Natural asset management supports low-cost, sustainable service delivery through natural infrastructure
Communities across Canada are faced with a challenge: many of the services they provide depend on ageing infrastructure assets that are in desperate need of renewal. Meanwhile, impacts from climate change put even more strain on already-tight budgets.
Critical assets need to be managed to supply needed services. Unfortunately, most communities lack policies to measure and manage one important asset class: nature.
Natural asset management (NAM) helps communities make informed financial and planning decisions by recognizing, accounting for, and ultimately managing their natural assets.
What are Natural Assets?
Natural assets refer to the stock of ecosystems or natural resources — such as wetlands, forests, and riparian areas — that contribute to the provision of one or more services required for the health, wellbeing, and long-term sustainability of a community and its residents.
Essentially, natural assets provide vital services we use every day, instead of having costly engineered infrastructure do the same job.
This includes services like drinking water, climate regulation, and flood mitigation, as well as recreational and cultural benefits that make a community worth living in.
Figure 1: NAI 2024, adapted from Green Infrastructure Ontario
Natural assets are part of the broader category of green infrastructure, along with enhanced and engineered elements created to mimic natural functions and processes.
Scalable solutions
Over 140 communities and organizations have started their NAM journey
Based on widely-accepted asset management practices, NAM is a scalable approach to develop resilient, long-term infrastructure alternatives, often at lower costs and reduced risk.
Figure 2: Adapted from Asset Management BC’s asset management wheel (2017). NAI’s NAM cycle is an ongoing process to continually improve sustainable service delivery.
Quick Facts
- Emerging evidence shows that identifying, measuring and managing natural assets as part of an overall asset management strategy can save capital and operating costs and reduce risk.
- In some communities, development cost charges may be able to support the rehabilitation of natural assets.
- There are external funding sources to support the maintenance/rehabilitation of natural assets and natural infrastructure.
- Some natural assets serve multiple purposes. For example, parks may reduce flooding risks as well as provide recreational benefits, helping to advance climate solutions alongside socio-economic objectives.
- Natural assets are often resilient and adaptable to climate change. With effective monitoring, maintenance and rehabilitation now, natural assets can provide services and add value for decades in ways many engineered assets cannot match.
