Natural Capital Investment Plan for Turks and Caicos Islands

Client: Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Year: 2024

eftec Team: Ian Dickie, Mark Collar, Victoria Reeser

Full reports: Technical Report, Business Survey, Background Study

A beach on the Turks and Caicos Islands, with boats in the harbour, buildings and greenery on the shore.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union launched the £25 million RESEMBID (Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity) Programme between 2021 and 2025. The objective is to identify and address social, economic, and environmental needs.

As part of RESEMBID, the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) government worked with JNCC to understand the effects of COVID-19 on their social, economic, and environmental development from both business and public perspectives. This work identified the need for more resilient livelihoods and opportunities for sustainable investment that doesn’t compromise the environment.

Our Work

Building on these findings, eftec and Finance Earth collaborated with TCI stakeholders to explore risks and opportunities related to livelihoods and the environment. Islanders underscored how heavily economic activity (particularly tourism and aquaculture) depends on the quality of local ecosystems. However, this connection is not always well understood or respected, which has led to environmental degradation.

To address this, the Natural Capital Investment Plan (NCIP) was created to identify nature-based income opportunities and build local capacity to attract investment. The plan maps key ecosystem services and identifies the beneficiaries, like fisheries and tourism operators, linking them to suitable funding sources.

The project delivered :

Evidence on the need and potential for investing in natural capital while supporting sustainable livelihoods;
A shortlist of financing approaches that align with national goals and offer strong positive social and environmental impact;
A prioritised list of finance opportunities for implementation within the NCIP; and
Support for practical delivery of these opportunities through targeted training and stakeholder engagement

eftec lead the scoping phase of the project through a literature review, natural capital asset mapping, and synthesising of the business attitude survey results which had been collected earlier in the RESIMBID project.

The review assessed the importance (materiality) of ecosystems in TCI to identify who benefits from ecosystem services, map asset locations, and explore the social impacts of ecosystem change. This work built on eftec’s earlier efforts through the Darwin+ Programme (2020), which developed natural capital accounts for TCI. These accounts value TCI’s ecosystems benefits at around $156 million per year.

eftec also analysed a 2023 Business Attitudes Survey conducted by JNCC, which explored the pandemic’s impact on businesses and identified opportunities for sustainable, nature-friendly growth. The findings contributed directly to NCIP recommendations and complemented the Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts Survey, also by JNCC.

eftec and Finance Earth interviewed 31 additional business representatives from sectors such as hotels, tour operators, renewable energy, retail, real estate, and insurance. These interviews engaged a broader set of stakeholders than the Business Attitudes survey and captured perspectives on natural capital investment and management. The interviews were semi-structured across three topic areas: stakeholder awareness of ecosystem impacts on business; business attitudes on the environment; and enabling investment in natural capital. Interviews were conducted virtually and in person in TCI between November 2023 and February 2024.

Results

Tourism is central to TCI’s economy, supporting hospitality, transport, fishing, and local crafts. However, it also creates environmental risks, especially in high-traffic areas like Providenciales, where marine and coastal ecosystems are under pressure. Stakeholders raised concerns about overdevelopment, weak regulation, and limited resources, which together erode investor confidence and ecosystem health.

Despite these challenges, tourism offers near-term opportunities to align economic growth with environmental goals. For example, ringfencing tourism-related fees could help fund nature-based businesses and support eco-tourism in less-visited areas.

To attract investment in nature through and beyond tourism, TCI must improve environmental monitoring, enforce legislation, strengthen education, and enhance data collection. Several local initiatives already offer strong foundations such as the TCI Reef Fund, Experience TCI, and the Community Resilience Hub which have built trust and begun delivering community-driven conservation.

Recommendations

The NCIP sets out key recommendations to support sustainable investment. Chief among them is helping vulnerable communities diversify their income, for example by combining traditional fishing with tourism. The plan also calls for a tailored, island-specific approach, reflecting each island’s distinct environment, economy, and infrastructure. Long-term impact depends on stronger legislation, improved outreach, and a shared vision for sustainable growth.

To ensure success, the NCIP recommends mapping the roles and skills of local organisations and leveraging their established community trust. Routine use of ecosystem accounts can help monitor the outcomes of such efforts and provide information that can be used to prioritise investment opportunities and to evaluation payment for ecosystem services models. However, ongoing research is needed to monitor ecosystem conditions.

Finally, the plan proposes ringfencing a portion of taxes and fees for natural capital initiatives and developing a compelling business case for nature-based tourism and certified products. By doing so, TCI can attract responsible investment and build a more resilient, sustainable future.