March 5, 2019
The ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, the Natural Capital Coalition, Conservation International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales have partnered to develop a Natural Capital Protocol Ocean Supplement.
The Natural Capital Protocol, developed by the Natural Capital Coalition, is a decision-making framework that enables organizations to identify, measure and value their direct and indirect impacts and dependencies on natural capital.
Though this framework was designed to be applied across sectors and ecosystems, businesses that depend on and affect ocean natural capital have additional considerations.
At the end of January, the group hosted their third and final workshop to inform the development of this supplement at ASU Tempe Campus.
The goal of this workshop was to discuss and inform the scope and focus of this guidance and to identify how to maximize its impact.
Over the course of the two-day workshop, participants from academia, business and non-profit worked together to maximize the usefulness of this tool. CBO founding director Leah Gerber, Life Sciences PhD student Erin Murphy and Life Sciences PhD student Miranda Bernard, were participants that collaborated in identifying which industries and businesses would most benefit from this supplement and the types of resources that would be most useful.
Additionally, strategies for resource dissemination and communication were discussed to ensure the supplement gains wide-spread use and has a meaningful impact in protecting ocean natural capital.
The knowledge gained from this workshop is being used to inform the development of the supplement which will be ready for launch at the UN Ocean Meeting in June 2020.