Transcript img.teebweb.org

Natural Capital Accounting:
TEEB and related initiatives
(WAVES and SEEA)
UNEP TEEB Office
Nick Bertrand
23 May 2013
TEEB Country Studies
Learning from Experience and how to Utilize Results
Isle of Vilm, Germany
Gothenburg Award for Sustainable
Development 2013
“Nature’s services and ingenious solutions”
“Pavan Sukhdev has brought into focus the enormous,
elusive values represented by the global ecosystem and
biodiversity. He has done this, in part, as leader of the
groundbreaking study The Economics of Ecosystems
and Biodiversity (TEEB). By promoting a wider
perspective that goes beyond the monetary values of
the ecosystem to include more elusive aesthetic,
spiritual, cultural and recreational values, the work of
Pavan and the TEEB group has aroused wide interest
among decision-makers. For example, the TEEB
provides a key source of reference to the UN in its
efforts to get ecosystem services included in
national accounts by 2018”.
Thank you for your attention
Overview
• TEEB and natural capital accounting
• The System of Environmental-Economic
Accounting (SEEA)
• Wealth Accounting and Valuation of
Ecosystem Services (WAVES)
• Linking TEEB, SEEA and WAVES
TEEB and natural capital accounting
• Conventional economic aggregates
generated through national accounting,
such as GDP, do not reflect the values
of nature
• TEEB has been calling for the
development of natural capital accounts
(see Chapter 4 in TEEB National, TEEB
2010a and 2010b)
• Generic recommendations on NCA can
be taken forward in TCS if this responds
to countries’ priorities
Natural capital accounting
in business
“The future we want” – outcome
document
• §47. We acknowledge the importance of corporate
sustainability reporting, and encourage companies,
where appropriate, especially publicly listed and large
companies, to consider integrating sustainability
information into their reporting cycle. We encourage
industry, interested governments and relevant
stakeholders, with the support of the United Nations
system, as appropriate, to develop models for best
practice and facilitate action for the integration of
sustainability reporting, taking into account experiences
from already existing frameworks and paying particular
attention to the needs of developing countries, including
for capacity-building.
National Accounts: Recurrent demands for improved economic indicators
and aggregates (a short history)
• Historical pioneer “green accounting” projects: Norway, Canada,
France, Philippines, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Spain…
• Rio1992, Agenda 21
• UN SEEA1993 to “adjust” the UN System of National Accounts. SEEA
revised in 2003
• New SEEA revision 2012/13, including now a special volume on
ecosystem accounts and valuation
• Recent initiatives: Beyond GDP Conference 2007, TEEB, Stiglitz/ Sen/
Fitoussi report on the measurement of economic performance (2009),
Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, WAVES, other projects
(Green Economy/Growth, Resource Efficiency)
• Launch of the SEEA Part 1 at Rio+20
• In Europe, new Regulation on Environmental Accounts: Eurostat (the
economy-environment interface) and the EEA (ecosystem capital
accounts)
Adapted from Jean-Louis Weber, 2013
• Target 2
By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values
have been integrated into national and
local development and poverty reduction
strategies and planning processes and are
being incorporated into national
accounting, as appropriate, and reporting
systems.
SEEA (System of Environmental-Economic Accounting):
What is available in 2013
SEEA Part 1,
“Central
Framework”:
the statistical
standard approved
by UN Statistical
Commission in 2012
(assets and supply
& use, SNA satellite
account)
SEEA Part 2:
SEEA Water:
“Interim standard”
2007
The experimental
ecosystem accounts
2013
Adapted from Jean-Louis Weber, 2013
SEEA CF
• SEEA Central Framework (CF): International statistical standards
(applied by c. 50 countries) for recording interactions between the
economy and the environment :
(a) individual environmental assets (e.g. water resources, timber,
mineral and energy resources, aquatic resources, land and soil
resources)
(b) the flows of natural inputs and residual flows (e.g. emissions)
between the environment and the economy and the products within the
economy (e.g. flows of water)
(c) economic transactions that can be considered environmental (e.g.
environmental taxes, subsidies, etc.)
