Environmental Accounting for a mega-diverse country like India is packed with challenges – from requirements of huge datasets and several microscopic studies to synchronising all of these so that they speak to each other and can yield consistent estimates. An implementation plan for environment accounting was drawn by the Expert Group on “Green National Accounts in India”, constituted under the Chairmanship of Prof. Sir Partha Dasgupta. The report of the Expert Group listed not just short-term activities which could be undertaken using existing datasets and but also long-term ones, for which implementation plans would need to be drawn up. In pursuance of the recommendations of the Expert Group, the first publication on “Environmental Accounts”, giving the asset accounts of four main natural assets – land, forests, water and minerals was released last year. This year’s publication is, in parts, a continuation of the earlier one, since it focusses on assessment of quality of soil and water as also valuation of the ecosystem services provided by cropland.
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