Under the "natural capital assessment" scheme, economists will devise methods to value environmental assets. To achieve sustainable development you have to know what to protect, which means assets need to be valued said Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development last week.
The aim of the scheme is to put a value on the country's tangible and intangible assets. Value will be attributed to many things, including the beauty of the landscape, wildlife, and an area's potential for generating tourism.
The areas that have a lower natural capital value are likely to be deemed suitable for development, making it easier for developers, planners and councils to identify land suitable for development.
"We want to put a value on our natural assets. Features like Mount Snowdon or Lake Windermere have a value as do local parks, beaches and other features," said Bob Watson, chief scientist at the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), according to a report in The Times.
"That value changes according to what we do to them so we can use these numbers to support or oppose the case for development," he said.
The valuation will be overseen by Dieter Helm, an Oxford economics professor who has been appointed to lead the government's new natural capital committee, a cabinet subcommittee which is chaired by Osborne but independent of the Government.
"One of the things the next phase of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) programme will do is equip local communities to place a value on the natural environment on their doorsteps so that this value can be reflected in a wide range of local decisions," said Spelman at a recent conference.
