Investing in Natural Capital and Getting Returns: An Ecosystem Service Approach

Marjan van den Belt and Daniella Blake

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2015, vol. 24, issue 7, 667-677

Abstract: The dependence of people and economies on natural capital is still undervalued. One reason is that values related to our global life support system are largely outside the market place, beyond the notion of price and often invisible. An ecosystem service approach aims to make visible the ensuing benefits people derive from natural capital at multiple scales, traversing private and public domains. Plural objectives require a broader notion of return on investment (ROI). This paper discusses characteristics of and a changing context in which ROI is used to invest in natural capital and highlights key aspects to achieve ROI on natural capital through an ecosystem service approach: space, time and values. This conceptual paper uses agro‐ecosystems as an example to illustrate this approach from farm to catchment scale. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Date: 2015
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