This policy dialogue brought together senior policy practitioners of the provincial governments of the states of North-East India, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Nepal. These states combined form one of the richest bases of natural forests and centres of mega bio-diversity in the world. The dialog was in partnership with experts on environmental policy, macro-economists, and natural scientists, who together with the senior practitioners explored approaches to augment existing macroeconomic aggregates.
The policy dialogue aimed to:
- Evaluate the role of natural capital in economic growth;
- Illustrate and exemplify how inclusive wealth defined to include natural capital should be an integral part of a country’s system of national accounts;
- Elucidate current efforts at the international level, both within the UN system and in specific other countries who already integrate environmental considerations into their development policies and growth strategy;
- Illustrate how the valuation of ecosystem services can improve public policy decision making;
- Review methods for valuing ecosystem services and identify policy and capacity needs for valuation; and
- Identify ways to develop valuation skills and macro-economic aggregates, other than GDP, to measure progress at the country level.
