Blue accounting approaches in the emerging African blue economy context

The Blue Economy (BE) relates to the sustainable use and conservation of marine and freshwater environments. Accounting for the BE has not yet been undertaken in African countries due to disparities in data collection related to social, economic, and ecological components of the BE; it is a critical factor in decision and/or policymaking associated with BE objectives. This review provides a conceptual understanding of blue accounting and outlines some of the best practices, lessons learned, and key policy messages in blue accounting systems. The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Blue Economy Valuation Toolkit (BEVTK) recently paved the way for the development of an African national BE accounting system. The aim of the BEVTK was to build a tool capable of capturing and recording various dimensions of human interaction with the ‘blue environment’. It is organised around three easily comprehensible modules that address the above-mentioned dimensions. The toolkit has provided a meaningful overview of the BE in the Seychelles to better understand the economic importance of its industries and can capture changes in stocks of natural capital and ecosystem services. The main challenge is in collecting the necessary information needed to run the toolkit. The application of the BEVTK can therefore be seen as part of the preparatory phase for development of proper BE accounting which should be done in a unified way to ensure that all above-mentioned dimensions are taken into consideration within a customizable framework. Such a unified approach will allow comparisons between countries as data collection, analysis and presentation will be standardised.