Corporate Natural Capital Accounting, a new monitoring framework, was applied to some National Nature Reserves (NNRs) to assess whether it is an appropriate tool and useful source of information for their management. Initial accounts were developed for a plan to deliver a long term goal for each NNR. They comprised long term projections of costs, ecological indicators, environmental goods and services provided by the NNR and their value. Reporting against the initial accounts in future would monitor progress (it was not feasible for this study).
The NNR managers who developed the accounts welcomed the opportunity to develop the projections for delivery of a long term goal. They found it helpful to identify goods and services provided by an NNR. The accounts were partial as not all services could be quantified and few could be valued. If the accounts were used to monitor NNRs, the accounts’ summary information would be complex, difficult to interpret and would cover only part of the purposes of NNRs. A simple bespoke approach to monitoring the NNRs that embraces a natural capital perspective would be more appropriate.
Terms of use for the workbooks referenced within Appendix G: By using these data you are accepting the terms and conditions contained in the Natural England Open Data Licence The following statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the data: © Natural England 2017.