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An assessment of the value of natural capital in the protective service against coastal and inland flooding in the UK Overseas Territory of the British Virgin Islands 2019

Abstract

The British Virgin Islands (BVI), like many of the UK Caribbean Overseas Territories, are highly dependent on the natural environment for its economic and social well-being. Because of the recognition of the role of the natural environment can play, the Government of BVI (GoBVI) is looking to incorporate socio-economic values of natural resources into its policy and decision making. In particular, there is an objective of better incorporating the natural environment in fiscal planning through instruments such as the Medium-Term Fiscal Plan and budget, and the proposed Environment Bill.

To support these objectives, the primary purpose of this study is to assess the value of natural capital which mitigates the impacts of extreme weather on built infrastructure. Specifically, this relates to the provision of protection from coastal and inland flooding resulting from extreme weather events.

The natural capital estimates in this study reflect only one function – protection from flooding – provided by specific natural features in the BVI such as coral reefs. These same natural features contribute to the provision of other ecosystem services.

This study was undertaken as part of a programme of Natural Capital Assessment (NCA) in the UK's Caribbean Overseas Territories implemented by JNCC, and was conducted by Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions UK Limited. Funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the UK Government through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF), the work sits under the Environmental Resilience programme which includes objectives to integrate natural capital considerations into economic and social development planning.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2019·04·01

Citation
Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions UK Limited. 2019. An assessment of the value of natural capital in the protective service against coastal and inland flooding in the UK Overseas Territory of the British Virgin Islands. Natural Capital in the UK’s Overseas Territories Report Series – Supplementary Report (Caribbean Region).  Contracted report to JNCC.

Lineage
Contracted report to JNCC as part of the 'Natural Capital in the Caribbean and South Atlantic Overseas Territories: Valuation, Vulnerability and Monitoring Change' project.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC resourceProvider

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints The contents of this report are subject to copyright owned by JNCC, apart from the datasets that have been used to generate results, which are under licence.

Metadata date 2020·09·09

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

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