Including Indigenous Perspectives in Natural Capital Accounting

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasise the need to include Indigenous values in the management of cultural, environmental and economic resources. Ensuring this recognition requires the assessment of existing frameworks for monitoring and reporting to determine whether they are sufficiently broad to encompass Indigenous people, their perspectives, and knowledge. Indigenous people are absent from the ongoing development of the UN international standard for Natural Capital Accounting (NCA), the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). As a framework that promises to better integrate environmental and economic information for sustainable development, this omission must be addressed if NCA is to be of relevance to, and used by, Indigenous people.

Using conceptual and practical examples, this thesis investigates: (1) how the SEEA differs from, and can be adapted to, Indigenous values and knowledge; (2) how NCA and the SEEA can be used by Indigenous people and their organisations for the management of land and sea; (3) the opportunities, challenges and key considerations for incorporating Indigenous perspectives into the SEEA; and (4) the actions required to ensure Indigenous values are reflected in the ongoing development of NCA and the SEEA. It finds that Indigenous people's perspectives on nature differ from those currently recognised in the SEEA, as Indigenous people often view themselves as part of ecosystems rather than distinct from them, and this relationship is two-way, not one-way as presented in the SEEA conceptual model. Practical examples of account development from a collaborative case study with Yawuru managers of land and sea in northern Australia show how accounts informed by Indigenous knowledge can record changes to ecosystem extent, condition and values over time in a manner that better reflects the interconnected relationships between People, culture and Country.

The thesis identifies the benefits of incorporating Indigenous values into NCA, including making a broader range of interests and values visible and therefore considered in decision-making, and improving the 'seat at the table' for Indigenous managers in negotiations that impact their land. Ultimately, such information benefits all stakeholders by providing the data needed to identify win-win opportunities while managing conflicts across various spatial scales. Actionable recommendations are proposed for local, national, and international stakeholders to raise Indigenous voices in NCA development through collaborative, Indigenous-led partnerships, developing national protocols for Indigenous-inclusive accounting, and establishing an international working group to guide the recognition of Indigenous values in the SEEA framework. As a first example of the development of SEEA-based accounts in collaboration with Indigenous managers of land and sea, this thesis offers globally relevant insights into the approaches, challenges, and actions needed to ensure that future NCA frameworks are inclusive and equitable for all. Show more