December 2020: Multiple stakeholders, including coastal communities, tourism operators and aquaculture and fisheries operators depend on a healthy marine environment. Coordination among these stakeholders is fundamental to addressing the degradation and depletion of the marine environment. Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) provides a common language for all stakeholders to use as the basis for coordination to sustainably manage the marine economy and the marine environment.
Following our recommendations in the accounting assessment report (read below for more detail or to download the report), and building on our ocean accounting experience with Geographe Bay, WA, we are continuing to work with Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to complete a natural capital accounting case study by December 2021. We will be supporting the seafood sector to test the coordination elements of NCA in the context of marine spatial planning, in addition to assessing the specific challenges and opportunities that NCA can address for seafood sector operators.
An Irish agenda on Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) is being implemented through the Irish Forum on Natural Capital. The Environmental Protection Agency, Bord na Mona and Coillte have/are undertaking NCA projects. With these projects focussed on land, there is an opportunity for Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) to lead the extension of NCA to Irish marine areas.
Multiple stakeholders, including coastal communities, tourism operators and aquaculture and fisheries operators depend on a healthy marine environment. Coordination among these stakeholders is fundamental to addressing the degradation and depletion of the marine environment, which left unaddressed, will have long lasting repercussions for the private sector and the wider public. NCA provides a common language for all stakeholders to use as a basis for coordination on the sustainable development of the marine economy.
NCA also supports stakeholder groups to address opportunities and challenges that are specific to them. BIM engaged IDEEA Group in 2019 to assess how NCA could support BIM and the aquaculture and fisheries operators within the seafood industry. The Accounting Assessment Report published in January 2020 clearly demonstrates how the accounts can be used across multiple accounting applications, and how these applications can address different challenges and opportunities.