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News: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation(MoSPI) is organising the Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of the Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) India Forum-2021.
Facts:
- NCAVES India Forum: It is being organized by MoSPI in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), European Union and UN Environment.
- Objectives: The objectives of the National Forum would be:
- To present India’s achievements in the domain of Natural Capital Accounting (NCA);
- To prioritize the emerging opportunities for NCA in India;
- To familiarize stakeholders with the work undertaken by the different international agencies in the area of NCA and
- To provide a platform to selected Research Institutions to present their research conducted in the valuation of ecosystem services.
What is NCAVES Project?
- The project has been launched by the United Nations Statistics Division, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the European Union.
- Aim: To assist the five participating partner countries, namely Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa, to advance the knowledge agenda on environmental-economic accounting, in particular ecosystem accounting.
- Funding and Duration: The project is funded by the European Union(EU) and will have a duration until the end of 2021.
- Implementation of Project in India: In India, the NCAVES project is being implemented by the MoSPI in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre(NRSC).
Significance of NCAVES Project for India:
- EnviStats India: The participation in the project has helped MOSPI commence the compilation of the Environment Accounts as per the UN-SEEA framework and release environmental accounts in its publication “EnviStats India” on an annual basis since 2018.
- India-EVL Tool: The project has also helped India develop the India-EVL Tool which is essentially a look-up tool giving a snapshot of the values of various ecosystem services in the different States of the country based on about 80 studies conducted across the country.
- An additional benefit of this tool is that it provides a critical view on the literature that is available and the applicability of estimates spatially across India according to bio-geographical areas.
