WAVES Natural Capital Accounting Natural Capital Accounting in Action Dec 2014 in Action Australia’s pilot ecosystem accounts In brief benefit management of Great Barrier Reef • Australia is piloting SEEA Experimental Ecosystem How do you manage an area as vast and complex as the Accounting for the Great Barrier Great Barrier Reef? Or any other landscape subject to Reef and its watershed. different human pressures over time? The application of • Given that 1 million people live natural capital accounting and valuation methods to in the reef’s watershed, and that ecosystems and protected areas, currently being piloted the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is about the size of Italy, it is in Australia, offers a useful framework to do this. It could important to define the provide systematic data, comparable over time, to accounting boundaries carefully improve the quality of decisions by protected area and select indicators that matter managers and political decision makers alike, in most. challenging development and climate change contexts. • The challenge of extreme weather connected to climate The Australian Bureau of Statistics more than 30 species of whales change gives extra impetus for is piloting a set of ecosystem and dolphins. It is a significant rigorous management based on accounts for the Great Barrier magnet for international tourism, data presented systematically in Reef and its watershed. This work contributing more than ecosystem accounts “ is testing the System of AUD5 billion to the Australian Environmental-Economic economy each year and Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA) Experimental generating about 68,000 jobs. accounting allows for Ecosystem Accounting However, the health of this global a more targeted framework in a context that is rich treasure is declining and reef management response. If we in data and practical lessons for managers have been searching can quantify the drivers of other countries. Australia’s efforts for ways to establish data degradation and pressures represent a contribution to global monitoring systems to enhance as much as possible, then we knowledge in the field of natural management effectiveness. prevent things from capital accounting that holds happening, minimize particular promise for protected Assessing reef health, impacts or maximize area management. The first set of pressures and prospects benefits for the community.” accounts, to be published in April The reef has been the subject of a Margaret Gooch, manager of 2015, will be directly applicable to comprehensive strategic social and economic science, reef management. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park assessment and the Australian Authority A World Heritage Site, the reef is state and federal agencies are thought to provide a habitat for finalizing a plan to guide its over 1,500 fish species, 133 management over the next 35 varieties of sharks and rays, and years. In addition, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park www.wavespartnership.org Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services Great Barrier Reef & Coral Sea, Australia. Flickr/WWF Deutschland Authority is required by law to produce a five-yearly Building resilience is important to the reef’s long- Outlook Report that assesses reef health, pressures term future. All actions — big or small — to reduce and future prospects. This publishing cycle was one threats and help restore the reef’s condition will of the reasons Australian statisticians decided to improve its outlook.” pilot accounting in this area. “We chose to test the method in the Great Barrier Reef because we Value of reef-based industry and realized our work could feed into the Outlook costs of human impact Report process. We didn’t want to do great work The accounts provide a snapshot of the economic that would not be used,” said John Power, who is value of some reef-based industries but also leading the experimental ecosystems account work estimate costs associated with human impacts. at the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Although climate change represents the major long By presenting data related to biodiversity, land term threat, evidence shows that land-based runoff cover, water pollution, coral health, sea grass and that is high in nitrogen and sedimentation has the other areas of interest in a systematic and most deleterious immediate effect on the reef. Being comparable manner, ecosystem accounts can make able to calculate costs to reef health associated with clearer some of the connections between drivers of declining habitats and biodiversity would help degradation, reef health and benefits derived from managers make decisions about the acceptability of the reef. human activities. It would also provide guidance to In its Outlook Report, the Great Barrier Reef Marine industries and local communities when considering Park Authority considers climate change as the the economic viability of a range of activities, taking primary long-term threat. Severe cyclones and into account the true cost of each activity. watershed flooding (releasing large amounts of “We need thresholds and triggers for action to freshwater, which corals don’t like) have had a major influence the stakeholders who have an effect on impact on ecosystem health in the last 10 years. the reef,” said Russell Reichelt, Great Barrier Reef “Because climate change is very hard to control, we Marine Park Authority, during a panel discussion on have to make sure our overall management is as reconciling conservation and development at the good as it can be to reduce impacts of climate World Parks Congress in Sydney in November 2014. change and extreme weather events,” says Margaret Reichelt described efforts to partner with farmers to Gooch, the park authority’s manager of social and improve farming practices affecting the ocean economic science. downstream. What is natural capital accounting? A set of objective data showing how natural resources contribute to the economy and how the economy affects natural resources. The accounts are an extension of the System of National Accounts. Natural capital accounting integrates natural resources and economic analysis, providing a broader picture of development progress than standard measures such as GDP. Further resources can be found at www.wavespartnership.org Facilitated by the World Bank, Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services is a global partnership that aims to promote sustainable development by ensuring that the national accounts used to measure 1818 H Street, NW, and plan for economic growth include the value of natural resources Washington, DC 20433 USA