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Ocean accounting enables the true wealth of the ocean to be measured, enabling sustainable marine development for future generations, says a �����Ʊ expert.

Accurately capturing the economic, social, and environmental value of the ocean is critical to ensuring the sustainable management of our ocean resources, says �����Ʊ Scientia Fellow Dr Ben Milligan, director of the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) Secretariat hosted by the �����Ʊ Sustainable Development Reform Hub in Law & Justice. GOAP brings together countries and global stakeholders to measure and manage progress towards ocean sustainable development through ocean accounting.

“Ocean accounting is an ideal tool for calculating economic value versus potential ecological losses when it comes to development within our oceans. This is integral to managing our oceans more effectively and promoting the sustainable development of marine habitats for present and future generations,” says Dr Milligan.

GOAP provides a first-of-its-kind communication and collaboration platform for governments, international organisations, and research institutions to build capacity and exchange knowledge on ocean accounting. The partnership is co-chaired by the  a�Ի� . The international community of practice includes more than 30 countries that co-produce and share research, protocols and practices.

Globally there is a shift from measuring marine benefits purely in terms of their contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) to including environmental and social indicators as well, says Dr Milligan whose research and advisory work integrates environmental information in public policymaking and the design of legal, institutional and policy frameworks for sustainable development. 

“The interrelationship between people’s welfare, nature sustainability and economic growth is indisputable. When it comes to the maritime sector, many of the benefits and opportunities are not explored or managed due to suboptimal documentation systems.” 

Dr Ben Milligan

Ocean accounting has significant potential to support a range of government processes, highlighting values that might otherwise be overlooked. For example, accounts measuring benefits from mangroves could identify the dependency of the fisheries and tourism sectors to the biodiversity it supports, he says. The accounts could further justify the financial resources needed to restore degraded mangroves to increase their benefits to the economy and society. 

“GOAP has furthered methods to account for these important ecosystems, from local to national scales, to highlight their value in decision making, including budget development processes.”

Ocean accounts are a means to develop a global benchmark of equilibrium between economic growth and ocean sustainability, he says. Projects piloted under GOAP see local communities, academic and research institutions, government departments and multilateral agencies coming together to collate data in a holistic way to measure and manage progress toward sustainable ocean development for a variety of contexts. 

With pilots spanning the globe, GOAP has managed to embed an evidence-based approach for national policy, inform science-based monitoring of ecosystems in small island developing states, further how we measure the ocean economy, and empower South-South collaboration to share experiences and lessons learnt.

An urgent call for action

The ocean . In addition to food and economic activitie