Natural resource accounting and analysis

Today there is perhaps nobody on earth who does not face some problems of environmental stress in his or her everyday life. Both in industrialized and developing countries the city-dweller breathes air polluted by exhaust fumes, the industrial workers inhale noxious fumes and carginogens, any citizen might be exposed to leakages from hazardous waste transportations or dumps and the nature lover sees lakes and forests despoiled by acidification. In addition, the citizens of developing countries face the effects of resource mismanagement such as soil erosion, deforestation, desertification and shrinking stocks, not only of inventory resources like oil and minerals, but also of biotic resources of games and fish.

Pollution and mismanagement of natural resources is, however, by no means a 20th century phenomenon. The Romans died of lead poisoning from leaded drinking pots and tooth fillings, the Mesopotamians died of famine as a result of land salination and the Londoners of the 19th century were afflicted by smog and inadequate disposal of wastes and sewage. The problems have spread and grown immensely in magnitude as a result of 20th century's economic and population growth. The awareness of environmental problems and the ability to control the development have also grown. Is then the overall resource and environmental situation better or worse than before? There is no simple answer to this normative question.

Resource and environment statistics and accounting can only provide some of the information necessary for such an evaluation.