This paper discusses how the Colombian natural capital accounts provide useful inputs for public policy making in Colombia. The government’s initiative to use the natural capital accounts as an input to make informed decisions and generate new knowledge that supports environmental policy has been gaining acceptance in recent years.
This paper shows how Colombia’s forest and water accounts have been used to monitor the effects of economic changes to natural capital. The accounts have been used to assess the environmental cost of the el Niño phenomenon in 2015, to quantify the environmental benefits to be gained by Colombia in a peacetime scenario, and to provide arguments to increase water use fees. While the use of natural capital accounting (NCA) is limited, its contributions to preserving, mitigating, and protecting the environment are huge, and there are ample
opportunities to exploit them even further.
Authors:
German Romero,
Silvia Calderon,
Leidy Riveros,
Henry Alterio,
Forum on Natural Capital Accounting for Better Policy Decisions: Taking Stock and Moving Forward
Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services www.wavespartnership.org
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