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Natural Capital Indicators: for defining and measuring change in natural capital (NERR076)

The Natural Capital Indicators report identifies key components of the environment, essential for the long term provision of benefits on which society relies. This report fills a gap in the understanding of these vital properties of the environment for well-being.

A new and systematic approach is used to develop indicators, by not only focusing on available data sets. The report also highlights which indicators can act as effective, early-warning indicators of change.

Indicators are identified for measuring change in natural capital, using a logic chain approach, enabling natural capital assets to be clearly linked to ecosystem services and benefits. Where possible, corresponding data sets have been found and linked to each indicator and a resulting list of data gaps detailed.

The project has been designed to be wide reaching in its applications. The aim is that it can be of use in any instance where the objective is to measure change in natural capital. It can also be used to help define “what good looks like” in terms of natural capital supporting the sustainable future provision of multiple ecosystem services. The report is accompanied by an Excel spreadsheet (Annex 4) detailing the indicators, data sources and data gaps as well as a series of summary notes and tables (Evidence Information Notes 038 to 049).

EIN038 is an overall summary showing the key indicators across all habitats. The brief method note is outlined in EIN039. Annex 1 (EIN040) displays all of the logic chains used to identify the indicators, Annex 2 (EIN041-EIN048) summarise the key indicators for each broad habitat type and Annex 3 (EIN049) contains tables of short and long list indicators for each broad habitat type, summarised from Annex 4, the Excel spreadsheet.

Following the testing of these Natural Capital Indicators to create the National Natural Capital Atlas and the series of Atlases for county and city regions, a number of updates have been made. Additional data sources have been added to the report, summaries and Excel spreadsheet. A few indicators have been updated following additional QA; changes have been made throughout the report and its annexes for some Marine and Coastal indicators.

Downloads available for this record

File Uploaded
NERR076 edition 2 Natural Capital Indicators for defining and measuring change in natural capital, PDF, 782.2 kB 2020/08/11
EIN038 edition 2 Natural capital indicators summary of key indicators, PDF, 288.5 kB 2020/08/11
EIN039 edition 2 Natural Capital Indicators method, PDF, 344.2 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 1 Detailed logic chains, PDF, 1.2 MB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2a Freshwater Summary, PDF, 286.8 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2b SNG Summary, PDF, 285.1 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2c MMH Summary, PDF, 287.8 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2d Urban Summary, PDF, 281.3 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2e Woodland Summary, PDF, 285.1 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2f Marine Summary, PDF, 277.2 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2g Coastal Margins Summary, PDF, 280.4 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 2h Enclosed Farmland Summary, PDF, 287.1 kB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 3 Tables of short list and long list indicators, PDF, 1.3 MB 2020/08/11
NERR076 edition 2 Annex 4 Natural Capital Indicators Indicators spreadsheet, XLSX, 5.9 MB 2020/08/11

Related Access to Evidence records

Title
Natural Capital Atlases: Mapping Indicators for County and City Regions (NECR318)
National Natural Capital Atlas: Mapping Indicators (NECR285)