The Natural Capital Summit was held on October 5 and 6 in Madrid. The well-attended event has gathered experts, companies, administrations and non-for-profit entities that are innovating in natural capital management and who shared their successful experiences regarding the sustainable use of natural resources. The participants had the chance to learn first-hand the barriers and challenges related to the integration of natural capital in business strategies as well as the opportunities identified by those entities that have already taken the first steps.
The Natural Capital Summit was organized by Ecoacsa Reserva de Biodiversidad, Fundación CONAMA and Fundación Global Nature and included more than 60 speakers from national and international entities. The event has provided participants with an overview of the emerging natural capital sector, from its European framework and development to its main tools and the opportunities in terms of corporate innovation and new business models. In addition, the event addressed the role of administrations and entities in the third sector as key collaborators for the introduction and development of suitable resource management initiatives.
One of the most relevant addressed concepts was the Natural Capital Protocol, a standardized framework designed to provide reliable information to businesses about their relationship with the environment and facilitate the decision-making process based on reliable indicators related to the natural capital.
Eduardo de Miguel, Managing Director of Fundación Global Nature, pointed out that “the Protocol is already a reality and the first-hand experiences shared in this event have showed possible applications for decision-making or communication”.
The Natural Capital Summit has represented a meeting point and a networking opportunity for public and private entities that have been able to share concerns and identify synergies. The organizing entities consider that it is very valuable to support collaboration networks, which have a great potential to create future strategies that provide solutions to environmental concerns. In this sense, Alicia Torrego, Manager of Fundación Conama, stated that “the good management of natural capital is essential for sustainability. The leading companies in this respect not only show their commitment, but also become stronger by avoiding environmental risks and ensuring that their activity will be sustainable over time. The answer to many current challenges is green”.
David Álvarez, Executive Director of Ecoacsa, indicated that “no one attended the event to be in the photo, which proves the great interest of the business sector, public entities and the third sector in collaborating and supporting tools aimed at protecting the environment, a key step towards solving the global problems that we face”.
