Blueprint Towards Accounting for the Management of Ecosystems

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* Article: Clément Feger, Laurent Mermet, (2017) "A blueprint towards accounting for the management of ecosystems", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 30 Issue: 7, pp.1511-1536

URL = https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-12-2015-2360

Abstract

"The purpose of this paper is to propose a new ecological-issues-centered accounting research agenda, at the crossroads of accounting research and conservation science.

Design/methodology/approach:

Based on a case study of the Natural Capital Project, the research examines the efforts and challenges of conservation practitioners regarding the use of evaluative information systems for conservation (EISC) in complex social and ecological contexts. It discusses why and how, to address these challenges, EISC promoters would benefit from theoretical and empirical insights coming from accounting research.


Findings

The paper suggests that the use of new information systems centered on organized collective action for biodiversity conservation should be regarded as a new type of accounting for the management of ecosystems, complementary to organization-centered biodiversity accounting and to ecosystem accounting at the national scale. A research agenda inspired by critical accounting should be developed for EISC design and use by: critically analyzing the organizational models currently underlying the use of new calculative practices for ecosystems; and developing new analytical and practical avenues on the basis of more explicit and powerful theories adapted to collective action for conservation perimeters.