---
title: how a city values the nature it already owns
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/how-a-city-values-the-nature-it-already-owns
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/how-a-city-values-the-nature-it-already-owns.md
subtitle: "the creek, the canopy and the aquifer do the work of infrastructure. here is how a city or town counts them"
category: esv
---

# how a city values the nature it already owns

*the creek, the canopy and the aquifer do the work of infrastructure. here is how a city or town counts them*

A city owns more infrastructure than its asset register lists. The creek that carries the storm out of midtown, the marsh that takes the high tide before the street does, the aquifer under the east side, the canopy on the hottest blocks, the park that soaks up a summer downpour. They do the work of pipes, pumps, levees and air conditioners. Many cities have never counted them as assets, so they lose every budget fight to the things that are counted.

**Municipal natural asset management** is the practice of treating that living infrastructure the way a city already treats roads and water mains: list it, judge its condition, value what it does, plan for its care, and fund it. This post is for the climate office in a C40 city and the one coordinator in a town that signed the Global Covenant of Mayors. Both of you have been asked to plan for heat, flood and drought. Both of you already own infrastructure that does real work and is not on any list.

The creek, the canopy, the marsh, the aquifer and the park exist whether or not a city counts them. A valuation is how their work shows up beside the pipe in the budget. Ensurance is how the people who depend on that work can fund it. Neither is the worth of the living thing.

:::johnson
**the creek is on the map. it is not on the books.**

Every city can point to its creek. Very few can say what the creek does in a year, what it would cost to replace, or who would pay if it failed. Two valuations answer that, and both fit in a planning cycle.

[see the valuation services →](/services?from=guide#finance)
:::

## what a natural asset is, to a city

A **natural asset** is a piece of living ground that delivers a service a city would otherwise have to build, buy or go without. The test is practical. If the wetland were filled tomorrow, would the city need a detention basin? If the canopy came down, would the heat on those blocks get worse? If the answer is yes, the wetland and the canopy are infrastructure, and they belong in the same conversation as the assets the city already maintains.

The idea is not new and it is not ours. The Town of Gibsons, British Columbia, started down this road in 2012, after a mapping study showed how much the town relied on its aquifer. Gibsons began treating its aquifer, creeks, forest, wetlands and foreshore as infrastructure, with the same operations and maintenance standing as its engineered assets. When it modeled the stormwater ponds in White Tower Park, it put the cost of replacing their work with engineered capacity at about $3.5–4 million. When it later rewrote its stormwater development charges, it cut them by 74%, crediting the natural assets that already serve Upper Gibsons. That work grew into the Municipal Natural Assets Initiative, whose Inventory Acceleration project alone helped 31 Canadian local governments take stock of what they have.

## the two valuations a city can run

People use "valuing nature" for two different jobs. Keep them apart and the work gets easier.

| | ecosystem service valuation (ESV) | natural asset valuation |
|---|---|---|
| **The question** | What does this ground do for us in a year, in dollars? | What does it do, what would it cost to secure, and who depends on it? |
| **What it returns** | An annual value per acre for each service: clean water, flood and stormwater, cooling, air, habitat, recreation and the rest | The annual flows, the cost of securing the asset, the ratio between them, the gap the market does not see, and the list of who relies on it |
| **Who uses it** | Engineers comparing options, grant writers, the benefit-cost analyst | The finance office, the capital plan, the people asked to pay |
| **What it is not** | A sale price | An audited balance sheet entry |

An **ecosystem service valuation** starts from published values per acre per year for each type of ground and each service, then adjusts for the condition of that ground. The method is old and well documented. [What ecosystem valuation counts](/guide/what-ecosystem-valuation-counts?from=guide) and [how ecosystem services get a number](/guide/how-ecosystem-services-get-a-number?from=guide) walk through it.

A **natural asset valuation** puts that yearly number to work. Our engine for it is called RealValue, and we have run it on real parcels since about 2022. We have not yet valued a C40 city or a GCoM town. For cities, it is offered, not yet delivered. It returns four readings. **Flows** is the yearly value of the work. **Stocks** is what it would cost to secure the ground that does it. The **natural cap rate** is flows set beside stocks. The **[value gap](/guide/the-value-gap?from=guide)** is the work the market price does not carry. To those it adds a fifth answer, which for a city matters most: who depends on this ground, upstream and down.

## what changes when the number exists

A number does not protect a creek. It changes the meetings the creek is discussed in. In short:

- **The capital plan:** the wetland is costed beside the pipe.
- **The risk assessment:** each hazard points to the ground that holds it back.
- **The grant file:** in the United States, FEMA's benefit-cost toolkit can count ecosystem service benefits.
- **The payor list:** the people who depend on the asset are named, which is the first step toward asking them.
- **The report:** an account kept every year shows whether the green and blue infrastructure is doing more work or less.

[Why a city should run an ecosystem service valuation](/guide/why-a-city-should-run-an-ecosystem-service-valuation?from=guide) takes each of these in turn.

