A natural capital tool for Scotland

NatureScot is leading on the development of an innovative new tool, the Natural Capital Tool (NCT), which is a free and easy-to-use spatial tool that aims to facilitate natural capital approaches to land management in Scotland. A natural capital approach is when the full range of benefits that we receive from nature are taken into consideration within the decision making process. Adopting a natural capital approach enables us to understand the role of our natural environment, alongside its intrinsic value, as an asset that underpins both our economy and society. 

Nature provides a whole host of benefits that we are dependent on, known as ecosystem services, that are often overlooked in land management decisions. In order for these benefits to be included in decision making, we need the methods and tools to quantify them. By mapping and modelling how certain land use changes might impact the ecosystem services they provide, decision makers can identify the scenarios and opportunities that provide the most benefits for both people.

The benefits from nature can be divided into four categories:

Provisioning – these are tangible goods that people can harvest from the environment such as food, timber, water, renewable and non-renewable energy, natural medicines and materials.

Regulating – these are the benefits from regulation of ecosystem processes such as clean air, carbon storage, temperature regulation, flood management, water purification, erosion control, insect pollination and disease and natural pest control. 

Supporting – ecosystems cannot function without the services of the nutrient cycle, soil formation, photosynthesis and habitat provision for biodiversity, forming the basis for the other three types of services. 

Cultural – non-material benefits that people derive from interacting with nature such as mental wellbeing and physical health, aesthetic inspiration, tourism, recreation, knowledge and learning sense of home and spirituality. 

The tool is the first of its kind in Scotland and is being developed in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University, building on scientific knowledge and EcoServR, an existing tool in the coding language R for mapping natural capital assets and ecosystem services. The functionality of the tool, the ecosystem services that are measured, and the end product are bespoke for Scotland.

The key features of the NCT are as follows:

• Natural capital baseline mapping;
• Ecosystem service capacity and demand mapping;
• Habitat connectivity mapping;
• Landscape-scale opportunity mapping;  
• Scenario planning; and
• Ecosystem service provision with relative, biophysical and economic valuation (where applicable).

The NCT was developed using a co-design approach, with a co-design group of 160+ different individuals from across a range of organisations, including public bodies, eNGOs, local authorities, community groups, landscape scale partnerships, natural capital consultants, research institutions and nature finance organisations.

A series of workshops were run from December 2022 to August 2024, where the co-design group shaped the development of the NCT and test a prototype version of it. This prototype was also piloted with seven landscape scale partnerships from across Scotland, and the feedback was used to inform the creation of the NCT Beta Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In April 2025, the Beta-MVP was presented to the co-design group, and they will receive initial access to the NCT in May 2025.

If you’d like to get access to the Natural Capital Tool and the associated documentation (Methodology Report and Tool User Guide), please contact natcaptool@nature.scot.