GOMPS Directors were fortunate to join a two-day workshop for the Natural Asset Management Fundamentals Workshop at Natural Assets Initiative on April 7th and April 9th, 2026. Please watch the video to understand what is natural asset management.
Biodiversity loss and climate change constitute a twin crisis in which accelerating habitat destruction, species extinction, and climate disruption reinforce one another in a negative feedback loop. Since 1970, 70% of vertebrate populations have vanished, with land-use change, overexploitation, and climate change driving up to 1 million species toward extinction. Addressing these together is vital, as nature loss hampers carbon absorption, accelerating global warming, while a warming planet destroys ecosystems.
The online course was about how to think about the natural assets of core infrastructure and the value it brings to our communities. Once they are gone, we really can’t replace them with built infrastructure. They have intrinsic value, are irreplaceable, and have no end of useful life.
We all have a responsibility to ensure the services of value provided by the Garry oak ecosystem, and the Garry oak tree can continue to provide multiple service benefits that need to be considered in a holistic approach that supports our communities in an urban environment.
Rather than focusing on aesthetic value, this approach evaluates the stormwater services provided by natural assets—under both current and future climate scenarios—and assigns value to those services. This is especially critical in urban areas, where development pressure often leads to the loss of these systems.
It also requires a direct comparison between the costs of conventional stormwater management infrastructure and the use of natural asset management. In many cases, intact ecosystems such as Garry oak landscapes provide equal or greater long-term performance at a lower cost, while also delivering additional co-benefits that engineered systems cannot replicate.
