The Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (Ncaves) project aims to advance the theory and practice related to environmental and ecosystem accounting in five countries, namely Brazil, South Africa, China, India, and Mexico.
The NCAVES India Forum 2021 was organized by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme (MoSPI) through a virtual medium and is most likely to be asked in UPSC Prelims. The project was implemented by United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
What are the key points of the project?
The European Union has funded the NCAVES India project through its Partnership Instrument, and India is among the five countries taking part in this project. The MoSPI is responsible for implementing the project in collaboration with the forest and climate change (MoEF&CC), Ministry of Environment, and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which are headed under the Department of Space.
The main idea behind NCAVES is to assist the partner countries participating in the project, such that they can achieve advancement of knowledge on the issue of environmental-economic accounting, and more specifically, ecosystem accounting. The duration of the project is such that it will end in 2021.
The following are the key objectives of the NCAVES project, which is likely to be asked in the UPSC Exam:
- Prioritizing achievements of India in the arena of National Capital Accounting (NCA).
- Prioritizing opportunities which are emerging in India for NCA.
- Familiarising the stakeholders with the type of work undertaken in the area of NCA by different international agencies.
- To provide a platform for select research institutes so that they can present their research which is conducted during the evaluation of various ecosystem services.
The prominence of the topic makes it a crucial addition to the current affairs and UPSC Notes for UPSC 2022.
Meaning of Natural Capital Accounting and Ecosystem Services
Natural capital accounting is a term that covers the use of an accounting framework to find a systematic way for measurement and reporting of stocks and flows of natural capital. Natural capital refers to the stock of renewable and non-renewable resources, which together combine to yield benefits to people. NCA is inclusive of individual environmental assets and resources, including biotic and abiotic and ecosystem assets in physical and monetary terms.
Humans tend to derive several benefits from the ecosystem, which are collectively termed ecosystem services. They are mainly of four types, including provisioning services, regulating services, supporting services, and cultural services.
Benefits of NCAVES
By participating in NCAVES project, India has been able to benefit as it has helped MoSPI start with the compilation of environmental accounts. As these accounts are closely related to various social and economic attributes of the country, they can become a productive tool for the process of policymaking in the country. For the implementation of the NCAVES project, another tool that is widely used is the India – EVL tool which is basically a type of look-up tool.
It works by providing the values of different types of ecosystem services across different states in the country. On the other hand, ecosystem accounting can help to manufacture crucial information pertaining to the ecosystems and their condition on the basis of selective indicators and devise the flow of ecosystem services.
The key focus area for IAS Preparation should be about understanding how the different perspectives towards the environment can help in the realization of natural capital and help to achieve a better environment for a better tomorrow in the country.
Due to the participation in the project, MoSPI has been able to commence the compilation of various Environment accounts, which are in accordance with the UN system of Environmental, economic accounting, and related frameworks.
To Sum Up
It is important to understand the concept and meaning of NCAVES if you are preparing for IAS Exam as it is one of the prominent topics which are included in the UPSC Syllabus and can be asked in the exam. The fact that it forms an important part of the policy matters for India makes it a crucial topic about which questions can be asked in the exam.
Related Links:
Comments