The Natural Capital Committee together with the British Embassy held its first seminar on Wednesday, March 13, to deepen knowledge about the Natural Capital Approach and its incorporation into public decision-making processes.

This private activity entitled “Incorporating Natural Capital into Public Policy” began with remarks from the president of the Natural Capital Committee, Rodrigo Arriagada, who stated that “towards the future, the Committee is committed to working tirelessly so that, in the last decade, Chile has a long-term natural capital plan, inspired by successful models such as the UK, and capable of making decisions based on scientific evidence, in the interests of our valuable natural heritage and economic development.” It should be noted that the Committee itself is composed of the Ministries of Finance, Environment, Economy and Tourism, with permanent advice from the Central Bank of Chile and the National Council of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation for Development.

Head of Natural Capital Accounting and Environmental Economics at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Matthew Bardrick, then spoke about how the UK has incorporated natural capital into the heart of public and private decision-making processes.

As he explains, this path “began in 2011 with the creation of the country’s Natural Capital Committee, an independent body, composed of academics whose mission was to advise the government to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better condition. .from the person who received it.” Thus began a work plan that initially prioritized the creation and collection of information about the ecosystem, its extent, condition and measurement of natural capital.

The expert emphasized that the UK public sector agrees that public money should be channeled into public goods and, therefore, one of the most important programs it manages is the one related to guidance for incorporating natural capital into the evaluation and formulation of projects for the Treasury and local governments. This aims to ensure that all options evaluated in various areas of society include and are as precise as possible, elements regarding how much the option improves or harms the environment, so that this information is taken into account in decision making.


The seminar then continued with discussions with members of the Chilean Natural Capital Committee, biologist and advisor Bárbara Saavedra; Coordinator of Finance and International Relations of the Ministry of Finance and Representative of Ministry of Finance Officials on the Natural Capital Committee Carola Moreno; the Committee’s president, Rodrigo Arriagada, and the Central Bank of Chile’s Macroeconomic Statistics Management Senior Economist and Committee advisor, Enrique Calfucura.

Among the topics discussed were the importance of engaging the public, highlighting the important role of academics in generating and disseminating information; the relevance of producing quality data and methodology that describes, in its scope and conditions, nature and its ecosystems to position Natural Capital as an important factor in the Economy; the country’s participation in international platforms on sustainable finance and biodiversity and the relevance of efforts to produce inclusive financial strategies that include, among other things, nature.

In closing the activity, the Director of the British consulting company, Economics for the Environment (EFTEC) and member of the advisory panel of the Capitals Coalition – a global collaboration that points to natural capital as one of the factors underlying human well-being. existence and economic success – Ian Dickie tells of his experiences on the UK’s first Natural Capital Committee and as a promoter of important European initiatives in his field.
Dickie highlights the importance of making natural capital visible in financial balance sheets, the need to take steps that enable markets to internalize the value of nature and produce policies that require compensation for the use of these resources in order to generate net benefits from biodiversity. Furthermore, he conveyed his dream that in everyday life, when talking about economic indicators, it has become commonplace to talk about indicators related to the stock and flow of natural capital.