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Natural Capital RegionSearch fields
Description and method logicMethod purposePlan, prioritise and report most cost-effective investment in natural capital improvement actions.
SummaryNatural Capital Region is a web-based application providing guidance on the most cost-effective investment actions required, for a range of environmental indicators. The aim is to streamline investment programs, at basin and sub-catchment scales. Natural Capital Region has been developed using the learnings from earlier tools developed in the South-East Queensland and Reef landscapes and is being applied in areas across Australia.
Natural Capital Region uses curated libraries of on-ground investment 'actions', each with a cost and impact. Positive and negative actions relate to broadacre agricultural practice, revegetation (wetland, riparian, terrestrial), point source improvements, preservation of high value assets, streambank and gully management, land clearing and land maintenance practices. New projects can create local libraries or build on existing libraries developed for: South East Queensland (60 actions); Queensland Reef Water Quality Management Program (80 actions); and the Southern Queensland landscapes action libraries (30 actions). Method logicThe modelling platform uses a ‘marginal cost abatement curve’ approach to determine the cost effectiveness of on-ground management actions associated with seven indicator groups. These are Water quality, Biodiversity, Land resilience, First Nations, Social, Economic, and Climate change to determine a portfolio of prioritised on-ground investment actions. All values are equal, and the user weights the relative importance of each. It considers confidence in the prediction of outcomes and includes variable response timeframes for each outcome (i.e. immediate vs longer-term).
Criteria groupings of the methodNatural Capital Region runs a scenario based on any number of user selected indicators (individually or in any combination) to calculate a suite of on-ground actions that best meet the user-defined impact required. The calculation is based on the costs of each action selected and the relevant area they are applied to (cost effectiveness). The user can also generate a prioritised list of actions to meet a fixed budget allocation. Further, the user can generate a prioritised list of actions to meet user defined improvement targets across all indicators.
Each action has a quantified impact i.e. yield, load, efficacy, area of change. Some examples include stream bank erosion (yield), area change of riverine wetland, efficacy of carbon sequestration. Data required
The data required to develop a library of actions is managed by Truii and includes:
Resources requiredExpertise required
Materials requiredNatural Capital Region hosted on the Truii website. GIS software, spatial datasets, expert and stakeholder information and engagement.
Method outputsOutputsAn interactive output is generated for each scenario displayed within the program’s web interface. These outputs include a list of prioritised actions (and associated location, cost, treated area), a cumulative cost breakdown graphic, improvement from baseline over time generated by each indicator graphic, and a clickable catchment map highlighting benefits in any one sub-catchment. This is an interactive planning tool that can be updated in real-time to explore alternate scenarios by adjusting total program value, actions, adoption likelihood and priority sub-catchments.
Uses
Criteria by category
Physical and chemicalEconomicSocio-culturalEcosystem/habitatReviewRecommended userFor project brokers, planners and large-scale Natural Resource Management investors; local/regional, State and Federal Governments, natural resource management groups.
Strengths
Limitations
Case studiesSouthern Queensland LandscapesNatural Capital Suite – Streamlining investment in natural resource management. [online] Available at: https://naturalcapitalsuite.au/ [Accessed 14 June 2024].
Last updated: 14 June 2024 This page should be cited as: Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Queensland (2024) Natural Capital Region, WetlandInfo website, accessed 30 August 2024. Available at: https://wetlandinfo.des.qld.gov.au/wetlands/resources/tools/assessment-search-tool/natural-capital-region/ |