South African Natural Capital Accounting Strategy Stakeholder meeting

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) are convening national stakeholders  to get input on the draft National NCA Strategy: A ten-year strategy for advancing Natural Capital Accounting in South Africa. A draft of the Strategy will be circulated in early November in preparation for this meeting.  The meeting will be held virtually over the course of two days on 18-19 November 2020.  

The purpose of the strategy is to respond to the need to focus the efforts of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and other institutions engaged in NCA on developing priority natural capital accounts and effective statistical systems and institutional mechanisms to inform South Africa’s sustainable development policy objectives.

The meeting will be organized in break-out sessions where national stakeholders will discuss each of the five goals of the Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) National Strategy:

1. NCA is used for integrated planning, decision-making, monitoring and evaluation across a range of sectors
2. NCA offers credible evidence of how nature supports people and the economy
3. Natural capital accounts are produced based on best available methods
4. Capacity and data for accounts are  well developed and robust
5. NCA is well resourced underpinned by effective and collaborative institutional arrangements

The development of the NCA National Strategy was made possible through the Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) Project, which is co-led in South Africa by Stats SA and SANBI.  The project is funded by the EU, and led globally by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment). The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) is a project reference group member.