EPA - Ireland's Environment 2016 - An Assessment

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Ireland’s Environment – An Assessment 2016 62
Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services –
A New Approach to How We Value Biodiversity
Biodiversity management initiatives undertaken to date have had limited success in addressing the ongoing loss and
fragmentation of habitats, as indicated by the current conservation status of Ireland’s habitats and species. The main
challenge in protecting and restoring biodiversity has been raising sufficient awareness of the benefits and value of
diverse ecosystems to society. The ecosystem approach, incorporating natural capital accounting, seeks to redress
this by ensuring that biodiversity is recognised as part of a wider socio-economic ecological system (Figure 4.7) and is
considered in decision making. The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water
and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way ).
Natural capital consists of the world’s stocks of physical and biological resources, including air, water, minerals, soils,
fossil fuels and all living things. Natural capital accounting (NCA) involves attributing a measurable economic and/
or ecological value to the ecosystem goods and services that provide benefits to society. NCA is required in all EU
Member States by 2020 under Action 5 of The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (EU, 2011). This process is under
way in Ireland through the Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services (MAES) project, commissioned by NPWS,
which aims to map a suite of prioritised ecosystem services based on available data. This project will contribute
towards the production of a National Ecosystem and Ecosystem Services map
.
Figure 4.7 The Link Between Biophysical Structures, Ecosystem Services and the Socio Economic System
as Shown by the Cascade Model (Source: DAHG, 2015; after Potschin and Haines-Young, 2011)
Biophysical structure
or process
(e.g. woodland habitat or
net primary productivity)
Limit pressures via
policy action?
∑ Pressures
Function
(e.g. slow passage of
water or biomass)
Service
(e.g. flood protection,
or harvestable products)
Benefit
(e.g. contribution to aspects
of wellbeing such as
health and safety) Value
(e.g. willingness to pay
for woodland protection
or for more woodland,
or harvestable products)
Supporting or
intermediate services
Final services Goods and Benefits
THE CASCADE MODEL
Environment The Social and Economic System
The Irish Forum on Natural Capital (IFNC) administered by a part-time secretariat jointly funded by NPWS and EPA,
brings together a diverse range of organisations and individuals from academic, public, private and NGO sectors who
are interested in the development and application of the natural capital agenda in Ireland.
NCA has the potential to better inform policies that effectively promote, enhance and restore ecosystems and
the human wellbeing that depends upon them (National Biodiversity Working Group, 2014). It is envisaged that
standardised NCA methodologies will increasingly be used by businesses to identify risks and opportunities and
ensure their sustainability in a world of ever-diminishing resources (CIMA et al., 2014).