WHAT'S BEEN ACCOMPLISHED
The activities and related outputs of the project NCAVES in India include:
Compilation of a range of ecosystem accounts and studies at the national level
India’s first official environmental economic accounts (released in 2018) containing asset accounts in physical terms of four natural resources – forest, land, minerals and water. The accounts revealed a nuanced picture of the state of India’s natural capital, with several regions showing a net-positive increases in assets like forest cover and carbon stock.
The second annual SEEA report entitled EnviStats India 2019 Vol. II Environment Accounts envisages to add condition layers to the physical accounts based on the quality characteristics, namely, soil nutrient index and water quality accounts in respect of surface, ground and sea water. In addition, to help understand the contribution of ecosystem services to the economy, values of two ecosystem services have been compiled for all the States of the country – cropland ecosystem services and nature-based tourism.
The third annual SEEA report published by NSO India in the issue EnviStats India 2020 is structured in six thematic chapters featuring land, croplands, forests, wetland, as well as cross-cutting chapters on biodiversity and SEEA based indicators.
The fourth annual SEEA report published by NSO India in the issue "EnviStats India 2021 (vol II): Environment Accounts" covers crop provisioning services, water quality accounts, soil nutrient indices and species richness of IUCN Red list.
The final NCAVES India project report provides an overview of the work undertaken in India to compile ecosystem accounts under the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework. The report includes the compilation of experimental ecosystem extent, condition and ecosystem services accounts as well as biodiversity thematic accounts and a section of indicators derived from the accounts
Pilot ecosystem accounts at sub-national level
In the State of Karnataka, a suite of ecosystem accounts has been developed led by the Indian Institute of Science:
- Extent accounts
- Condition accounts
- Ecosystem services accounts
The state of Karnataka was identified in a landscape assessment due to a good data availability, strong technical capacity within local research institutes, and policy interest in using an accounting approach. These accounts will be applied in subsequent scenario analysis, assessing conservation and afforestation policies.
Indicator testing
India has contributed to the testing of indicators that are derived through the accounts. India is currently also chairing the Taskforce on Indicators established under the SEEA EEA revision process.
SEEA Strategy
Building on the landscape assessment and a subsequent policy assessment, and a public consultation, the Indian Strategy for Environmental Economic Accounts 2022-2026 has been developed and released.
Economic Valuation Tool
An Economic Valuation Tool (EVL) that scrutinizes and summarizes the results of existing valuation studies by ecosystem type, ecosystem service, and by valuation method has being developed. The tool will be useful for environmental impact assessments as well as for environmental accounting.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
India has been compiling environmental statistics since 1997 when the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the first issue of the Compendium of Environment Statistics, based on the United Nations Framework for Development of Environment Statistics 1984. Since its inception in 1997, 16 issues of the publication have been released, presenting data relating to the environment of the country.
Work on environmental economic accounting began in 2011, when a high level Expert Group under the Chairmanship of Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta, U.K. was constituted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) with the mandate of developing a framework for green national accounts of India and preparing a roadmap to implement the framework. The resulting report, “Green National Accounts in India-A Framework”, laid out a roadmap with short-term, medium-term and long-term activities for implementing the Green Accounting Framework.
PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES
- MOSPI - NCAVES Project Website
- Indian Institute of Science - NCAVES project reports on ecosystem accounts in Karnataka
- EnvStats India 2021 (vol II)
- EnviStats India 2020 (vol II)
- EnviStats India 2019
- EnviStats India 2018
- Review of Existing Ecosystem Accounting Initiatives and Literature in India
- Ecosystem Accounts for India -Report of the NCAVES project
- The SEEA Ecosystem Accounts for INDIA Policy Brief
PRESS RELEASES AND RELATED ARTICLES
- NCAVES India Forum 2021 -Press Information Bureau - Govenrment of India 28Jan2021
- NCAVES India Forum 2021 -Press Information Bureau - Govenrment of India 08Jan2021
- NCAVES India Forum 2021 -Joint press release by MOSPI and EU 14Jan2021
- NCAVES India Forum 2021- DESA News Story
India releases its 4th consecutive issue of SEEA accounts
01 October 2021
NCAVES India Forum 2021: NSO India takes the lead in making nature's value visible
28 January 2021
India releases its third consecutive annual SEEA report
30 September 2020
NSO India Releases Second Publication on Environmental Accounts
21 October 2019
Environmental Statistics and Accounts in India
04 December 2018
NCAVES IMPLEMENTATION IN INDIA
The Social Statistics Division (SSD) of the National Statistical Office of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) of India is the nodal agency for implementation of the European Union- funded project Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) in India. The role of MoSPI is to coordinate with all the stakeholders through a consultative process.
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Partners in India:
