Integration of sustainability indicators: the contribution of integrated economic and environmental accounting

There is a need to integrate indicators relating to complex human-nature systems. This paper discusses the scope and limitations of achieving such integration through the interim version of the system of integrated environmental and economic accounting (SEEA) published by the United Nations in 1993. It also briefly considers alternative or complementary approaches such as the National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) developed in the Netherlands. Issues that arise when applying SEEA to the marine fisheries sector are discussed, and examples are given of indicators for the marine fisheries sector derived from the SEEA and NAMEA.