‘Accounting for natural resources key’

IT is vital to account for natural resources in calculation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the wider national development, Government has said.

Ministry of National Development Planning Permanent Secretary for Development Planning and Administration Chola Chabala, said Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) focuses on the part of total wealth that comes from land, water, mineral, energy, soil, forests and timber and ecosystem assets.

According to a statement issued by the ministry’s spokesperson Chibaula Silwamba, Mr Chabala was speaking when he presented a paper on Zambia’s Climate Change Policy and Accounting of Natural Resources at the on going Natural Capital Policy Forum. Mr Chabala told the global gathering that the Zambian government had been engaging lawmakers through the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands and Natural Resources as well as the Committee on Energy, Water Development and Tourism, concerning the importance of NCAs.

Mr Chabala further said the objective of Zambia’s National Policy on Climate Change was to provide a framework for coordinating climate change programmes to ensure climate resilience and low carbon development pathways for sustainable development towards the attainment of Zambia’s Vision 2030.

The forum focuses on government decision-makers’ needs and experiences.

It is also aimed at discussing how natural capital approaches and accounting can improve decision-making on climate change and biodiversity as well as how governments can work together to achieve this with business houses.

It is jointly organised by the World Bank Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES), the United Nations Statistics Division, the Government of the Netherlands and the Natural Capital Coalition, in Paris, France.

And National Development Planning Minister Alexander Chiteme is expected in Paris to deliver a keynote address at the eighth annual Partnership Meeting.

At the meeting, the minister is expected to give perspectives on natural capital accounting and decision-making.