India to publish world’s first ‘natural wealth’ accounts | OurWorld 2.0

India to publish world’s first ‘natural wealth’ accounts | OurWorld 2.0

India is expected to become the first country in the world to commit to publishing a new set of accounts that track the nation’s plants, animals, water and other “natural wealth” as well as financial measurements such as GDP.
The announcement is due to be made at a meeting of world governments in Japan to try to halt global destruction of biodiversity, and it is hoped that such a move by a major developing economy will prompt other countries to join the initiative.

Work on agreeing common measures, such as the value of ecosystems and their “services” for humans — from relaxation to clean air and fertile soils — will be co-ordinated by the World Bank, which hopes it can sign up 10-12 nations and publish the results by 2015 at the latest.

The move fulfils one of the key demands of a major report also being published at the Japan meeting, a UN study of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB).