  It is now widely recognised that components of the environment play the role
of economic assets, termed natural capital, that are a foundation of social and
economic development. National governments monitor the state and trends of
natural capital through a range of activities including natural capital
accounting, national ecosystem assessments, ecosystem service valuation, and
economic and environmental analyses. Indicators play an integral role in these
activities as they facilitate the reporting of complex natural capital
information. One factor that hinders the success of these activities and their
comparability across countries is the absence of a coherent framework of
indicators concerning natural capital (and its benefits) that can aid
decision-making. Here we present an integrated Natural Capital Indicator
Framework (NCIF) alongside example indicators, which provides an illustrative
structure for countries to select and organise indicators to assess their use
of and dependence on natural capital. The NCIF sits within a wider context of
indicators related to natural, human, social and manufactured capital, and
associated flows of benefits. The framework provides decision-makers with a
structured approach to selecting natural capital indicators with which to make
decisions about economic development that take into account national natural
capital and associated flows of benefits.
