The Natural Capital Initiative has produced guidance for improving integrated management of land and rivers, the coasts and the open seas through partnerships. It recognises that our economy and well-being are fundamentally dependent on a healthy natural environment.
Holistic solutions through partnerships
A key challenge to achieving this is to overcome what are sometimes separate responsibilities for different but linked parts of our land, freshwaters and seas. The NCI guidance recommends an approach that transcends conventional administrative, sectoral and geographical boundaries. New ‘wholescape thinking’ encourages holistic solutions replacing sometimes narrow perspectives that can create conflict between different interest groups or miss critical linkages. This type of approach depends on strong partnership working that brings together diverse organisations who agree to collaborate closely to solve problems of common concern.