New report shows natural capital in Scotland holds steady - NatureScot

A new NatureScot report published today reveals the value of Scotland’s plants, wildlife, air, water, and land – known as natural capital – has held steady after increasing for the last two decades.

Scotland’s Natural Capital Asset Index (NCAI) assesses the quality and quantity of the country’s nature through assessing land-based habitats and their contributions to human wellbeing. Our natural capital has shown signs of recovery the past 20 years, after decades of decline between the 1950s and 1990s due to human activities such as increases in peat drainage and uses of pesticides.

Natural capital is the stock of Scotland’s plants, wildlife, air, water, and land providing benefits to the people and businesses across the country. Assessing the monetary value of natural capital is one way to show how nature provides many benefits to everyone in their everyday lives. Many of these benefits are not accounted for in traditional economic markets, ultimately leading to a long-term degradation of the environment. Natural capital is a way to represent and make sure nature is included in decision-making and makes the invisible benefits and value of nature visible.

This year’s study shows woodland habitat has improved by 1.6 percentage points, while coastal, heathland, mires, bogs and fens have remained stable, and grasslands have decreased by 2 percentage points. Agricultural land has increased by 3.5 percentage points, but this is against a long-term decline.