FARMERS and land managers are being offered a new way to assess the wider value of the natural resources on their land from their economic contribution to their importance to local communities.
Researchers at The James Hutton Institute have produced a practical guide designed to help those managing Scotlands land understand the economic, environmental, social and cultural value associated with nature.
The Natural Capital Valuation Toolkit is intended to broaden the way land is assessed beyond purely financial measures, allowing farmers, land managers and communities to consider the different benefits provided by landscapes and natural resources.
It comes as natural capital including soils, water, habitats and biodiversity plays an increasingly prominent role in discussions around sustainable farming and future land management.
The guide was developed through a Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) research project looking at how greater public participation could be incorporated into natural capital valuation.
Rather than relying on a single calculation, researchers have brought together a range of methods which can be used depending on the land and decisions being considered.
These include focus groups to establish how different people value natural resources, mapping exercises to identify where those values exist across a landscape and workshops exploring different approaches to future land management.
Farmers and land managers can also use future scenarios to consider how changes in the management or use of land could affect its value over time.
Other approaches include interviews and photography to understand peoples connections with landscapes, alongside natural capital accounting to assess their economic contribution.
Researchers say using a combination of these methods can give land managers a better picture of the different interests attached to an area and help inform decisions which need to balance agricultural, environmental and community priorities.
The toolkit has already been trialled, with researchers now keen to see how it performs when applied to real-life land management decisions.
It was developed by researchers within the James Hutton Institutes Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences department, with Dr Sam Poskitt and Katy Joyce sharing leadership of the work.
Dr Poskitt said: The methods presented in this guide offer an innovative way to bring people into dialogue about the diverse ways they value nature.
We hope it will assist land managers in making land management decisions that support multiple benefits for people and nature.
The approach could be particularly relevant where decisions about agricultural land involve competing priorities, allowing the productive value of land to be considered alongside factors such as biodiversity, recreation, landscape, community use and environmental benefits.
By involving farmers, land managers, communities and other interested parties, researchers hope the toolkit will provide a more complete picture of what particular areas of land provide and why they are valued.
The guide, Using the Natural Capital Valuation Toolkit: A Practice Guide for Land Managers for Gathering Holistic, On-the-Ground Values, is available free online through the Zenodo research repository.
