Press Information Bureau

1. NCAVES India Forum 2021 is being organised by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). The NCAVES Project, funded by EU, has been jointly implemented by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).  India is one of the five countries taking part in this project - the other countries being Brazil, China, South Africa and Mexico.  

2. In India, the NCAVES project is being implemented by the MoSPI in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC). MoSPI has coordinated with all the stakeholders through a consultative process by setting in place a mechanism for linking the diverse stakeholders concerned – namely producers and the policymakers using the environmental accounts.

3. The participation in the project has helped MOSPI commence the compilation of the Environment Accounts as per the UN-SEEA framework and release environmental accounts in its publication “EnviStats India” on an annual basis since 2018. Several of these accounts are closely related to the social and economic attributes, making them a useful tool for the Policy. The publications can be found at https://mospi.gov.in/web/mospi/reports-publications .

4. Another feather to the cap under the NCAVES project is the development of the India-EVL Tool which is essentially a look-up tool giving a snapshot of the values of various ecosystem services in the different States of the country, based on about 80 studies conducted across the country. An additional benefit of this tool is that it provides a critical view on the literature that is available and the applicability of estimates spatially across India according to bio-geographical areas.

5.  NCAVES India Forum 2021 is being organised in a virtual format, with live sessions on January 14, 21 and 28, 2021, focusing on: 

January 14, 2021:      Efforts made by the international agencies in the domain of natural capital accounting and valuation of ecosystem services 

January 21, 2021:      Policy Demand for NCA in India  

January 28, 2021:      Achievements in natural capital accounting and valuation of ecosystem services and prospects of natural capital accounting in India 

6. A web portal www.ncavesindiaforum.in has been designed for the purpose of registration, participation and to function as a repository for the environment related information. 

7. On the first day of the event, the Hon’ble Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation and Ministry of Planning, Rao Inderjit Singh will highlight the various government initiatives taken up for improving the environment data ecosystem.  

8. In addition, the first day will witness participation of Ambassador of the EU Delegation to India and representatives from various national and international organisations, including Director, UNSD, Director UNEP, Director, UNESCAP, Director World Bank and Chairperson, UN Committee of Experts on Environment Economic Accounting.  

9. The Forum targets showcasing some of the important researches/work related to the environment through the online exhibition and the twitter poster session platform.  The Forum aims to build a stronger awareness about the different perspective to Environment and to show a way forward towards realizing the contribution of the natural capital to achieve a “better environment, better tomorrow”.  

10.  The Ministry welcomes active participation in the NCAVES India Forum-2021.

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DS/VJ/AK