Government Unveils 2026-2030 Strategy to Measure India’s Natural Wealth

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has unveiled the Strategy for Environmental Economic Accounts in India 2026-2030, which lays out a five-year strategy for measuring the economic value of India’s natural assets and ecosystem services alongside traditional economic measures. The strategy follows up the 2022-2026 strategy and includes about ten priority areas such as forests, water, land, soil, minerals, carbon stocks, biodiversity and pollination services.

The framework aims to enhance the quality and relevance of environmental accounts of India while overcoming any data gaps that might exist within environmental statistics.

What is the Environmental Economic Accounts Strategy?

The strategy outlines a roadmap for developing and improving India’s Environmental-Economic Accounts.

The Environmental-Economic Accounts are meant to measure the relationship between the economy and the environment through natural assets and ecosystem services which may not necessarily be captured by traditional economic measures like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The 2026-2030 strategy centers on two major pillars,

1. Quality improvement and filling of data gaps of environmental accounts.
2. Communication and relevance of environmental accounts to policymakers and media users among others.

2026-2030 Strategy: Priority Areas

MoSPI has identified about 10 priority areas over the next five years.

Pollination Services Accounting

One of the relatively new areas being considered in the strategy is pollination accounting.

In early 2026, MoSPI issued its first monetized pollination services account. The purpose of the account is to determine the economic value of the ecosystem service of pollination that supports agriculture.

Traditional agricultural accounts typically measure crop production but ignore the ecosystem services provided by the pollinators.

Thus, the accounting for such services can help to establish a basis for economic incentives for beekeeping and pollination programs.

Why Forest Accounting Is Important

Forest accounting tries to quantify the services of forests which are directly or indirectly benefiting the economy and humanity.

These services may go further than the value of the forest timber and products.

Thus environmental accounting gives a broader view of the forest contribution to the economy and wellbeing of humans.

Accounts of Water and Groundwater Depletion

This strategy states that water accounts are especially important for the areas where there is water stress.

According to the source, MoSPI released its water account report in 2018.

Through improved water accounts, it will be easier for policy makers to monitor,

• Availability of water
• Water consumption
• Pressures on resources
• Groundwater depletion
• Water stress in the region

Information on this could help manage water resources especially where there is pressure on groundwater.

Mineral Accounting and Resource Security

The strategy also focuses on mineral accounting.

Accounting for extraction, depletion and discoveries of mineral resources can help to determine India’s resource security in the future.

Through accounting, one can learn about the availability of natural mineral resources as well as their extraction rates.

Link to UN Environmental Accounting Framework

India prepares its environmental accounts using the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).

Moreover, the strategy considers the 2025 System of National Accounts (SNA 2025), the most recent international standard for preparing national accounts according to the report.

From the source, Indian environmental accounts can be used to measure about 40 international indicators under nine SDGs.

Therefore, environmental accounting becomes important not only in making policy decisions domestically but also in measuring India’s sustainable development indicators.