India CSR News Network
MUMBAI: YES Institute at YES BANK, a practising think tank, has launched a unique dialogue series on ‘Natural Capital Conservation’, as a means to discuss, deliberate and advocate the heightened need for conserving Natural Capital in India.
The first convening of the series on ‘Financing of Natural Ecosystems’ was organized at the Hall of Harmony, Nehru Centre, Mumbai in association with ‘World Agroforestry Centre’ (ICRAF) and ‘Earthwatch Institute’.
The convening initiated a dialogue on the need for innovative models for financing integrated landscape management, and for promoting investments in resilient agriculture, ecosystems and rural development.
Globally there is an increased interest from governments, companies, and communities in adapting to the impacts of climate change and conservation of natural resources. However, the costs and benefits to these changes are not widely understood, limiting the ability of decision makers to prepare for future challenges. Adaptation is a crucial component for conservation of natural landscapes, which requires multi-levels of governance, institutions, legislations, objectives and stakeholders.
Natural Capital is defined as the stock of natural assets in an ecosystem which interacts to yield a flow of goods and/or services. It refers to the country’s biodiversity that provides goods and ecosystem services that we rely on for ‘quality of life’, from fertile soil and productive land and seas to fresh water and clean air.
A landscape approach to conservation would therefore involve providing tools and concepts for allocating and managing land to achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives in areas where agriculture, mining, and other productive land uses compete with environmental and biodiversity goals.
‘The Landscape Sentinel Portal’ developed by ICRAF would play an important role in enabling targeted agroforestry interventions, land use/cover mapping and measuring impacts of interventions to name a few of the many functions. This portal will prove vital in monitoring the impact of on ground investments by both public and private institutions.
Preeti Sinha, Senior President, YES BANK and Glocal Convenor, YES Institute said, “Natural Capital is group of critical resources for developing countries such as India, where it makes up a significant share of country’s unaccounted wealth. Conservation of these resources will have far reaching benefits for the forthcoming generations and also towards our country’s fight against climate change. We at YES Institute, believe that a landscape-based approach to conservation will be an ideal route for attracting private capital into this sector.’
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