Standard Presentation (15 mins) Australian Marine Sciences Association 2022

Ocean Accounting for sustainable development: Integrating marine data into decision making using natural capital accounts at different scales (case studies from Fiji and Australia) (#191)

Jordan D Gacutan 1 2 , Kirti K Lal 2 3 4 , Rup Singh 2 , Ben M Milligan 2 5
  1. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
  2. Global Ocean Accounts Partnership, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Department of Planning and Environment , NSW Government, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  5. Faculty of Law, UNSW , Sydney, NSW, Australia

Ocean decision-makers are tasked with balancing a myriad of social, economic, and environmental concerns when addressing complex policy challenges, such as conservation targets, or ocean-based economic development. As marine scientists, we often view governance processes as heavily favouring economic considerations, despite the wealth of knowledge that identify the significant contributions ecosystems provide as a foundation for society and the economy. So how do we better measure the importance of nature?

Here, we present the Ocean Accounting framework, that compiles standardised and regular measurements of ocean information across multiple knowledge domains. The framework aligns with national accounts already used in decision making (i.e., that produce GDP), and other international standards that measure natural resources and ecosystems in both physical (e.g., litres) and monetary terms. We also provide a national and local case study within Fiji and Lake Illawarra, Australia, respectively to demonstrate how accounts measure the ocean’s contributions, especially within cost-benefit analyses. Given that Australia and 15 other countries have committed to the production of Ocean Accounts nationally, and several other countries have pilots underway, there is a need to engage the marine science community in the process, to better inform how and what we measure.