This press release was originally published by Crown Estate Scotland.
“Scottish farmers are to take part in a pioneering project to assess the value of natural assets to help them make decisions that will protect the environment and the land that they work on.
The trial will apply the international Natural Capital Protocol to land-based businesses on two estates in Moray which are run by Crown Estate Scotland, helping put Scotland at the forefront of developing new ways of assessing how we manage land and our environment.
‘Natural Capital’ covers natural assets including geology, soil, air, water and all living things, which provide humans with a wide range of services. These include the food we eat, the water we drink and the plant materials we use for fuel, building materials and medicines, as well as climate regulation and natural flood defences provided by forests, the billions of tonnes of carbon stored by peatlands, and the pollination of crops by insects.
The pilot will cover the entire 23,000 hectare Glenlivet Estate (with a range of farming and leisure activities e.g. mountain bike trails), an upland tenant farm on that same estate, and a lowland arable business on the Crown Estate Scotland’s Fochabers Estate.
Head of Property, Andy Wells, said the pilot project would help Crown Estate Scotland identify if Natural Capital Protocol provides a practical way of helping rural businesses understand their impact and dependency on the natural environment.
He said, “It’s a toolkit which helps businesses identify how natural resources contribute to their long-term profitably and how their activities impact those resources. Using the protocol enables businesses to make more sustainable decisions and account for the elements of nature that provide important ‘services’ to people…”
Read on at: Crown Estate Scotland.
