Policy Brief: Natural Capital Accounting and Sustainable Development Goals Interlinkages in Botswana

Natural capital accounting (NCA) is the process of calculating the total stocks and flows of natural resources and services in a given ecosystem or region/country. Accounting for such goods may occur in physical and monetary terms. The objective is to use this information for better government decision-making. Compiling NCA for water, energy, minerals and the adjusted macroeconomic indicators of sustainability in Botswana uses the internationally accepted methodology called the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA). Due to strategic importance of water, energy and minerals in the economy, these resources were prioritized for NCA by the Botswana Economic Advisory Council during the inception of World Bank-led Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) programme in 2012. The SEEA is satellite to the System of National Accounts (SNA) which is used globally to monitor economic performance of most countries. It thus uses concepts, definitions and classifications consistent with the SNA. The increased use of the SEEA leads to improvements in data quality and therefore better economic decisions affecting natural resources management. In Botswana, data generated by different natural capital accounts is used to monitor various SDGs indicators and this linkage will be shown in this Policy Brief.