4632.0.55.001 - Discussion Paper: From Nature to the Table: Environmental-Economic Accounting for Agriculture, 2015-16 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/11/2017  First Issue
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APPROACH TAKEN AND FUTURE PLANS

This set of accounts represents the first experimental step by the ABS and its data partners to implement the international SEEA for Australia’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries. While the SEEA AFF has been designed to bring many disparate data together to inform decisions about critical challenges in agricultural policy making, Australia is only one of a few countries in the world to test its application in practice. The initial focus of this discussion paper was therefore to identify and draw on the key available data that most closely align with SEEA AFF standards, concepts and methods. This is intended to convey an impression of what a SEEA AFF account could aspire to, in order that users can provide informed comment to guide the development of future accounts.

There are significant data gaps in these accounts due to the range of information available at this time. A limited range of indicators within each account were compiled at this stage due to these limitations and a need for further consultation with the community. An additional period of stakeholder engagement and collaboration will be held to further identify stakeholder needs, and gather views on additional data sources and priorities. Where suitable, these data sources will be adopted or used to model expanded account information.

In view of this, each section (except for feature articles) is structured in the following way:

  • Summary of the SEEA AFF framework for this set of accounts (much of this text is taken straight from the SEEA AFF framework)
  • Policy relevance and use
  • Headline measures (including references to main accounts tables)
  • Measurement gaps and opportunities.

The importance of this discussion paper is not just in relation to the narrative but in the over one hundred tables of data available in the Downloads tab. This offers a rich source of initial accounts data.