Feasibility Study: Creating a Natural Capital Data Product

许多政府机构、企业和社区都在寻求通过改善自然环境来解决各种问题。这些基于自然的解决方案可能是强大的，因为只要在正确的地方做了正确的事情，每一次干预都可以在多个方面发挥作用。例如，沿着正确的田地边界种植树篱可以保护农作物免受暴风雨的侵袭，减少当地的河流洪水，改善风景，使野生动物更能适应气候变化。同时，政府正在改变向农民提供补贴的方式。他们将越来越多地从他们通过环境行动提供的基于自然的解决方案(NBS)中获得报酬，例如种植树篱和减少使用化学品。农民也开始通过商业贸易向公司出售一些国家公用事业。在正确的地方，什么是正确的东西并不总是显而易见的，因为景观就像一个相互关联的系统，需要全面考虑。这需要大量的信息处理、专业知识和复杂的建模。不幸的是，目前这是一项缓慢且昂贵的业务。Viridian提出了一些不同的建议。我们将使用智能自动化、智能算法和规模效率来压低价格。我们将创建一套标准的数据、地图、信息和见解，向农民展示在最有效的地点采取的最佳行动。这些数据产品将提供他们所需的所有支持，以决定如何使用他们的土地，并为更多的专业用户，如土地代理和顾问，提供丰富的技术细节。我们希望这个产品完全正确，所以我们提议进行可行性研究。这将使我们能够在整个行业进行广泛咨询，以找出不同的用户想要从产品中获得什么，他们希望如何与其互动，以及他们愿意支付多少钱。它将使我们能够在技术复杂性和使用简单性以及细节和成本之间取得适当的平衡。

Many government agencies, businesses and communities are looking to solve a variety of problems by enhancing the natural environment. These 'Nature-based Solutions' can be powerful because each intervention can work on multiple fronts, as long the right things are done in the right places. For instance, planting a hedge along the right field boundary can protect the crops from storms, reduce local river flooding, enhance the scenery and make wildlife more resilient to climate change.At the same time, the government is changing the way it offers subsidies to farmers. They will increasingly be paid for the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) they provide through environmental actions, such as planting hedges and using fewer chemicals. Farmers are also beginning to sell some NbS to companies through commercial trades.It is not always obvious what are 'the right things in the right places', as the landscape acts as an interconnected system and needs to be considered in the round. This requires a lot of information processing, expertise and complex modelling. Unfortunately, this is currently a slow and expensive business.Viridian are proposing something different. We will use clever automation, intelligent algorithms and efficiencies of scale to drive down prices. We will create a standard suite of data, maps, information and insights to show farmers the best actions to take in the most effective locations. These data product will supply all the support they need to decide on how they want to use their land, as well as providing a wealth of technical detail for more specialist users such as land agents and consultants.We want to get this product exactly right, so we are proposing a feasibility study. This will allow us to consult widely across the industry to find out what different users want from the product, how they want to interact with it and how much they are willing to pay. It will allow us to get the right balance of technical complexity and simplicity of use; and of detail and cost.