A video on the second Valuing our Life Support Systems summit held in November 2014.

(Link to Video)

The Natural Capital Initiative voiced some important messages to policymakers, researchers and business around the future of natural capital in the UK when it launched a summary report on the second Valuing our Life Support Systems summit in the House of Commons on June 25, 2015.

Barry Gardiner, Labour Party MP, enthusiastically welcomed the report, based on the summit held in November 2014, and highlighted the significance of one of the main findings that the decline in natural capital in the UK and increasing pressures on it threaten the security of future wellbeing. “Our natural capital debt is arguably more pressing than our economic debt,” he said, urging government to take the lead in putting natural capital at the heart of policymaking and translating this into practice.

Professors Rosie Hails and Mike Acreman of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, went on to summarise the main messages for researchers, stressing the importance of cross disciplinary work and working in partnership with business to increase its understanding of natural capital’s importance in supply chains.

They drew attention to the need for an agreed set of metrics to assess the current state, trends and future direction of natural capital, and the critical importance of finding simple language in which to communicate scientific results to business, land-users and the general public.

The business sector was seen to be central to making progress on incorporating natural capital into planning and development, even though, according to a recent survey done by Will Evison of PwC, only four out of 100 top companies in the UK mentioned natural capital in their annual reports.

The summit report had the most to say to policymakers and planners, encouraging them to bring natural capital into the mainstream by supporting and resourcing collaborations between research, business and civil society, as well as between the managers of sectors such as catchment areas, coastal zones and open seas.

But the report warns against viewing only the financial value of nature and highlights the essential need to consider social and cultural benefits as well.

In the question and answer session that followed the launch, the very first question reinforced the point that the UK cannot rely on a few innovators to drive progress but must involve the general public as well. “How can we win over the hearts and minds of the UK population so that we all become aware of the importance of natural capital and what we must do to sustain it?" asked Katherine Drayson of the think tank Policy Exchange.

Understanding the risk at the local level from changes to our natural capital could be one way to make politicians and the public more aware, thought Barry Gardiner MP, and it came down to accessible language and better communication to help with this understanding, said Ruth Waters of Natural England.