NCAVES Country Implementation

Key Country Highlights

The NCAVES project has made significant strides in each of the five participating countries, showcasing diverse applications of ecosystem accounting to inform policy and conservation efforts. From Brazil's national ecosystem assessments to China's pilot ecosystem accounts, India's policy scenario analyses, Mexico's comprehensive ecosystem service supply accounts, and South Africa's innovative land cover analysis, these country highlights reflect the project's broad impact. Each country's work contributes uniquely to the global understanding and implementation of natural capital accounting, underlining the project's role in advancing sustainable management and conservation of natural resources.

Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services 2016 – 2021

The Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) project seeks to advance the theory and practice of environmental and ecosystem accounting in Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. This project is funded by the European Union and implemented jointly by the UN Statistics Division (UNSD), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Overall objective

To advance the knowledge agenda on environmental-economic accounting, in particular ecosystem accounting through pilot testing of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (EEA), with a view to:

• Improve the measurement of ecosystems and their services (both in physical and monetary terms) at the (sub)national level;
• Mainstream biodiversity and ecosystems at (sub)national level policy planning and implementation;
• Contribute to the development of internationally agreed methodology and its use in partner countries.

Project activities

1. Ecosystem accounts: A range of ecosystem accounts (in both physical and monetary terms) will be piloted in the five project countries. The accounts will be subsequently applied in scenario analysis based on national policy priorities.
2. Guidelines and methodology: Country pilots will feed into the revision of the SEEA EEA and guidelines (on biophysical modeling, valuation, and scenario analysis) that will contribute to national and global implementation of natural capital accounting;
3. Indicators: Development and testing of a set of indicators in the context of the post-2020 biodiversity agenda and other international initiatives;
4. Business accounts: Contribute to the alignment between SEEA and corporate sustainability reporting;
5. Communications: Increase awareness of natural capital accounting both in project countries and beyond through developing a range of products;
6. Enhanced capacity building and knowledge sharing: Enlarge the community of practice on natural capital accounting by e-learning and training workshops (in country and regional).

For information on key publications, resources and events, both globally and at the country level, please refer to the SEEA project webpage and respective country pages below.

• SEEA - NCAVES
• Brazil : Pilot in Rio Grande river basin, specifically in the states of Maranhao-Tocantins-Piaui-Bahia (MATOPIBA) focusing on hydrological services as well as soil-related services.
• China : Ongoing pilots in the provinces of Guangxi Autonomous Region and Guizhou, as well as natural resource balance sheets at the national level.
• India : Pilot in the state of Karnataka to develop a suite of ecosystem accounts. Several ecosystem services will be assessed at the national scale.
• Mexico : Building on earlier pilot accounts for the state of Aguascalientes, ecosystem extent, condition and services accounts are being compiled at the state and national level.
• South Africa : Various types of ecosystem accounts will be compiled, including ecosystem services accounts for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, and ecosystem extent accounts at the national level.

Advancing Natural Capital Accounting 2014 – 2016

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) has emerged as a leading tool in the support of policy and analysis of the environment and its relation with economic and human activities. Its particular strength is its capacity to integrate environmental information into standard measures of economic activity. It can therefore facilitate the mainstreaming of environmental information in economic development and planning discussions and serve to recognize the connections between environmental policy objectives and broader societal outcomes.

The SEEA Central Framework (CF) was adopted in 2012 by the UN Statistical Commission at its 43rd session as the international statistical standard for environmental-economic accounting. Further, at its 44th session in 2013, the UNSC endorsed SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (EEA). The Commission encouraged its use by international, regional agencies and countries wishing to test and experiment in this new area of statistics. Together these technical documents provide a comprehensive platform for the development of comparable measures of the relationship between the environment and the economy across the world and support mainstreaming of the full range of ecosystem services and benefits in standard macro-economic accounts and indicators.

The focus of this project on advancing and testing SEEA-EEA sits at the leading edge of accounting practice. The modelling and scaling of information on ecosystem services, ecosystem condition, and ecosystem capacity across all types of ecosystems represents a significant challenge. However, understanding and knowledge in this area is advancing at a rapid pace involving people from many disciplines including ecology, economics, statistics and geography. Data sources range from specific local data to global satellite imagery. While complex, there is undoubtedly a way forward and this project seeks to consolidate the gains that have been made and support the advancement of the work.

Project activities

1. A Five-Year Global Strategy for advancing the testing and research agenda of the SEEA-EEA
2. Guidelines on testing
3. Training material
4. Communication and outreach material for SEEA
5. Country plans for Bhutan, Chile, Indonesia, Mauritius, Mexico, South Africa, and Vietnam

• Bhutan national plan
• Chile national plan (Spanish)
• Indonesia national plan
• Mauritius national plan
• Mexico national plan
• South Africa country plan | National River Ecosystem Accounts | Land and Ecosystem Accounts in KwaZulu-Natal
• Vietnam national plan

Resources

• Briefing note, SEEA-Central Framework
• System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012: Central Framework
• Briefing note, SEEA-Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
• System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012: Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
• Experimental Biodiversity Accounting as a component of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA)

Technical Guides

• A Perspective on Capacity and Capability in the Context of Ecosystem Accounting
• Technical Guide 1: A functional Approach to EEA for Units and Ecosystem Services
• Technical Guide 2: Land Accounts and Ecosystem Extent 
• Technical Guide 3: Land and Ecosystem Condition and Capacity
• Technical Guide 4: Water and Ecosystem Accounting
• Technical Guide 5: Carbon and Ecosystem Accounting
• Technical Guide 6: Linkage between Ecosystem Service Accounts and Ecosystems Asset Accounts
• Technical Guide 7: Compilation of Data, Tools, Methods and Pilots in Canada 
• Technical Guide 8: Spatial units, Scaling and Aggregation
• Technical Guide 9: Biophysical Modelling and Analysis of Ecosystem Services in an Ecosystem Accounting Context