Accounting for Indigenous perspectives in SEEA-EA in theory and practice Paper for the 27th Meeting of the London Group on Environmental Accounting

Indigenous Peoples’ cultural knowledge and management practices play a key role in the management of ecosystems globally and inclusion of Indigenous perspectives within the development of integrated reporting systems such as SEEA-EA is important. The SEEA-EA has not substantively addressed the aspects of ecosystem accounting that may be of interest to Indigenous Peoples. This includes accounting for cultural assets within ecosystems, or for the cultural services provided by, and to, ecosystems. Our research explores how Indigenous cultural knowledge may be better accounted for in SEEA-EA. In this we examine how the cultural assets and cultural ecosystem services related to Indigenous management practices fit (or not) within the existing asset and ecosystem service classifications of SEEA-EA. We are also testing the practical application of SEEA-EA for the management of land by Indigenous Peoples, using an example from northern Australia and working collaboratively with the Yawuru people.