Scottish Natural Capital Accounts<\/strong><\/a>, valuing Scotland\u2019s natural capital at \u00a3196billion.<\/p>\nA report for Scottish Natural Heritage in 2008 estimated that natural capital supports 240,000 jobs in Scotland, a similar finding to a report recently commissioned by Scotland’s Rural College (220,000 jobs).<\/p>\n
The parts of the economy dependent on this natural capital \u2013 including food & drink and tourism \u2013 have grown by 25% between 2008 and 2018, though of course face strong headwinds as we emerge from the lockdown. Investment in natural capital can increase jobs and economic impact, supporting a faster, fairer and greener recovery.<\/p>\n
A partnership between the public sector and business is essential and speaking the language of natural capital could well be the way to forge a crucial alliance.<\/p>\n
By placing a monetary value on natural capital, we can put a price \u2013 and cost \u2013 on our economic actions. In turn, we can better promote sustainable practice that provides both commercial return and public benefits into the future.<\/p>\n
That partnership is so important because to help slow global warming and reverse biodiversity decline in Scotland, major investment is needed. This will be a blend of public and private money.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not all of this will be invested directly into the environment but much of it will be made possible by the natural world \u2013 consider, for example, the benefits of the wind or sun to renewable energy or the beauty of many of our natural landscapes to tourism.<\/p>\n
On our land, we anticipate growing investment in peatland restoration, woodland planting and agri-environment schemes. As a result, there is a growing demand for green finance, part of a wider environmental and social governance that demands capabilities to monitor, report and verify natural capital baselines and credible measurement of enhancements.<\/p>\n
Those proactive in current agri-environment schemes should see natural capital as an opportunity for new enhanced revenue.<\/p>\n
The often challenging nature of farming economics can be offset by the value of environmental services that attract limited financial support.<\/p>\n
Yet when viewed through the lens of natural capital, the commercial potential of the environment could be much more significant and can include capturing the value of carbon; enhancing biodiversity; water services; and tourism and access.<\/p>\n
So, investments in nature \u2013 big and small \u2013 can make a big difference to our health, prosperity and a greener Scotland.<\/p>\n
To plan and invest with nature in mind, we drive transformation and free our natural capital to thrive for the benefit of all us. Especially important as we continue our green recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Benny Higgins, Chairman of Media House International client Buccleuch and\u00a0Chair of the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery, has today authored a joint opinion article in The Herald with\u00a0Francesca Osowska, CEO…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4446"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4458,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446\/revisions\/4458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediahouseinternational.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}