Ecosystem accounting through first nations’ lenses: Integrating the SEEA-EA and Indigenous knowledge systems

The UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) provides a framework for integrating information about the environment and the economy, organising information about ecosystems, measuring ecosystem services, and tracking change. We explore how SEEA-EA can incorporate First Nations’ conceptualisation of nature and cultural connections to traditional lands. We identify multiple entry avenues, propose key principles and suggest steps to enhance relevance of the SEEA-EA to First Nations, principally: stock accounts should reflect aspects of Country that First Nations deem important; flow accounts should depict services they consider the most significant; and, stocks and flows should be measured using physical, subjective and monetary metrics that they deem appropriate. Respectful partnership with First Nations group(s) whose Country is being accounted for—centred on their priorities and values—would yield multiple benefits. We recommend that these ideas, alongside other possible approaches, be developed and tested with First Nations groups across diverse geographic and cultural contexts.

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