The Canadian town of Pelham has valued its natural assets as being worth more than C$585 million after completing a process of identification and measurement.
With support from the educational not-for-profit Greenbelt Foundation, Pelham applied the methodology developed by Canada’s Natural Assets Initiative to understand the value of its natural assets and the services and benefits they provide.
The study considered assets such as trees, healthy soils, wetlands and watersheds and sought to evaluate them in the same way as roads, stormwater systems and sewers.
The aim of the exercise was to integrate the natural assets in Pelham’s overall core infrastructure and ensure the provision of resilient and cost effective services.
Pelham is a town with a population of around 20,000 living in an area of 125 square kilometres in the province of Ontario.
“Pelham is proud to be a leader in including natural infrastructure as part of our asset management plan,” said Marvin Junkin, the mayor of Pelham.
“With the success of this project, we hope that other municipalities will follow our example and find ways to preserve and protect natural infrastructure assets within their boundaries.”
The C$585m value is based on the contribution the natural assets make to stormwater management and flooding services, and the equivalent cost of replacing them with traditional hard infrastructure.
The report also looked beyond stormwater management and looked at other essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, recreational opportunities, and freshwater supply.
Collectively, these three attributes were estimated to contribute between C$22.1m and C$24.7m to the city each year, with carbon sequestration making the biggest contribution at C$12.2m.
The report makes the point that Canada needs to prioritise natural asset management in urban and outer areas since around 80% of the population live in areas where natural spaces intersect with urban development.
“Effective stewardship of natural assets helps these entities deliver more resilient services in a changing climate, reduce associated costs and provides an alternative to ‘building their way out’ of infrastructure challenges,’” the report says.
