The Environment Agency uses a natural capital approach to deliver more benefits for people and wildlife – creating climate resilient places, thriving wildlife, improving people’s health and wellbeing and supporting a sustainable economy.
The economy depends on natural capital and the ecosystem services that flow from it:
Directly through provisioning and regulatory services
Directly through employment in tourism and the green economy
Indirectly through productivity gains, such as the positive impact of green space on people’s health and wellbeing[1]
Indirectly through the avoidance of future costs to growth that may be caused by degraded natural capital, either through lost resources or increases risk from potential hazards such as flooding.
