GUEST POST: By Dr Joël Houdet, Integrated Sustainability Services, South Africa

The Natural Capital Declaration was released on June 20^th at the Rio+ 20 Earth Summit by the financial sector, with the aim of demonstrating its commitment to work towards integrating Natural Capital considerations into their financial products and services for the 21st century.

The Natural Capital Dialogue was opened by the United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the CEOs from finance voiced alongside heads of state and other political leaders their commitment at the highest level to work towards the development of methodologies to value and account for nature’s vital role in the global economy.

39 banks, investors and insurers backing the Natural Capital Declaration hence joined forces with more than 50 countries including Botswana, the Philippines, South Africa and the United Kingdom, as well as corporations such as Unilever , Puma, Dow Chemical and Mars Incorporated…