## who does what

| who | what they bring | what they get |
|---|---|---|
| A C40 climate or resilience office | The city's targets and a mandate across departments | A citywide view of which natural assets carry which targets, in dollars per year |
| A parks or forestry department | Inventories, tree counts, condition data | A number that competes in the capital plan |
| A water or stormwater utility | Pipe models, overflow records, treatment costs | The natural assets that already reduce those costs, and what it would cost to replace them |
| A GCoM town coordinator | A hazard list and not much staff time | A short list of assets, each with what it does and who relies on it |
| A tribal nation or customary landholder | Title, treaty rights or long tenure over ground the city depends on | A partner's seat in any plan for that ground, not a row in someone else's inventory |
| A regional covenant or C40 network | Many cities with the same question | One method across a cohort, so cities can compare like with like |

## what this is not

A valuation is a bridge, not a verdict. [A valuation is not the worth](/guide/a-valuation-is-not-the-worth?from=guide): the marsh has a value no dollar figure exhausts, and the people who care for it do not need a spreadsheet to know that. The number exists so that a budget built in dollars can see the marsh at all.

It is also not an accounting entry. Whether a natural asset can sit on an audited municipal balance sheet is a decision for the public-sector accounting rules where you are, and a valuation does not change those rules. What it can change today is asset management, which is where Gibsons made its commitment, in its asset management policy. In municipal accounting, "valuation" often means replacement cost alone. Ours returns that kind of comparison and more: the yearly work, the cost to secure, and who depends on it.

## frequently asked questions

### what is municipal natural asset management?

It is treating living infrastructure, like creeks, wetlands, aquifers, forests and urban canopy, as assets the city maintains. You list them, assess their condition, value the services they provide, plan their care, and fund it alongside engineered assets.

### do we need a consultant to start?

No. The first step is a list, and the people who already know the ground can make it. [How to build a natural asset inventory](/guide/how-to-build-a-natural-asset-inventory?from=guide) is written for a team of one.

### is this only for big cities?

No. Gibsons is a small town. Big cities have more assets and more departments. Small towns have fewer staff and often depend more on a single creek or aquifer, which makes the list shorter and the stakes plainer.

### what does ensurance have to do with it?

The valuation shows who depends on the ground. Ensurance is how those people can fund it, through an account addressed to the living asset and the people who care for it. That is a separate step from the valuation, and nothing in this post is an offer of a certificate or an investment. Most cities will start with the valuation, and that is enough to start.

## next steps

Pick one asset you already argue about: the creek that floods, the canopy on the hot side of town, the wetland a developer wants. Write down what it does for you. Then read why the number is worth running, and how to make the list. When you want help, the valuation and the regional analysis are listed with their price ranges on [our services page](/services?from=guide#finance), or you can [talk to us](/contact?from=guide&topic=city-nature-valuation).

## sources

- [The Tyee, "New model natural assets," 26 October 2018](https://www.thetyee.ca/Presents/2018/10/26/New-Model-Natural-Assets/): Gibsons' approach
- [Water Canada, "Nature bank: natural assets in financial and asset management"](https://www.watercanada.net/nature-bank-natural-assets-in-financial-and-asset-management/): Gibsons' asset management
- [MNAI, case study: valuation of the stormwater management services in White Tower Park ponds](https://naturalassetsinitiative.ca/documents/case-study-valuation-of-the-stormwater-management-services-in-whitetower-park-ponds/): replacement cost of $3.5–4 million
- [Coast Reporter, "Gibsons credits eco-asset approach for lower drainage DCCs"](https://www.coastreporter.net/local-news/gibsons-credits-eco-asset-approach-for-lower-drainage-dccs-3407954): the 74% cut
- [Waterbucket, "Making nature count in the Town of Gibsons," 2017](https://waterbucket.ca/gi/2017/09/21/making-nature-count-in-the-town-of-gibsons-celebrating-and-showcasing-5-years-of-leading-by-example/): the 2012 start after the aquifer mapping study
- [Global Covenant of Mayors](https://www.globalcovenantofmayors.org/): pillars and reporting
- [C40 Urban Nature Declaration, city action template](https://www.c40.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2890_Urban_Nature_Declaration_-_City_Action_Template.original.docx): targets and annual updates

## the series

1. **how a city values the nature it already owns** (you are here)
2. [why a city should run an ecosystem service valuation](/guide/why-a-city-should-run-an-ecosystem-service-valuation?from=guide)
3. [how to build a natural asset inventory with the staff you have](/guide/how-to-build-a-natural-asset-inventory?from=guide)
4. [what a city's green space is worth, and what the number is for](/guide/what-a-citys-green-space-is-worth?from=guide)
5. [price what the creek already does](/guide/price-what-the-creek-already-does?from=guide)
6. [your city is upstream and downstream at once](/guide/your-city-is-upstream-and-downstream-at-once?from=guide)
7. [hire a natural asset valuation for your city or town](/guide/hire-a-natural-asset-valuation-for-your-city?from=guide)