NAI offers a variety of programs, training, and services to support natural asset management at your organization and in your region. 

An inventory is an essential first step in a full NAM project, providing a registry of the natural assets a community relies on, their location, condition, and the risks they face.

Inventories vary in size and complexity based on the project, and can be expanded to include full risk assessments and value estimates for the services natural assets provide. Natural asset inventories are to be maintained and updated over time.

As part of an inventory project, NAI assesses current policies, partnerships, and capacity to develop recommendations and priority actions for the client, and supports staff workshops and public engagement.

NAI’s inventories align with the CSA standard for natural asset inventories, CSA W218:23.

NAI provides expertise to guide implementation of your natural asset management initiatives, and develops financial valuations for the services nature provides to improve decision-making. 

There are varying approaches to nature valuation; NAI’s approach focuses on ecosystem service values, and valuation estimates can be based on replacement costs (e.g., for engineered alternatives or restoration) and/or willingness-to-pay, as well as qualitative considerations. 

Valuations can be useful to demonstrate the often-unrecognized benefits and services from nature, but should always be considered a minimum value, and never equated to nature’s “worth”.

To grow natural asset management from an emerging practice to mainstream, NAI works with leading organizations to research and develop guidance, and deliver presentations and training opportunities for local government staff, engineers, land and community planners, asset managers, and others.

See our local government and professional resources.

NAI advises organizations and local governments on how to best integrate natural asset considerations into their policies and plans to support better decision-making, effective service delivery, and nature-related priorities.

To grow natural asset management into a mainstream practice, NAI contributes to the development and improvement of national standards and best practices. This ensures that natural assets are managed consistently and cohesively from community to community. Learn more about standard development.

A full NAM project is a comprehensive analysis of your natural assets to inform financial and land-use planning decisions. Full NAM projects include:

• Readiness assessment
• Natural asset inventory (including condition & risk)
• Level of service development workshop
• Modelling of priority services
• Co-benefits assessment
• Scenario analysis (comparing future land use changes)
• Operations & maintenance costing
• Stakeholder & Rightsholder workshop
• Implementation options & recommendations

Need some direction on natural asset management? With government, environmental, and economic expertise, NAI’s team can consult on current projects and support your organization in achieving its financial, planning, and ESG goals with NAM.