Game changing new system of natural capital accounting - Press Conference (2 March 2021)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "Game changing new system of natural capital accounting - Press Conference (2 March 2021)"
The topics: UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris today (02 Mar) said the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) will be a gamechanger for the way we make policy and it will deeply affect how we think about and tackle climate change and biodiversity.” Briefing reporters on the new system of natural capital accounting, Harris said, “this is a singularly important new development that will have a major impact.” The economist compared SEE EA to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and said, “nature provides services that we value, that we need, that we cannot exist without. And we need to account for that value, those benefits, in measuring our progress.” After the COVID-19 crisis, Harris said, “the system is different. Our planet is broken, like right after World War II,” adding, “we need a transformational economic thinking, the economy needs a bailout after COVID-19, but so does nature, because we are on the very brink of climate and biodiversity disasters.” He said, “just like we would never willingly and consciously do something to damage our GDP, so, hopefully soon we will begin to think the same way about nature. We would be able to measure and value the benefits and services we gain from nature, and we all know that what we measure we value, and what we value we manage.” The SEEA EA, expected to be adopted by the 52nd session of the UN Statistical Commission, constitutes an integrated statistical framework for organizing biophysical data, measuring ecosystem services, tracking changes in ecosystem assets and linking this information to economic and other human activity. Learn more: https://seea.un.org/


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