Advancing Natural Capital Accounting to Identify the Nature-Led Solutions that Reduce Exposure to Climate Risks

Project Background:

Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) has rapidly evolved, providing a robust framework for measuring natural capital. By integrating NCA into farming systems, we can quantify, manage, and validate the nature-led solutions that create thriving and productive farming landscapes. As a result of the fast evolution of NCA, this project will rationalise and share learnings to date, noting that some aspects of NCA are probably not that beneficial or cost effective for informed decision making.

Project Aims:

Beyond its immediate applications, in the long-term, this project will play a pivotal role in advancing and streamlining NCA as a cost-effective tool for understanding and verifying the effectiveness of nature-led farming and landcare practices. In effect, an approach that leads to more informed decision-making and interventions for a climate resilient farming landscape.

The full impact of this project may take time to assess but comparing practices and outcomes with neighbouring farms after extreme weather event via satellite imagery, visual assessments, surveys etc will provide valuable insights to help analyse factors such as:

• Frost impact and recovery.
• Flood event damage, resilience and recovery.
• Crop condition following low growing-season rainfall.
• Interventions aimed at reversing land degradation
• Downstream and/or off farm impact,
• Biodiversity condition assessment.
• Community wellbeing.

This project will:

• Explore the benefits of low-cost natural regeneration versus high-cost revegetation as pathways to resilient landscapes.
• Provide valuable information for banks, insurers, regional communities and other key stakeholders to advance nature-led solutions.
• Integrate science-based approaches to NCA with Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

Project Deliverables:

• By early September 2025, a comprehensive baseline NCA report detailing the flow, stock, and condition of natural capital on a farm will be developed. This will include input from a leading agronomist who understands and encourages nature-led solutions and how this impacts farm production and profitability, farmers, a bank, an insurer, an impact investor, and a Landcare/restoration specialist e.g., Greening Australia.
• By December 2025, we will conduct at least 2 x NCA field days at the farm, 2 x webinars, 1 x major conference presentation, and 20 socials to engage and inform farmers, industry stakeholders and the broader community.

This project is being delivered in collaboration with NRM Regions Australia with the support of the Minderoo Foundation.