Environmental+capital+and+services

Environmental capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital (manufactured means of production) to goods and services relating to the environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future. For example, a stock of trees or fish provides a flow of new trees or fish, a flow which can be indefinitely sustainable. Natural capital may also provide services like recycling wastes or water and erosion control. Since the flow of services from ecosystems requires that they function as whole systems, the structure and diversity of the system are important components of natural capital.

In relation to Banff National park, it is very important to sustain the resources of the park to ensure environmental capital in the future. The loss of biodiversity is a major issue in the park and efforts have been, and are being made to address this issue. Interestingly enough, however, the park management has also implemented policy leading to the depletion of the natural resources of the park; exempting ski runs, golf courses, and residential/business development. The tourism generated by these developments, and the natural beauty of the park as whole, could be regraded as environmental capital depending upon ones worldview.

If one has a ecological view, as one would assume a conservationist should have, then it would seem that natural capital would consist of things such as; preserving natural beauty, biodiversity and native species. In fact, the running of the park paints a very different picture. With the rapid loss of biodiversity in the park due to human development, it is obvious, that in the case of Banff national park, economy trumps ecology.