The 5th International Symposium on the Oceans in National Income Accounts

The measurement of the economic values of the ocean within national income accounting frameworks has received increasing policy attention in recent years. Researchers and governments in a number of countries across the globe have undertaken a variety of efforts to develop methodologically consistent approaches to measuring the contributions of oceans to national income across time and space. More recently a number of international agencies have been going beyond measuring the direct output and employment values of the ocean-related industries by generating ocean economy satellite accounts that capture additional activity that cannot be easily identified in published data and provide insights into the contribution of the ocean economy to non-ocean sectors

The impact of the current and potential human activities on marine and coastal ecosystem are also a key determinant of the ocean´s health and of the derived societal benefits through the outputs of the ocean economy industries and the continued delivery of marine ecosystem services. With this in mind, initiatives such as the EU INTERREG Atlantic Area MOSES project have been examining the ‘blue’ growth pathways for the sustainable development of the major ocean economy industries and developing indicators and tools to monitor the progress toward these sustainable growth paths.

The 5th Symposium in the series will involve representatives from government, industry, academia and international organisations sharing their national and international perspectives on progress made in measuring the ocean economy. They will discuss ways in which international ocean economy statistics can be improved through satellite and natural capital accounting approaches as well as examining how the usage of such information by policymakers can be improved.

Topics to be discussed at the symposium include:

• The big challenges – Why we need improved ocean economy statistics
• Revised national standards for ocean and related industry classification
• Satellite accounting of ocean economic activities
• Tools for improved usage of ocean economy statistics
• Pathways to a sustainable ocean economy
• Developing marine ecosystem income accounts
• Issues for inclusion of marine ecosystem service benefit values in ocean accounts

The symposium agenda is now available to download here