Last week we observed World Population Day with an acknowledgement that a growing human population requires certain resources to sustain itself, and the current approach to using land and water resources will not allow us to remain within certain planetary boundaries. One of the reasons behind the current mode of growth and land management is associated with the difficulty and lack of concerted effort to place value on natural capital – essentially the soil, air, water, flora and fauna and the resulting ecosystem services that make human life possible.
One initiative attempting to counter the unsustainable depletion of such natural capital – the Natural Capital Declaration – was launched a little over a year ago at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. This wasn’t the standard announcement of commitments by governments, retailers, or NGOs. Crucially, this declaration came from 39 banks, investment funds, and insurance companies, who signed on to a commitment to incorporate natural capital considerations into their products and accounting. Availability and accessibility of financial resources are key factors in enabling integrated approaches to landscape management, although most often sources of funds are not structured in a way that support multiple benefits for people, food, and nature. Considering the influence the financial sector has in shaping land and natural resource management patterns, the Natural Capital Declaration could play a pivotal role in shifting this current state of affairs.
The Natural Capital Declaration is convened by Landscape Initiative partner UNEP Finance Initiative and the Global Canopy Programme. Read the full declaration Road Map, which was released in May 2013, for more on the four commitments.
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