The Ocean Account | a newsletter from the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership
The Ocean Account vol. 1 | December 2022
Welcome to the first edition of The Ocean Account. This newsletter will land in your inbox quarterly keeping you up to date on ocean accounting news from around the world and activities from Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) members.

If you have any updates you would like to share through this newsletter, please get in touch with the GOAP Secretariat and we will include your items in the next edition!

Latest news

At the 2022 United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC), countries committed to strengthening the capacity of statistical systems, mainstreaming values of marine natural capital into decision-making, establishing effective multi-stakeholder partnerships, and other actions concerning ocean accounts. At a UNOC side event on 'Sustainable Ocean Development Beyond GDP', representatives from UN ESCAP, Capitals Coalition and the Governments of Australia, Indonesia, MaldivesMexicoNorway, the United Kingdom and the United States discussed ways to strengthen mutual awareness and action planning among global leaders concerning ocean accounting, and recognized their critical role as a foundation of measurement, innovation, investment, management and planning of progress towards sustainable ocean development. The UK Government also announced its continued support for GOAP as part of its £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Additionally, Australia said it will produce ocean accounts as part of its Ocean Leadership Package, Indonesia shared that ocean accounting enables monitoring of ocean management tools, the Maldives talked about its goal to develop ocean accounts for its 21 administrative atolls, Mexico stated that ocean accounts will support its System of National Accounts update, Norway stated that ocean accounting is essential to achieving the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Ocean Panel)'s goal of a 100% sustainable ocean economy, the United Kingdom discussed how ocean accounts help track ocean-based investment impact, the United States shared that the White House Office of Science, Technology and Policy will support federal agencies to development natural capital accounts and incorporate them in mainstream accounting systems, the Capitals Coalition highlighted the essentially of consistent ocean data for ocean investment, and UN ESCAP stated its committed to support the implementation and use of ocean accounts globally. For members of the Ocean Panel, these actions are progressing Leaders' commitments to account for the value of the ocean

The Maldivian Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology (supported by the Maldives National University MNU), the GEF, the Rekam Nusantara Foundation and the University of New South Wales) will develop natural capital accounting through pilot testing the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) in Laamu Atoll. The project will: 1) compile ocean accounts to support enhanced reef protection, resilience and ecosystem recovery by reducing development impacts in Laamu Atoll; and 2) build natural capital accounting capabilities within the Maldives through the provision of training to government ministries and the development of university courses by MNU.

The Marilles Foundation, together with the Balearic Center for Applied Biology and Ecoacsa, will calculate the marine natural capital of the Llevant Marine Reserve in Mallorca. The objective of the project is to evaluate the contribution of traditional fishing and leisure activities taking place in the marine reserve to the local and regional economy. The project will measure the extent, condition and value of these goods and services and identify its beneficiaries. It will also produce data on the potential benefits of investing in the recovery of degraded marine habitats and the conservation of Balearic marine biodiversity.

The 28th meeting of the London Group on Environmental Accounting took place on September 26-29 and featured a dedicated session on ocean accounting. The session discussed the paper 'Basic Spatial Units for Ocean Accounts: identifying challenges and potential solutions' by the GOAP Africa Community of Practice (ACoP , and Statistics Norway's presentation on ocean accounting progress in Norway.

Read more

Ocean Accounting Pilots

GOAP members, partners and collaborators are delivering a number of national ocean accounts pilots covering ecosystem and wastewater extent and condition, flows to the economy, flows to the environment, governance, and economic accounts of direct System of National Accounts benefits. Check them out below:

Fiji  •  Indonesia  •  Viet Nam •  Canada

Fiji

Ocean accounts for Fiji: A focus on mangroves

Viet Nam

Viet Nam Ocean Account: Case study in Quang Ninh Province

Indonesia

Ocean Accounts of Indonesia
 

Canada

Canadian Ocean Accounts: A Pilot Project

New Knowledge Products Available!

Over the past year, GOAP members, partners and collaborators developed a range of research papers, technical reports and guidance documents to help you get started on your ocean accounting journey, scale existing projects, or troubleshoot challenges you have encountered. Check them out on our website!

