Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
1.2.2 Natural Capital
Concurrent with the development of the ecosystem service concepts, other
workers have placed emphasis on the term 'natural capital';
6
the term being
coined by Schumacher,
13
though reference to soil and land as natural capital
can be found dating as far back as 1836.
14
Costanza and Daly
15
broadly define
natural capital as ''a stock that yields a flow of valuable goods or services into
the future''. In more recent work, natural capital is defined as ''the stock of
materials or information contained within an ecosystem''.
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Natural capital
emphasises nature's stocks, whilst ecosystem services emphasise nature's flows.
Given that both are important, any overarching ecosystems framework should
consider both, as sustainability aims to optimise the benefits from flows,
without degrading stocks.
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1.3 Soil Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services
The first attempt to classify the ecosystem services of soils was perhaps that of
Daily et al.
16
(Table 1), which has been followed by other classifications,
17,18
especially a number for the purposes of agriculture.
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Most of the work
presented on soil ecosystem services has focused on identifying the types of
services that soils deliver, especially those from the soil biota which support
many soil functions. However, very little work has been done on the
development or refinement of the conceptual framework for soil ecosystem
service delivery. This presents an important problem, since under the MEA
classification soils provide supporting services (Figure 1), and therefore do not
appear in any final valuation.
In parallel to these efforts, soil scientists have identified with the ideas of
natural capital, which is perhaps more intuitive to soil science dealing with
stocks. Initial attempts to make the term more concrete defined the natural
Table 1
Societal soil ecosystem services. (Source: adapted from Parkinson
and Costanza).
2,15
SUPPORTING
Physical stability and support for plants
Renewal, retention and delivery of nutrients for plants
Habitat and gene pool
REGULATING
Regulation of major elemental cycles
Buffering, filtering and moderation of the hydrological cycle
Disposal of wastes and dead organic matter
PROVISIONING
Building material
CULTURAL
Heritage sites, archaeological preserver of artefacts
Spiritual value, religious sites and burial grounds
