Natural capital, local gains: How a new Route Map supports community benefits
Amanda Bryan (Aigas Associates)
A new Route Map shows that sharing benefits of natural capital investment with local communities could be relatively straightforward if approached with openness and creativity by all those involved.
Investment in actions to address nature restoration and climate mitigation, whether from the private, public or voluntary sectors should always consider whether there are opportunities to also deliver benefits to the local community. There are already several projects doing just that and some are being rewarded for their efforts, receiving increased payments for carbon units – delivering what is often referred to as ‘charismatic carbon’. There are now standards being developed which will provide assurance to all involved that agreement and subsequent delivery of community benefits by natural capital investment projects have been approached in a consistent, albeit locally appropriate, way.
Over the last seven months, I have been working with the Scottish Land Commission to develop the ‘Community Benefits from Natural Capital Route Map’ as part of a wider FIRNS funded project delivered by the Nature Finance Certification Alliance to produce a Community Inclusion Standard. Such a standard is designed to be embedded in existing Codes such as the Woodland Carbon Code, Peatland Code along with others as they emerge. The Route Map has drawn on the real life and practical experience of seven projects, from across Scotland and England, involving woodland creation, peatland restoration, agroforestry and improvement to river systems, along with delivering benefits to the local communities.
The Route Map and its accompanying resources, which include examples of community benefits, case studies and agreement templates, is a step-by-step guide for how to identify and agree community benefits. Aimed primarily at project developers and landowners the Route Map will also be a useful resource for communities to help them understand how and when to engage in the development of a project to achieve the greatest mutual benefit.
Community benefits are extremely wide ranging in nature and are expected to be tailored and proportionate to the project being developed but most importantly they must be agreed as benefits by the local geographic community. They could include use of local suppliers and contractors, providing volunteering opportunities, improved infrastructure for public access, provision of land and/or buildings for community initiatives through to potential financial benefit sharing – although this list is not exhaustive.
The more transparent a project developer or landowner can be with the community about information, such as project objectives, finances, risks and delivery timescales, the more productive any discussion will be on what kind of benefits would be proportionate and deliverable. What is clear is that the more open and trusting the relationship between project developer, landowner and the local community the greater the potential mutual benefits.
While fair sharing of benefits from natural capital investment is expected by Scottish Government as set out in the Scottish Natural Capital Market Framework and will potentially be recognised by the new Community Inclusion Standard as well as the work of the British Standards Institute’s Nature Market Standards it is about much more than that. I was very encouraged to find that the project developers, landowners and communities that fed into the development of the Route Map shared a sense of mutual trust and a commitment to exploring new opportunities to work together. In my opinion, the more this kind of approach can be taken, and outcome delivered the better for everyone.
