Natural capital accounts and public policy decisions: Findings from a survey

The initiatives in natural capital accounting have multiplied in the recent years, particularly concerning ecosystem accounts. Policy commitmments in natural capital accounts are also proliferating. Yet, natural capital accounting has been rarely used so far to inform public policy decisions. Based on a survey for statistical offices and ministries and independent experts worldwide, we seek to bring some light on the obstacles in the use of natural capital accounts for public policy decisions. We find that, independently of the income level, countries are equally engaged in the integration of natural capital accounts in their commitments and strategies. And yet, there is very little use of natural capital accounts for public policy decisions and, more so, in developing countries. The most relevant obstacles are the lack of political support by key people and institutional leadership unable to promote policy use by other ministries. Even if projects should preferably be demand-driven, raising awareness on the existence and uses of accounts is essential among the different levels of government administration. Concerning developing countries, the factor which is considered as the most relevant in preventing the use of natural capital accounts for policy making is the stage of development of the country. In addition, respondents from statistical institutes and developing countries are particularly concerned about institutional obstacles and, to a lesser extent, data availability and cooperation. Respondents from ministries and independent experts are also particularly concerned about design obstacles, such as the difficulty to draw a link between natural capital accounts and policy decisions and unclear guidelines for the creation of the accounts. Besides, natural capital accounts are used for policy decisions with a certain lag with respect to their creation and hence no rapid action should be expected immediately following initial investments on accounts. A key result of the survey is the need to evaluate the value-added of natural capital accounts with respect to statistics, prior to the development of accounts. Indeed, local problems and habitats might be better addressed through cost-benefit analysis. To conclude, most probably only once we witness a major environmental event, natural capital accounts will be considered as sufficiently relevant from a policy standpoint to attain the same degree of maturity as national income accounts both in their development and in their integration in the decision-making process.