Welcome to the Natural Capital Primer

A science-based resource that explains how our entire lives, businesses and economies depend on nature, and how we can understand the value of it using a concept called natural capital.

Macdoch Foundation

In creating this resource on natural capital, we recognise the Indigenous peoples and local communities whose wisdom and that of their ancestors, has stewarded nature for millennia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to land, sea, culture and community, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and future.

What is natural capital?

Natural capital refers to all natural resources that provide services and benefits to humans, like clean water, fertile soil, raw materials, and even the air we breathe.

These resources, both living (like plants and animals) and non-living (like water and soil), are essential because they support our economy and overall well-being by providing goods and services that we rely on every day. It’s called “capital” because, just like financial capital, nature plays a critical role in sustaining our society and economy.

Natural Capital Assets

Natural capital assets are the tangible natural resources in nature that provide products (like food, water and minerals) and ecosystem services (like climate regulation, water filtration and pollination) that we use every day. Natural capital assets can be living (biotic) or non-living (abiotic). Examples of assets are forests, grasslands, wetlands, mineral reserves, soils and water sources.

Ecosystem Services

The life-sustaining functions nature performs, such as cleaning our air and water, pollinating plants, and regulating the climate. We rely on these services daily to keep our bodies and minds healthy, and on a larger scale to protect our communities from worsening natural disasters due to climate breakdown.

Definitions from the Primer

Why is natural capital important?

Our entire existence depends on natural capital. We rely on it for life-sustaining services like clean air, water, food and shelter.

Our businesses and economies depend on it too. 55% of global GDP directly depends on natural assets and ecosystem services.

This includes products such as timber and food, raw materials for manufacturing, and services such as pollination, flood mitigation, and tourism. By balancing what we extract from nature with what we restore, we can make informed choices about using and conserving our planet's resources wisely.

Natural capital is not a new concept. Indigenous peoples and local communities have always understood the value of nature for the many life-giving and life-sustaining services it provides. Their sustainable management of the land and seas has ensured its value has passed on from generation to generation, and spread well beyond to society as a whole.

While representing less than 5 percent of the world's population, Indigenous Peoples steward more than a quarter of Earth's land and seas. The existence of Indigenous peoples and their cultures goes hand in hand with a healthy environment, in fact studies show that tropical forest integrity is higher in protected Indigenous lands.

We must recognise and apply the ancestral knowledge and expertise of Indigenous Peoples and local communities that will allow us to sustainably manage nature for society as a whole.

Read on to learn the basics, or explore the Primer for an in-depth understanding of natural capital and examples of it in industry use cases.

About the Primer
Key Concepts
Industry Use Cases

Scroll to see an example of natural capital...

Environmental and ecosystem assets are the foundation of natural capital.

When they combine, these assets transform into services such as...

These services benefit people and society by bringing them specific value like...

SoilWaterInvertebrates

Natural Capital in Daily Life

A short story which highlights the everyday reliance on natural capital through the products we use.
Discover the Story