Application of the natural capital approach to the marine environment

Tender description

The overarching aim of this project is to provide an update on the natural capital approach and how it can be applied to marine. Natural capital is the 'stock' of assets provided by nature which have the capacity to generate goods and services. Natural capital can be regarded as the source of all other types of capital: whether manufactured, financial, human or social. In the marine environment understanding the 'stock' of resources and flow of ecosystem services and benefits is complex. The Natural Capital approach has been mostly developed in the terrestrial environment and to some extent to the marine one. However, there is little evidence on how trade-offs are taken into consideration to support expensive monitoring or protection policies (e.g. environmental externalities threatening the marine environment due to both human activities and natural processes). This project is divided into two main steps. The first one aims at synthesising the 'status quo' of the natural capital approach applied to the marine and analysing the key lessons learned. It will propose new areas of application to the marine environment. The second step will carry out a primary valuation study able to fill in the key evidence gaps as suggested by the first part of the proposal.