The team behind the innovative INCASE project has released a set of recommendations aimed at valuing, restoring, and protecting Ireland’s natural resources through the implementation of a natural capital accounting framework, establishing it as a national priority.

Unveiling its final report at Trinity College Dublin, the EPA Research-funded initiative – Irish Natural Capital Accounting for Sustainable Environments – brought together a multidisciplinary team of ecologists and economists from four Irish universities. This team piloted the UN-backed System of Environmental Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) across four Irish sub-catchments: the Bride in County Cork; the Caragh in County Kerry; the Dargle in County Wicklow; and the Figile in County Offaly.

Professor Jane Stout, an ecologist and principal investigator who is now Vice-President for Biodiversity and Climate Action at Trinity College Dublin, emphasised:

“Investing in natural capital accounting is crucial to ensure the sustainable provision of goods and services for future generations. It is vital for our society’s and economy’s wellbeing.”

Stout continued: “We all rely on nature, yet we often overlook the degradation and destruction of natural systems. Integrating the natural capital approach into everyday policy and decision-making enables us to consider nature systematically alongside other fundamental assets recorded in national accounts. This method also highlights how natural systems underpin significant economic sectors. The health of these natural assets influences their ability to sustain essential services and benefits, such as carbon storage, clean water, food, and medicines. Without these natural benefits, which we often take for granted, our physical and financial health would suffer.”

One notable output from the INCASE project is a paper on applying ecosystem accounting to create a risk register for peatlands, aimed at informing restoration targets. Lead author Dr Catherine Farrell noted:

“In the Figile catchment area, peatlands have been severely affected by industrial peat extraction, impacting carbon storage and other ecosystem services. The Dargle in Wicklow also has significant areas of degraded upland peatlands. By applying the natural capital accounting methods developed by the United Nations, we can identify where damage occurs and which sectoral activities contribute to it. This insight allows us to target protective and restorative measures, linking these accounts to policy and economic decisions.”

Dr Farrell added, “The framework allows for the inclusion of nature’s value in decisions related to physical and mental wellbeing, clean air and water, flood protection, shelter, food, wildlife, and habitats. Even if these values are challenging to express in financial terms, they must be considered in policy decisions affecting them.”

Since its inception in 2018, the INCASE project has witnessed substantial international progress in implementing SEEA-EA as a complementary measure to GDP. The Central Statistics Office in Ireland has begun developing ecosystem accounts based on this model.

The project utilised over 200 datasets from more than 30 agencies, highlighting the importance of engaging with and collaborating across various data providers in Ireland and the necessity for consistent, reliable data collection.

The final report presents several key recommendations:

  • Developing and using natural capital accounting methods like SEEA-EA should be a national priority, requiring investment in expertise and shared nature-data infrastructure in Ireland.
  • A detailed, high-resolution, regularly updated ecosystem map is necessary, along with further development of ecosystem condition assessments.
  • There needs to be a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the extent and condition of natural capital assets and the flows of services and benefits. A standardised approach to assessing these flows is required.

EPA Director Dr Eimear Cotter commented on the project’s completion:

“By funding research such as the INCASE project, the EPA Research Programme underscores our commitment to placing science and innovation at the heart of environmental protection in Ireland. This research informs better strategies for protecting and restoring our natural environment and supports Ireland’s response to global challenges like climate disruption and biodiversity loss. We welcome the publication of the INCASE Final Report and the valuable insights it provides on using Natural Capital Accounting to integrate natural and socio-economic systems, allowing for a systematic consideration of nature in decision-making.”

To learn more about the INCASE project and access its outputs, visit www.incaseproject.com.