Governance and Accounting for the Management of Ecological Systems (GAMES)

Bioblitiz bee on flower (credit:Sir Cam)

Natural capital is a relatively new area for conservation research and
practice. By recognising and revealing how nature contributes to human wellbeing, natural capital approaches aim at influencing decision-making, action, policy, investment and business interventions in order to improve biodiversity protection.

This agenda has led over the past two decades to the development of innovative ways to assess and value biodiversity and ecosystem services. These include biophysical, economic and qualitative information systems.

There is emerging evidence of success in using these approaches and tools to inform decision-making in one-off case studies, but mostly at small scales and under favourable conditions. Incorporating natural capital into resource and land-use decisions and management practices systematically, at larger scales, remains elusive.

Responding to this challenge requires refining our understanding of the complex natural resource governance and accountability systems in which these tools are mobilized, while at the same time creating new linkages between private and public, national and local approaches to natural capital accounting and management.

Building on inter-disciplinary and social science research, this project seeks to develop and experiment with both conceptual and practical methods, tools and frameworks that contribute to the scaling up and long-term effective governance of natural capital in multiple places and contexts.

The goal of the project is to improve the capacity of multiple actors to base their decisions, actions, investment choices and reciprocal commitments on their role in improving ecological quality and societal wellbeing.

Additional information can be found on the Luc Hoffman Institute GAMES page.

Publications and outputs

Additionally a workshop on New Accounting for the Management of Ecosystems workshop, with CRASSH and the Luc Hoffman Institute, was held as part of this project in summer 2017.