Identifying critical natural capital: Conclusions about critical natural capital
Section snippets
Theoretical insights from the CRITINC project
The common theoretical approach underpinning the CRITINC papers is that the environment as natural capital may be conceptualised as contributing to human life and activity through the performance of environmental functions (Hueting, 1980). As human populations and activities have increased, so have the demands on these functions, such that the demands on them cannot now all be fulfilled; there is competition between functions. The continuing over-use of some functions may result in other
Application of the CRITINC framework
As noted in the Introduction to this special issue, each institute participating in the CRITINC project undertook a case study of a particular environmental issue in the context of the analytical framework that had been developed (see Figure 2 in Ekins et al. this issue). The major insights from the case studies now briefly follow. They are presented more extensively on the CRITINC website1.
Summary conclusions
The CRITINC project made a number of theoretical and practical advances.
On the theoretical side, it deepened the understanding of critical natural capital and environmental sustainability in several ways:
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It emphasised the joint importance of the elements of natural capital, the interactions between those elements and the processes to which these interactions give rise. It is this complexity which enables natural capital to perform its functions, and which must remain the focus of analysis if
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