Tonight we will launch the report of our second Valuing our Life Support Systems event in Portcullis House in Westminster. Preparing the report and organising the launch inevitably brought back memories of last November’s natural capital summit. There could be no better time to reveal a feature video of the event.
The summit brought together more than 250 delegates from Government and civil service, academia, business and civil society to assess and debate current knowledge of natural capital and its implementation in policy and practice. As an organiser, the most rewarding was the experience of what key note speaker Richard Spencer (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) called “a terrific buzz” – and I was reminded of that when viewing the video that we are pleased to release today.
The video not only gives a sense of the atmosphere at the summit, it also features key note speakers, sponsor representatives and delegates who give their views on the debates around natural capital, its valuation and ways forward. It shows an involved audience sharing experiences and exchanging ideas.
NCI Steering Group member Ece Ozdemiroglu (eftec) observed that participants did not encounter “just familiar faces” and we “not only preaching to the converted” but engaged lots of new people. If “a unique mixture of people got talking” this means the event was a real success. Steering Group member Will Evison (PwC) who will speak at tonight’s launch, made clear that the summit exceed expectations: “The economists that attended this event might have gotten more out of it than they anticipated.”
When summit convener Prof Mike Acreman said that people are “bursting with ideas after this meeting” he certainly included us as NCI in this observation. After tonight’s launch, we will continue to plan Dialogue Sessions that will take up main issues identified at VoLSS2014. Peter Young, former chairman of the Aldersgate Group, complimented us on being a “really good forum for bringing dispersed evidence together”, and Richard Spencer said “I would absolutely advocate my colleagues in the business world to come to this event in the future”.
To join us for a future event, keep an eye on our upcoming events page, follow our blog or join our email list. And take five minutes out of your busy day to view the video.