Division, and engagement with the INCASE team was initiated.
In 2021, the IFNC rebranded as Natural Capital Ireland (NCI) and Iseult Sheehy took over as the third Executive Coordinator, successfully leading a bid for funding to start a Business for Biodiversity Platform for Ireland. The team of researchers and contractors working with NCI expanded, with Sarah Zimmermann, Noreen Brennan and Emer Ní Dhúill joining as researchers, and Lucy Gaffney leading the Business for Biodiversity Platform.
In October 2021, I resigned as Chair of the Board of Directors, but agreed to stay until a new Chair was found. In May 2022, Fiona Ross agreed to join the Board and Chair and I officially stood down at the 2023 AGM.
After more than ten years of pouring time and passion into the organisation, I needed to step aside and focus on other things. The INCASE project, which concluded in 2022, was hugely successful, and built the foundations for several other natural capital research projects that I continue to lead at Trinity College Dublin (including Nature+Energy, For-ES, and BiOrbic). NCI has been a significant part of my life and I am proud of the achievements we made, bringing the natural capital approach into policy, and enabling natural capital accounting in the private sector. The people I met, the friends I made, and the progress we made over this time, went far beyond my expectations.
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