Natural Capital Approaches in Practice: Case Studies
The following case studies illustrate how natural capital approaches have been applied across a range of geographic, institutional, and policy contexts. Each one offers lessons for practitioners seeking to replicate or adapt these methods in their own work.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Belize
Sectors: Tourism, Fisheries, Forestry
Ecosystem Services: Coastal protection, water quality, fisheries, climate regulation
Policy focus: Results-based finance, ecosystem-based climate adaptation
Belize has pioneered the use of natural capital approaches to drive innovative marine conservation finance. This initiative developed a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework linking nature finance with socio-economic outcomes, a Blue Economy Jobs monitoring survey tool, and plans for a centralized dashboard to track progress across government agencies. The results are informing Belize's Blue Bond commitments, the Resilient Bold Belize Project Finance for Permanence program, and a forthcoming national Blue Economy MRV system.
Colombia
Sectors: Tourism, Energy, Agriculture, Water
Ecosystem Services: Water quality, erosion control, climate regulation, recreation
Policy focus: Compensation mechanisms, watershed investment planning, natural capital accounts
This work advanced the design of ecosystem accounting for the National System of Protected Areas (SINAP), quantifying the economic contributions of protected areas to key sectors and municipalities around Bogotá. The results provide evidence to support the design of compensation mechanisms and to internalize environmental investment costs within the country's most economically active sectors, contributing directly to implementation of the national SINAP policy.
Uruguay
Sectors: Water, Environment
Ecosystem Services: Water regulation, carbon storage, biodiversity
Policy focus: Wetland protection, environmental zoning, policy and finance mechanism design
This project developed an assessment and valuation of the ecosystem services provided by Uruguay's wetlands, in support of the National Water Code's provisions for wetland conservation. Working in collaboration with Uruguay's National Directorate of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (DINABISE) and Ministry of Economy and Finance, the project mapped and modeled priority wetland ecosystem services, estimated their monetary value, and generated recommendations for their integration into environmental zoning criteria and the design of financial mechanisms to enhance wetland protection.
Chile
Sectors: Water, Agriculture, Energy, Forestry, Tourism
Ecosystem Services: Water provision and regulation, climate regulation, habitat, recreation
Policy focus: Compensation mechanisms, spatial planning
This project applied natural capital assessment methods to the Río Bueno Basin in southern Chile, generating ecosystem service maps and valuation results to support a specific public policy instrument selected by Chile's interministerial Natural Capital Committee. The work demonstrates an end-to-end application of natural capital approaches in the policy cycle — from baseline assessment through to concrete policy recommendations — and is helping build a foundation for broader institutionalization of these methods within the Chilean government.
Ecuador
Sectors: Environment, Water
Ecosystem Services: Water availability and quality, carbon storage, biodiversity, tourism
Policy focus: Conservation and restoration planning, biodiversity strategy
This project conducted a rapid natural capital assessment of Ecuador's Yasuní Biosphere Reserve — one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth — to generate spatial maps of priority ecosystem services and their economic values. A distinctive feature of this project is its integration of Indigenous and local knowledge alongside technical analysis. Results were designed to directly inform Ecuador's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve Management Plan, providing a proof-of-concept for how detailed spatial information on nature's contributions can be embedded in concrete national planning instruments.
Asia and The Pacific
Armenia
Sectors: Water, Environment
Ecosystem Services: Water quality and quantity
Policy focus: Watershed investment planning, ecosystem-based climate adaptation, conservation and restoration policies
In Armenia's Ararat Basin, this initiative quantified the economic dependence of agricultural, fish farming, and hydropower sectors on upstream watershed ecosystems. The results are designed to inform legally binding river basin management plans, with potential implications for protected area designation and climate-resilient water management across the country.
Cook Islands
Sectors: Tourism, Disaster risk, Environment
Ecosystem Services: Water quality, erosion control, flood control
Policy focus: Watershed investment planning, conservation and restoration plans
This pilot identified where riparian buffer restoration and how wastewater management investments would be most effective for improving water quality and flood control in the ecologically and economically vital Muri Lagoon. The results support both local community needs and traditional ridge-to-reef management practices, and are informing government, Asian Development Bank, and community NGO decision-making on infrastructure investment and ecosystem restoration priorities.
Philippines
Sectors: Water, Environment
Ecosystem Services: Water quality, erosion control, tourism, climate regulation
Policy focus: Watershed investment planning, natural capital accounts
This project built government capacity to assess and value the benefits of nature — particularly water-related ecosystem services — as part of watershed management planning. It also advanced implementation of the Philippines' landmark PENCAS law, which institutionalizes the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System at a national scale, demonstrating to national and international decision-makers the practical value of natural capital approaches for prioritizing ecosystem investments.
Uzbekistan
Sectors: Agriculture, water, forests, climate adaptation
Ecosystem services: Soil retention, water regulation, landslide risk reduction, landscape productivity
Policy focus: Climate adaptation investment, Sustainable Land Management, RESILAND CA+ Regional Program
Uzbekistan faces significant challenges from land degradation, water stress, and climate-related hazards including landslides, which threaten both agricultural livelihoods and long-term economic development. This project mapped degradation hotspots and modeled the costs and benefits of climate-smart land management investments, demonstrating that the benefits of sustainable land management are two to three times higher than the costs. This evidence was instrumental in building government buy-in for increased investment, and the results are guiding implementation of sustainable land use practices through the World Bank's RESILAND CA+ Regional Landscape Restoration Program across Central Asia.
