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13 Anderson Street, St. James,
Trinidad and Tobago
Natural Capital is the asset base for environmental services that has unfortunately often been regarded as a public good, or an asset to be exploited for economic gain, without a true understanding of the inherent costs and benefits that such assets provide to humans. A natural capital approach to decision making is one that seeks to, in some part, to better understand the tradeoffs between the traditional conversion of these natural assets to market assets v.s. The benefits that these assets provide in terms of services.
The Foundation has recently been admitted into the Natural Capital Coalition, a global multi stakeholder open source platform to support the development of methods for natural capital valuation in business.
In 2019, TCF aims to design and launch a Natural Capital for Business Lab, to help stimulate the business case for sustainability in Trinidad and Tobago.
A strong, collaborative and independent civil society is a critical factor in ensuring sustainable development. Civil Society Organisations play several roles in development: implementers of programmes and projects across varying scales; advocating for the groups with the least-heard voices; and a check and balance to State and private sector. All these roles, and more, are essential to a well-functioning country and Region that is seeking to ensure that its development works for everyone, and not just a privileged few.
The Foundation consistently lends its voice to civil society’s monitoring of good governance. Since 2010, TCF has served as a member of the tripartite Steering Committee of the Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI), a global Standard to promote open and accountable management of natural resources. TCF has been one of the leading voices to ensure effective civil society participation in our management of extractive resources. TCF has also been at the forefront of recent national civil society initiatives to advocate for improved governance and consultation, including advocacy around the Non-Profits Organisations Act and the Freedom of Information Act amendments.
Achieving Sustainable Development is a complex process that crosses physical and temporal scales, and that requires innovative and consistent funding in order to achieve its goals. Civil Society, as well as the State, must better understand and leverage these new mechanisms such as green bonds, impact investment, payments for ecosystem services, and debt for nature.
Such paradigm shifts are still slow to emerge in Trinidad and Tobago, but TCF aims to catalyse such leaps through a combination of its work in Natural Capital and the planned Natural Capital for Business Lab. In its work in ProEcoServ, TCF helped pilot some initial methodologies for Community Payments for Ecosystem Services and Carbon Accounting, which will serve as part of the jumping off points for future work.