Improving the quality of environmental assessments using the concept of natural capital: a case study from southern Germany

This paper explores how the quality of environmental assessment could be improved by using the concept of natural capital. The issues are examined by reference to golf course developments in the area between Freiburg, Germany and Basel, Switzerland. The paper evaluates the site-level environmental impact assessments statements that were undertaken prior to these developments and the related decision-making processes. The case study illustrates many of the shortcomings apparent in the EIA process when undertaken at local scales. However, it is also evident that even if such exercises had been more rigorous at the outset, they would still have been of limited value for assessing consequences in relation to policies for sustainable development. On the one hand, the nature and scale of impacts is highly dependent on subsequent management, which is often not considered during the EIA process and subsequently lies outside the regulation process. A further limitation of the assessment is that it does not take account of the consequences of the economic failure of the project, and the implications this may have for the long-term sustainable development of the area. In order to find ways to remedy these deficiencies in planning for sustainable development this paper considers how the concept of natural capital might be used to develop a more strategic focus when assessing proposals. The paper explores a particular formulation of the natural capital concept, namely the UKs Quality of Life Capital (QoLC) approach, and concludes by considering these ideas in relation to the ‘Leitbild’ concept, which is now being widely debated in the German-speaking literature. It is argued that these concepts taken together offer the basis for a more integrated and strategic assessment of development proposals.