Valuing the impact of nature restoration
Summary
The Isles of Scilly Nature Company, a micro company established by the Duchy of Cornwall to help manage and run landscape recovery projects in partnership with farmers working to protect and restore nature across the Isles of Scilly archipeligo.
The client has set out a landscape recovery plan for the next 20 years, called the ‘Small is Beautiful’ project. The team wanted support to develop the business case for investment in conservation-based actions, to help restore and protect the unique environment of the Isles of Scilly Nature landscape in the UK, using natural capital accounting.
How we helped
Little Blue Research worked with the client to develop the business case for investment in conservation-based interventions by:
• Building a natural capital register - to establish the extent and condition of the terrestrial ecosystems included within a land management plan. The team worked with ecologists to identify relevant ecosystem services currently provided in the project area.
• Building scenarios - the team developed two scenarios to show changes in ecosystem extent and condition and the impact of these on ecosystem service provision.
• Valuations - Little Blue Research developed a series of bespoke valuations to capture the difference between the ecosystem service provision seen under the BAU and intervention scenarios.
• The outputs of the project align with the latest ISO standard released in this area, ISO 14054:2025 Natural Capital Accounting for Organizations.
Client description
Isles of Scilly Nature Company
Micro company
Case study details
Business resilience: risk & impact analysis
National Landscape
UK
Capital(s)
Challenges
• Working with the ecology team to articulate predicted ecological changes expected as a result of conservation actions.
• Data collection both ecological and economic, working with the client and using realtime data from ecological surveys to feed into the natural capital register.
Outcomes
• Developing a natural capital register showing the extent and condition of the project area (1465 Ha) covering five types of ecosystem alongside outputs to align with ISO 14054:2025.
• Developing bespoke valuations for
• Wildfire risk
• Tourism
• Fertiliser pollution
• Changes in biodiversity, using a novel application of the BNG methodology, among others.
The natural capital valuation completed by Little Blue Research provided a unique insight into our project. Valuing the benefits of a healthy and functioning environment, and comparing the current baseline to a future nature rich ambition in such a unique place like the Isles of Scilly was a challenge, but the team developed a set of natural capital accounts that worked well for us and our project partners.
Heather Webb - Head of Future Farming, The Duchy of Cornwall.
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