Environment Policy: UNEP Mapping Natural Capital

UNEP-WCMC produced in July 2014 a report Towards a Global Map of Natural Capital.  It gives an overview of the global perspective and maps for:

• water;
• terrestrial carbon;
• soil quality for plant growth using maize as a reference crop;
• terrestrial biodiversity (species richness adjusted by intactness);
• marine biodiversity (species richness across 13 taxa); and
• marine global fish catch

together with a composite map that integrates these elements.  Looking forward, the ambition is to increase the number of measures of natural capital, and to attempt to analyse changes over time.

Reference:

Dickson, B., Blaney, R. Miles, L., Regan, E., van Soesbergen, A.,Väänänen, E., Blyth, S., Harfoot, M. Martin, C.S., McOwen, C., Newbold, T., van Bochove, J. (2014). Towards a global map of natural capital: key ecosystem assets. UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya.