Environmental accounting should help environmental managers assemble
information and take stock. Environmental accounts bring together economic and
environmental information in a framework to measure the contribution of nature to
the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment (Rietbergen-
McCraken and Abaza, 2000; Lange et al., 2003a, 2003b; IUCN Green Accounting
Initiative, available online at http://www.iucn.org/places/usa/literature.html,
accessed February 2004). By the 1980s, the United Nations (UN) was promoting an
internationally agreed framework for recording what was happening with countries’
wealth, health, etc. However, in practice, even though there are now
multidimensional indices available to measure environmental health and progress
with sustainable development, the application in developing countries is limited and
patchy, and it is not easy to measure and monitor natural capital.