2018 started off on a high note with the much-anticipated launch of the World Bank's
Changing Wealth of Nations 2018: Building a Sustainable Future. The publication, which brought together 20 years of wealth accounting data for 141 countries, was showcased by media outlets from around the globe - including
Quartz,
Bloomberg,
El País,
Il Foglio,
Business Mirror, and
Andina - as well as during panel discussions hosted by
Brookings in Washington, D.C and the
Graduate Institute in Geneva. The report revealed some important findings about the sustainability of countries' growth paths, and confirmed the critical role of natural capital - particularly for low-income countries, for whom natural capital makes up 47 percent of total wealth.
In other news, several former WAVES partner countries continue to make progress institutionalizing natural capital accounts, in line with their post-WAVES roadmaps.
Botswana released the fourth iteration of its national water accounts, and a technical report on its mineral accounts will be out shortly.
And in
Costa Rica
, the latest environmental accounts show improved energy efficiency and lower carbon dioxide emissions from energy use. Meanwhile,
Indonesia recently held a national seminar to discuss action plans for implementing the SEEA, which was attended by representatives from numerous line ministries.
Building on these successes, WAVES will step up its national and global-level work thanks to USD $4.5 million in new financing from the Government of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has been an invaluable WAVES supporter. Not only did Dutch funding help to launch the WAVES program
in 2010, but the Netherlands has repeatedly shared its considerable experience on NCA by providing technical guidance, and generously hosted two fora dedicated to
NCA for better policy. We look forward to continuing this meaningful partnership.
Finally, the WAVES team has a few internal updates to share.
Raffaello Cervigni, lead environmental economist with the World Bank's Global Platform Unit, is taking over as program coordinator for WAVES, with Sofia Ahlroth as co-coordinator. Welcome Raffaello!
Best,