SEEA
SEEA-EEA
• SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting: extends
accounting principles of CF  guidelines for recording
material and non-material benefits from the use of ES
(e.g. water purification, storage of carbon, flood mitigation)
• Modules will focus on measurement (physical and
monetary) of:
 carbon
 nutrients
 biodiversity
 ES and ecosystem condition
SEEA-Water
(examples of current limitations)
• Accessible water resource not defined  misses a simple
indicator of water use stress
• Quality de facto ignored
• Implemented for the hydrological system from questionnaire
instead of data-mining from water agencie’s databases (meteo,
gauging stations…)
• Starts with annual x national accounts,
instead of seasonal x basin
accounts
SEEA Water: “Interim standard” 2007
Adapted from Jean-Louis Weber, 2013
Wealth Accounting and the
Valuation of Ecosystem Services
WAVES
• Objectives:
 mainstreaming natural capital accounting in national
accounting systems
 developing relevant policy perspective for ecosystem
management and governance
 strengthening national statistical system for NCA
• Creates demand for SEEA and supports institutional
structure for the SEEA Central Framework
• Policy and Technical Experts Committee helps develop
and test methodologies on ecosystem accounting
WAVES
• WAVES is a global partnership and multi-donor
trust fund
• Five pilot countries: Botswana, Colombia, Costa
Rica, Philippines, Madagascar
• Countries’ work plans include accounts for
natural resources like timber, water, minerals
(based on SEEA CF) as well as experimental
accounts for ecosystems, e.g. watersheds and
mangroves)
• following Rio+20 plans to expand WAVES to
other countries are under development: 62
countries, 90 private sector organizations and 17
NGOs/IOs have expressed support for NCA
Linking TEEB, SEEA and WAVES
• TEEB encourages engagement in WAVES that was in part
catalyzed by TEEB, as well as parallel approaches such as the
EU ecosystem capital accounts and other accounts across the
SEEA volumes.
• TEEB country studies and national engagement in WAVES are
compatible initiative with significant synergies. The WAVES
is likely to be more in-depth in its areas of focus, but TEEB
country studies are likely to have an overall wider scope.
• A WAVES project may be informed by a TEEB assessment and
a TEEB Country Study could recommend implementing natural
capital accounting.
• Where there are limits to national resources, countries may wish
to engage in these initiative sequentially, starting with
whatever is more appropriate for the policy interest and data
availability
Linking TEEB, SEEA and WAVES…
• Following the TEEB approach requires questions to be asked
such as “What are relevant ES? From which biomes and
ecosystems do they emanate? Whom do they benefit and to
what extent?”; these questions are also fundamental to SEEA
EEA conceptual framework
• The process of attaining comparable answers will benefit from
the adoption of a common conceptual framework, which SEEA
offers
• SEEA CF also supports the development of environmentaleconomic indicators relevant for tracking country progress
toward independent policy goals identified through TCS
• SEEA CF, supported by the WAVES policy strategy creates a
consistent structure for TEEB in advancing its recommendations
at the national, regional and global level (e.g. making nature’s
values visible, assessing values of ES and integrating ES into
decision-making, measuring better to manage better)
…it’s all in the Guidance manual
for TEEB Country Studies
Launch 28 May 2013
Public profiling
• CBD COP-11, 8-19 October 2012, Hyderabad, India
• 3rd WAVES Partnership meeting, 9-11 April 2013,
Washington DC
• Sub-regional Workshop on Valuation and Incentive
Measures for Sub-Saharan West Africa, 14-17 May
2013, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• 6th Trondheim Conference, 27-31 May 2013, Norway
• Global implementation Programme for the SEEA,
UNHQ, New York, 17-19 June 2013
• Long established formal, technical
platform on NCA
• In context of WAVES, TEEB, dialogue
between relevant agencies, donors,
users…
• Articulate and communicate
• At the country level, strong potential for
project synergies
Acknowledgement
Part of this presentation is adapted from material prepared by Jean-Louis Weber, 2013.