1. With Your Hosts…
Natalie Leava &
Vince Deschamps
2014 AD Latornell Symposium
November 20, 2014
Natural Capital Assessment
The Practitioner’s Dilemma – Why Hasn’t
it Caught on in Ontario?

2. What’s on the Agenda?
1What is Natural Capital?
2 How can we assess Natural Capital (NCA)?
3 How have we used Natural Capital already?
4 Why hasn’t Natural Capital caught on in Ontario?
5 How can we make this a reality?

3. Who are you, Natural Capital?
Natural Capital is the stock of natural resources
and environmental assets, such as forests, rivers
and wetlands that exist in a
region at a given point in time.
1. What is Natural Capital?
Natural Capital Assessment
is an evaluation process
that assigns value to these
natural resources and
assets.

4. What does Natural Capital include?
A variety of components related to the natural world
• Non-renewable (commodities)
and renewable resources
• Ecological components
and economic
contributions
• Societal values
1. What is Natural Capital?

5. What can we measure?
Natural Capital stock yields a
flow of ecological services
• The list can be infinite…
1. What is Natural Capital?
“country foods”
carbon sequestration
natural resources
oil, and other non-
renewables
water filtration &
disturbance regulation
supply

6. Different Interpretations
Beware the minutiae
• Potentially unlimited number of components
• Components must have meaning to you
(community)
• Depends on the
situation
The essentials
• Ecology
• Economics
• Societal values
1. What is Natural Capital?

7. Why are you so complicated?
Natural Capital Assessment (NCA)
• Assigns value to Natural Capital assets and the
ecological services they provide
• A balancing act between
ecology, economics and
social values
• Which components to
choose to evaluate?
• Assessment must be defined spatially and temporally
2. How can we assess Natural Capital?

8. Where are the roadblocks?
• A recent and evolving
discipline
• Who determines value?
• Economics and Ecology are
different languages
2. How can we assess Natural Capital?
How does Natural Capital
benefit me?
• Reflects community values
and ties to the natural world
• Holistic approach – bridges
ecology & economics
• Each site is unique – making
every NCA unique

9. Attawapiskat First Nation - Ontario
Community Based Land Use Plan
• First external consultant to prepare CBLUP
• Land Use Strategy
• Cultural, ecological and
economic inventory
• Purpose of CBLUP is to
assign value to traditional
territory
• Developable lands
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?

10. Attawapiskat FN – Community Based Land Use Plan
How does it relate to Natural Capital?
• Stantec will use NC to assign value founded on ecological
principles
• Traditional livelihoods
• Cost-benefit analysis for proposed development
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?

11. Attawapiskat CBLUP … continued…
How will Natural Capital be incorporated?
What about other sectors?
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?
• Value component approach
• Working with community and Stake Holders
(MNRF) for topics to include
Relates to mining, infrastructure
development, renewable energies …
the list goes on…

12. How do we assign value?
Market or Service based
• Replacement value of feature or function
Paired with traditional ecological and
environmental assessment
• A means to quantify potential impacts
Results?
• A more holistic determination of the value of:
• natural capital assets
• ecosystem services
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?

13. Projects with Profit and Non-profit Organizations
Successful applications of NCA in
Ontario
• Nature Conservancy of Canada
• First Nations
• TK studies
• CBLUPs
• Conservation
Authorities
• PECAs for highway
development
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?

14. Projects with Profit and Non-profit Organizations
The future
• Compliment traditional EA approaches
• Development
scenarios for
extraction industries
• Not strictly an
economic
assessment
3. How have we used Natural Capital already?

15. Natural Capital has gone Global!
How has Natural Capital been applied in other
countries?
• Recognized in World Bank and IFC standards
• Implemented in international protocol and
agreements
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
4. Why hasn’t Natural Capital caught on in Ontario?

16. Ontario – a land of opportunity
Natural Capital – Challenges?
• No legislation or provincial requirements
• Lack of common understanding and
standardized approaches
• Natural Capital is not hard science (yet)
• Collective solution required
4. Why hasn’t Natural Capital caught on in Ontario?

17. How can we make this happen?
A common definition for Natural Capital
A standardized approach to NCA
• Strategic and site-level NCA
• Integral relationship with GIS
Communication is the key
• Community engagement
• Interests on a local and provincial scale
5. How can we make this a reality?
Moving forward in Ontario…

18. Questions?
There are always lots of questions when it
comes to Natural Capital
The good news … we have to work
together to find the answers
Natalie Leava, M.Sc.
Natalie.Leava@stantec.com
Vince Deschamps, M.Sc., MCIP, RPP
Vince.Deschamps@stantec.com