Fifth Policy Forum on Natural Capital Accounting for Better Decision Making – Greening the Recovery

Background

The Fifth Policy Forum discussed practical ways in which Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) can make green recovery initiatives more effective and sustainable. The Policy Forum enabled the NCA community and those working on green recovery policies to discuss the data needs for green recovery policies and how NCA can provide those needs to guide green recovery efforts and institutional reforms. The Forum was co-organized by the World Bank’s Global Program on Sustainability (GPS), the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), and the Government of the Netherlands.

Analysis shows that biodiversity and natural capital have been comparatively neglected in recovery efforts to date and there is a need to find better ways of including them. The Policy Forum thus discussed how NCA supports nature-based solutions and biodiversity – areas where NCA has a good track record. With the recent adoption of the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting framework and the advancements in economic-ecological modeling, the potential to contribute to green recovery initiatives has increased. The Policy Forum also discussed opportunities to make concrete inputs to the upcoming United Nations Climate Change and Biodiversity Convention CoPs.

Objectives

The objectives of the Policy Forum were:

1. To explore the progress and plans for green recovery across countries and in international initiatives;
2. To highlight how NCA supports the integration of nature in green recovery efforts in a systematic and effective way; and
3. To explore potential for collaboration among those working on green recovery and on NCA in shaping policies, institutions and priority actions for recovery and sustainable development.