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People's Republic of China
Sectors: Environment
Ecosystem Services: Water quality, erosion control, flood control, fisheries, tourism, climate regulation
Policy focus: Results-based financing, compensation mechanisms, natural capital accounts
Working in the South Dongting Lake region of the Yangtze River Basin, this project conducted a baseline ecosystem services assessment and developed a Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) account — a single, policy-relevant indicator of the economic contributions of the region's ecosystems. The GEP account is designed to support ecosystem stewardship incentives and compensation mechanisms under China's national green development framework.
Pakistan
Sectors: Agriculture, forests, water, climate adaptation
Ecosystem services: Soil retention, water regulation, flood risk reduction, landscape productivity
Policy focus: National Adaptation Plan, Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Program, ecosystem restoration strategy
Pakistan is implementing one of the world's most ambitious restoration commitments, but scaling up effectively requires knowing where and what to restore to achieve the greatest benefits across ecosystems and communities. This project mapped land degradation hotspots and their consequences for ecosystem services, modeled the potential co-benefits of restoration interventions in priority areas, and produced a technical report that provided concrete recommendations for a national ecosystem restoration strategy. The analysis is now informing how ecosystem services are defined and measured within Pakistan's Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Program, and is aligned with the country's National Adaptation Plan.
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Sri Lanka
Sectors: Agriculture, Energy, Food, Water
Ecosystem Services: Erosion control
Policy focus: Watershed investment planning
In Sri Lanka's Mahaweli watershed, this project modeled ecosystem services and conducted an optimization analysis to show how upstream land use management can reduce soil loss and sedimentation in the reservoirs, dams, and irrigation canals that underpin the country's food and energy systems. The work built in-country capacity through training and engagement with government, university, and multilateral development bank partners, and laid a foundation for future green bond and carbon credit financing of sustainable land use.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Sectors: Forests, carbon markets, rural livelihoods
Ecosystem services: Carbon storage and sequestration, water regulation, biodiversity, food and fiber provision
Policy focus: Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), forest restoration investment, carbon finance
The DRC holds some of the world's largest and most ecologically significant tropical forests, yet ongoing forest loss and land degradation are undermining both climate stability and rural livelihoods. This project produced a landscape-scale assessment of ecosystem service values and modeled how continued forest loss would affect local economies and national carbon accounts, making the case for protection and restoration as a development strategy. The analysis was pivotal in the country's CCDR — one of the first to systematically incorporate land conditions and ecosystem service values — and directly informed the priority intervention area for a new US$300 million World Bank landscape investment program in the country.
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Report
Madagascar
Sectors: Hydropower, agriculture, forests, freshwater
Ecosystem services: Erosion control, water and sediment regulation, carbon storage, agricultural productivity
Policy focus: Country Environmental Analysis, Country Partnership Framework, integrated landscape management investment
Madagascar is experiencing severe land degradation that is directly undermining the economic sectors the country depends on most, including hydropower and rain-fed agriculture. This project assessed degradation hotspots and their downstream consequences for these key sectors, and developed an Ecosystem Services Index to provide the government and World Bank teams with a practical tool for prioritizing and monitoring investments in integrated landscape management. The results contributed to the country's Country Environmental Analysis and were influential enough to prompt a recommendation that ecosystem services be mainstreamed across the Bank's sectoral engagement in Madagascar through updates to the Country Partnership Framework.
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Ethiopia
Sectors: Agriculture, forests, water, carbon markets
Ecosystem services: Soil retention, water regulation, carbon sequestration, agricultural productivity
Policy focus: Country Climate and Development Report, Sustainable Land Management, climate finance
Ethiopia has long invested heavily in land restoration in its highlands, but land degradation is now emerging as a critical challenge in its lowland areas as well — a shift that was not yet fully reflected in national investment strategies. This project modeled landscape conditions and ecosystem service flows across the country, demonstrating this geographic shift and providing the analytical basis for redirecting investment toward underserved lowland landscapes. In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, the team developed an Investment Prioritization Tool that integrates ecosystem services with land cover, soil, and climate data to identify cost-effective locations for Sustainable Land Management programs, an approach that subsequently informed both the Ethiopia Strategic Investment Framework and the recalibration of the World Bank's Climate Action through Landscape Management (CALM) project.
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Malawi
Sectors: Agriculture, forests, water, carbon markets
Ecosystem services: Soil retention, water regulation, carbon sequestration, agricultural productivity
Policy focus: Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), landscape restoration investment, regional climate resilience
Malawi is highly vulnerable to climate change, and the condition of its landscapes — which are experiencing widespread degradation — significantly amplifies that vulnerability. This analysis of land conditions and ecosystem service values was integrated into Malawi's Country Climate and Development Report, making it one of the first such reports globally to place land condition and nature at the center of a macro-economic analysis of climate change risks. The work also revealed that active restoration projects were not targeting areas of highest ecosystem service potential, an insight now informing a strategic restructuring of a regional landscape management and climate resilience program for Eastern and Southern Africa. Alongside the analytical work, the project built capacity in government officials and technical experts and secured Malawi's membership in the Africa Natural Capital Accounting Community of Practice.
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