Natural Capital Classification System

Description

By Timothy Gieseke, on Natural Capital and Ecosystem Service Layers:

"The NCU is a geospatial database that has natural capital and ecosystem service layers that can be populated across multiple, interrelated dimensions.

The NCU layers are described by a unique Natural Capital Classification System (NCU-NCCS) based on a system of natural resource accounts developed from an economic analysis perspective (Longva, 1981) and then applied to the NCU (Figure 2).

The NCU-NCCS layers are based on abiotic/biotic status; whether the capital is renewable, conditionally renewable, or non-renewable; and the source of the capital.

This creates the four natural capital classifications of

1) Abiotic Renewable Inflowing Resources,

2) Biotic Conditionally Renewable Bio-Physical Resources,

3) Biotic Conditionally Renewable Bio-Processes, and

4) Abiotic Non-Renewable Geo-Physical Resources.

This approach identifies the natural capital layers that generate the suite of ecosystem services or so-called eco-units that are associated with ecological outputs and economic uses. For example, the natural capital layer of Biotic — Conditionally Renewable Bio-Processes generates regulating ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, water cleansing, and pollination. These can be converted into eco-units that originated from a specific NCU."

(https://medium.com/regenerative-insights/ncu-the-commons-denominator-20c514dcc216)