National Natural Capital Accounting Strategy, A ten-year strategy for advancing Natural Capital Accounting in South Africa.

This National Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Strategy is a comprehensive framework that integrates natural capital into South Africa's sustainable resource management, aligning economic and social development with environmental preservation. This ten-year Strategy focuses on guiding Stats SA and other institutions in prioritizing natural capital accounts, developing robust statistical systems, and establishing institutional mechanisms to inform sustainable development policies. The Strategy supports the coordination of NCA efforts, the development of standardized and integrated natural capital statistics, the derivation of relevant indicators for national and international agendas, and collaboration among institutions to enhance investment in credible, actionable natural capital data for informed planning and decision-making.
The Strategy emphasizes the creation of an integrated set of natural capital accounts using best practices to ensure consistency across regions and over time. This integration leverages internationally recognized systems like the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) and produces spatially explicit accounts vital for areas such as water security in South Africa. Key strategic objectives include the regular publication of natural capital accounts, the establishment of standards and methods for reliable statistics, and demonstrating the link between nature, society, and the economy. The Strategy underscores the importance of collaboration among stakeholders, including government and the private sector, to develop agreed standards for NCA. It also aims to enhance the credibility and relevance of environmental statistics, which currently vary in quality, by better integrating economic, social, and environmental data to support informed decision-making and integrated planning. Additionally, the Strategy focuses on communication and education to raise awareness and understanding of NCA by developing materials that highlight its importance.
The Strategy identifies five areas of work that will contribute towards achieving the Vision of a Natural capital accounting (NCA) widely used to provide credible evidence for integrated planning and decision-making in support of the development needs of the country: (1) NCA is integrated into planning, decision-making, and monitoring across various sectors; (2) NCA provides credible evidence of how nature supports people and the economy; (3) an integrated suite of natural capital accounts is produced using the best available methods; (4) capacity and data for advancing NCA are well-developed and robust; (5) NCA is well-resourced and supported by effective and collaborative institutional arrangements.