Knowledge Product Highlight: A Global Ocean Asset Data Package

UNEP-WCMC's Global Ocean Asset Data Guide provides practical guidance to countries for the use of global data on ocean assets in developing national ocean accounts. The Guide supports the Global Ocean Asset Data Inventory and aims to enable national ocean accounts compilers to make informed decisions on the use of global ocean datasets that are varied in quality, accessibility and purpose.
View all knowledge products

Recent Events


📅 30 November | UN ESCAP's 5th Asia-Pacific Day for the Ocean | Bangkok Thailand
The 5th edition of UN ESCAP's Asia-Pacific Day for the Ocean provided an opportunity to reflect on the outcomes of the One Ocean Summit (Brest), Our Ocean Conference (Palau), the Second UN Ocean Conference (Lisbon) and to discuss accelerated action in the Asia-Pacific region to meet the targets of SDG14 by 2030. The GOAP Secretariat hosted a session titled 'Evidence for Sustainable Ocean Development' which offered attendees the opportunity to learn from regional experts on how organised and integrated ocean data enhances decision-making for ocean sustainable management.


📅 28 November - 1 December | 2022 Workshop on Earth Observation for Ecosystem Accounting (EO4EA 2022) | Virtual
The objective of EO4EA 2022 was to bring together experts in Earth Observation and Ecosystem Accounting to jointly discuss the key challenges that need to be addressed in order to use Earth Observation in compiling national ecosystem accounts to support national policies. The GOAP Africa Community of Practice (ACoP) gave a presentation titled 'Assessing the Condition of Blue Carbon Ecosystems through Earth Observation – An Overview' during the session Case studies on the role of EO data to compile condition accounts.

📅 October 14 | 12th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium Special Session
On October 14, the GOAP Africa Community of Practice (ACoP) facilitated a special session titled 'Ocean Accounting to Advance Ocean Sustainable Development and Ocean Governance in the Western Indian Ocean'. The workshop sparked constructive dialogue among the 25 regional stakeholders and encouraged GOAP membership within the region.




"The Global Ocean Accounts Partnership will play an essential role in the coming years to discuss the role of the new system of national ocean accounting in Mexico."

 
Ms. Graciela Marquez, President of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, Government of Mexico at the UNOC side event.
The GOAP Secretariat hosted a side event at the UN Ocean Conference on ‘Sustainable Development Beyond GDP’ together with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, Capitals Coalition, and Governments of Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. View the recroding above!
View all events

A New Conversation Series


We are launching a (virtual) conversation series on ocean accounting!

Join us bi-monthly to discuss ocean accounts and related topics with stakeholders from around the world. We will unpack the Technical Guidance, deep dive into ocean accounting pilot projects and explore topics such as 'How to mainstream ocean accounting into ocean governance tools'.

We are currently putting the schedule together and would love to hear from you. If you have topics you would like covered, please 
email us!

Submit a conversation topic

Spotlight: GOAP Africa Community of Practice

The GOAP Africa Community of Practice (ACoP) is a regional collaboration platform bringing together governments, international organisations and research institutions who are interested in learning about and developing ocean accounts in Africa.

The ACoP promotes learning, science diplomacy and the creation of new knowledge to advance the development and uptake of ocean accounting in Africa. Do you want to learn more about ocean accounts? Develop and implement ocean accounts in Africa? Or do you need assistance with scaling an existing account? Our team at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology are ready to assist you get in touch!

About GOAP

The Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) is a multistakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to go Beyond GDP to effectively measure and manage progress towards ocean sustainable development. GOAP aims to support at least 30 countries by 2030 to build complete sequences of national ocean accounts and co-create knowledge products that support the development of globally accepted and standardised ocean accounting practices by 2023. Co-Chaired by UNESCAP and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, GOAP brings together governments, international organisations, and research institutions to build a global community of practice for ocean accounting.
Copyright © 2022 Global Ocean Accounts Partnership, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Global Ocean Accounts Partnership 
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