By Nick Mann | 28 May 2012

A group of 10 African countries has called for the wider use of systems which incorporate the financial value of natural resources and ecosystem stocks such as water provision into government accounting.

In a communiqué issued on May 25 at the end of the African Sustainability Summit in Botswana, the countries recognised the ‘limitations’ of gross domestic product as a measure of well-being and sustainable growth that values environmental and social aspects of progress.

Using natural capital accounting is a way of ‘mainstreaming’ the value of services provided to people by biodiversity and ecosystems such as forests and grasslands into ‘informed economic decision-making’, they said.

The Gaborone Declaration called on governments, accounting bodies and the United Nations to develop institutional arrangements to strengthen the implementation of natural capital accounting. It was signed by Botswana, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania.

The United Nations Statistical Office-approved System of Environmental-Economic Accounts provides an ‘initial version’ of an international standard for this type of accounting, they said, but further improvements to this system were needed.

In particular, the communiqué said work was needed to ‘develop science-based methodologies on an experimental basis for ecosystem accounting as a complement to GDP and corporate performance’.

Countries and bodies such as the UN should also ‘pilot and demonstrate the economic, social and environmental aspects of scaled up and integrated approaches to natural capital accounting’, it added.

Peter Seligmann, chief executive and chair of Conservation International, which co-hosted the event alongside the Botswanan government, said the communiqué underscored the importance of valuing natural capital.

He said the summit had also achieved ‘the endorsement of ten key nations in committing to the valuation of natural capital as a means for making intelligent decisions about the future land use of their territories and their nations for the well being and benefit for all their citizens’.

‘This is a very big deal, a very big moment and a big step forward. It is truly a beacon on the hill for the rest of societies and it will be held up on top of that hill in Rio de Janeiro.’

According to the World Bank, 24 countries worldwide are already compiling natural capital accounts. Rachel Kyte, the bank’s vice-president for sustainable development, said she now hoped at least 50 countries and 50 companies would endorse the approach at the upcoming Rio+20 conference.

‘Making progress means more than just a strong GDP – it means giving equal attention to the economic, environmental and social pillars of sustainable development. By endorsing natural capital accounting as a tool for delivering on more inclusive green growth, Africa is showing the way for the rest of the world,’ Kyte said.

The World Bank is supporting countries to factor their natural capital into systems of national accounts through a global partnership called Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services.