Natural Connections – Natural Capital in Cumbernauld

I attended The Wildlife Trust’s Conservation in the 21^st Century event last week in Edinburgh to discover how we can implement ‘natural capital’ approaches in Scotland.  What is it, I hear you say? Well…natural capital values our environment by looking at the services we derive from nature. A great example of this is pollination from wild bees, butterflies and hoverflies. They estimate this ‘free’ service is worth a whopping £43million to the Scottish economy.  It is becoming increasingly necessary to assign a value to a natural asset in order to protect it for all of us and to show businesses the need for them to become more environmentally friendly and sustainable for their long term survival too.

It got me thinking about how we at the Cumbernauld Living Landscape present this ethos to our work in the community.  Through discussions during the day I realised that we are already delivering the Natural Capital idea at our events and our major projects such as the Natural Connections and Green Routes, we highlight the benefits of the environment in everything we do; from the reduced air pollution due to our woodland cover, to the health and well-being benefits of getting out side and experiencing nature.  These simple services have a cost wither it is the money saved on improving air quality, or the reduced strain on the NHS through alleviating mental health issues.  We all have our part to play with natural capital but importantly the first crucial step is understanding it. Follow us on Facebook – Cumbernauld Living Landscape