Exploring cultural capital and its importance in sustainable development

This paper explores the concept of cultural capital and suggests a framework for assessing its influence in the management and use of natural capital. Cultural capital has been described as the underlying factors that provide human societies with the means and adaptations to maintain themselves in their environment. Sustainable development calls for a shift in the way in which natural capital is managed and used and much effort has gone into discussing and analysing the sustainable development process and mechanisms by which natural capital levels can be maintained. Cultural capital is an important, but much neglected, element in this process. There have been attempts to analyse the role of culture in development, but these have been few and isolated. This paper identifies three key areas in which cultural capital has influence: ‘management objectives’, ‘efficiency of process’ and ‘demand’. These three areas form the basis of an analysis framework, designed to assess the presence of various cultural traits with regard to the main functions of natural capital—the provision of: raw materials, sinks, environmental services and amenity services.