“Natural Capital” Concept – A New Approach to Environmental Management and Post-industrial Landscapes

Abstract

We are currently observing significant transformations that affect the quality of human life. Careless use of the environment significantly limits its resources and leads to its destruction. Therefore, responsible management of the natural environment and natural capital is crucial for us to benefit from it in the future. The natural environment, natural processes related to all environmental components, largely determine wild welfare. Ecological economics gives tremendous importance to biological processes (capital) that create everything on which people are dependent. Natural capital is closely related to the state of ecosystems. Natural capital is a term used for the entity of the living and non-living components of ecosystems. It “includes all forms of ecosystems and natural resources that create human welfare but are not its work”. The relationship between ecosystems and processes generates goods and services for people. Natural capital consists mainly of ecosystems, primary producers, species composition, the related above and below-ground organisms, the processes, and resulting ecosystem functioning, which are the fundamentals for providing ecological services. Ecosystem services maintain people’s lives and the balance of ecosystems. Undoubtedly, natural capital stocks and services of biological systems are of crucial importance for the functioning of life on the Earth. Moreover, they contribute to the welfare of people, forming “part of the total economic value of the planet”. The issue dealt with in the paper is, among others, the concept of natural capital in post-industrial landscapes. Currently, this issue assumes significant importance due to the environmental crisis and depletion of natural resources. Furthermore, changes in the economy and technology mean that natural capital is currently undergoing further significant transformations. In these circumstances, a new approach to environmental management, including the concept of natural capital, is becoming an urgent need.