Funded by the Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programme, Prof. Maria Nijnik and her team at The James Hutton Institute (Scotland) are working on the project ‘Bringing in participatory approaches to widen the scope of Natural Capital Valuation’ to explore new avenues to embed natural capital valuation in participatory processes. The project aim is to facilitate decision making at landscape scale and provide feedback for the future land use policy.

The project has initially reviewed the literature on natural capital (NC) valuation. In particular, the paper “A Classification and Interpretation of Methodological Approaches to Pursue Natural Capital Valuation in Forest Research” systematises the recent research on  Scottish forests and woodlands to help researchers and practitioners understand novelties in natural capital valuation approaches.

The review showed a prominent use of non-monetary values, with special reference to the inclusion of cultural services, compared to early valuation efforts addressing natural capital within the neoclassical economic paradigm. Several studies used mixed methods to distil information relevant to the formulation of place-based values, working towards the integration of contextual and relational values for better informed land management strategies. However, a holistic approach that integrates these innovative practices with traditional economic valuation was not found.

To fulfil this gap, The James Hutton Institute is working on a new integrated valuation framework operating with participatory processes mediated by GIS analysis to inform woodland and rural landscape planning and foster more effective conservation and a better management of land use conflicts.

For more information on the studies, please contact Dr. Simone Martino (simone.martino@hutton.ac.uk) and Prof. Maria Nijnik (maria.nijnik@hutton.ac.uk) and access the paper here: Martino, S.; Martinat, S.; Joyce, K.; Poskitt, S.; Nijnik, M. (2024): A Classification and Interpretation of Methodological Approaches to Pursue Natural Capital Valuation in Forest Research. Forests, 15(10), 1716. https://doi.org/10.3390/f15101716