The Ecological Citizen Vol 1 No 1 2017 65 www.ecologicalcitizen.net LONG ARTICLE fab∙ri∙cate 1 To make; create. 2 To construct by combining or assembling diverse, typically standardized parts. 3 To concoct in order to deceive. (The Free Dictionary, 2017) A t the World Conservation Congress of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in September 2016, Motion 63 on ‘natural capital’ proposed development of a “natural capital charter” as a framework “for the application of natural capital approaches and mechanisms” (IUCN, 2016a). In “noting that concepts and language of natural capital are becoming widespread within conservation circles and IUCN,” Motion 63 reects the IUCN’s prior adoption of “a substantial policy position” on the theme of “natural capital” (IUCN, 2014: 4). Eleven programmed sessions scheduled for the Congress included ‘natural capital’ in the title. Many were associated with the July 2016 launch of the global Natural Capital Protocol, which brings together leaders in the business community to create a world where business both enhances and conserves natural capital (Natural Capital Coalition, 2016). At least one Congress session, entitled “Matters of value: Natural capital, cultural diversity, governance and rights” (IUCN, 2016b) , sought to open a space for expressions of concern regarding possible “unforeseen impacts of natural capital on broader issues of equitability, ethics, ales, rights and social jstice.” It is certainly the case that ‘natural capital’ as a noun indicating a fact that exists in the world is becoming increasingly normalized, even ‘naturalized’, in environmental governance. Natural capital initiatives arising in the last few years include: n the World Forum on Natural Capital, described as “the world’s leading natural capital event” (see www.naturalcapitalforum.com); n the Natural Capital Declaration, a statement hich commits the nancial sector to the mainstreaming of “natural capital considerations” into all nancial prodcts and serices (see www.naturalcapitaldeclaration.org); n the Natural Capital Financing Facility, a nancial instrment of the Eropean Investment Bank and the European Commission aiming “to prove to the Noting some efects o f fabricating ‘nature’ as ‘natural capital’ Sian Sullivan About the author Sian is Professor of Environment and Culture at Bath Spa University, Bath, UK. Citation Sullivan S (2017) Noting some efects of fabricating ‘nature’ as ‘natural capital’ The Ecological Citizen 1: 65–73. Keywords Conservation; natural capital; nature; values The contemporary moment of global ecological crisis is also a moment wherein ‘nature’ is being named and framed as ‘natural capital’. This article considers aspects of this fabrication of ‘natural capital’, drawing attention to three connected processes: [1] commensuration, through which diferent elements of the natural world are made to correspond to one another through applying a common measure; [2] aggregation, through which diferent aspects of the material world are conceptualized together, enabling calculations of a total or ‘net’ quantity; and [3] capitalization, through which conserved ‘standing natures’ can be inanced and developed as capital assets. The article queries the social and environmental beneits claimed for these processes of fabrication, drawing attention to some of the justice implications of asserting natural capital valuations for nature. In considering whether the conservation of ‘natural capital’ is the same as the conservation of ‘nature’, the article emphasizes the constitutive ( i.e. world-making) implications of the naming and framing of ‘nature’ as ‘natural capital’.