Natural Capital, Agriculture and the Law

Through an extended study of agricultural land use and policy, Natural Capital, Agriculture and the Law presents a comprehensive legal analysis of proposals for protecting natural capital stocks and the sustainable use of ecosystem services, critiquing the legal challenges in designing and operationalising a workable natural capital approach.

Evaluating legal considerations at international, national and local levels, chapters canvas the challenges behind creating an optimal policy mix when shifting towards a natural capital approach, including entrenched private property rights and privacy and intellectual property concerns. Exploring the instruments necessary to support improved valuation and accounting for nature in the development of a natural capital framework, including digital technologies, regulation and market-based instruments, the book then considers the legal, technical and social barriers that impede their use. With an international outlook on environmental laws, trade rules and values, it concludes by arguing that operationalising natural capital governance requires designing and implementing legal and regulatory frameworks to support the identification, valuation, protection and restoration of natural capital.

Global in scope, the book will prove invaluable for scholars of environmental and agricultural law, environmental economics and policy design. Identifying practical options for legal, regulatory and governance design, it will also be useful for governmental policymakers and environmental consultants.