Since 2016, Forico and IDEEA Group have worked together to apply the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) in the Forico Estate. Phase 1 of the work program explored the feasibility of applying the SEEA framework to the Forico estate, while Phase 2 put the concepts developed during Phase 1 into practice. It is understood that these efforts are the first to employ the UN SEEA principles to account for the environment and ecosystems at the business level.
Completed in September 2018, Phase 2 of the work program involved:
- accounting for the stock and condition of ecosystem assets held by Forico
- accounting for the flow of ecosystem services supplied by these ecosystem assets
- developing a method to integrate this information with financial information
A key outcome of the work was a set of environmental accounts that enable Forico to recognise the value of the ecosystem services that it delivers. Incorporating environmental-economic accounting into standard financial accounting approaches and business processes provides several benefits for Forico including:
- improved operational decision-making by using a more complete set of financial accounts;
- improved communication to stakeholders through the recognition of a wider range of environmental values; and
- improved strategic allocation of financial resources to maximise the flows of ecosystem services.
Additionally, the accounts could be used to report on requirements under the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) newly released FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard for Australia.