Every account counts for sustainable development: lessons from the African CoP to implement ocean accounts in the Western Indian Ocean region

The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) is critical in supporting the social and economic development of the nations it borders. To safeguard the various opportunities it provides, it is essential to adopt sustainable ocean development models that balance ocean wealth and ocean health. Such models depend on evidence-based and adaptative ocean governance underpinned by holistic social, environmental and economic indicators. The ocean accounts framework provides a standard accounting structure to integrate social, economic and environmental information in alignment with relevant international statistical standards such as the System of National Accounts and the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting. Applying such a framework produces integrated indicators against which changes can be assessed and measured. These indicators also inform decision-making and support the prioritisation of areas requiring further attention by highlighting data deficiencies, ocean governance gaps and under-explored research areas. The framework encompasses and links several systems of accounting that can be used based on specific priorities. However, three initiation points have been identified that can be further expanded and concatenated into other accounts encompassed by the framework. This publication provides practical guidelines to start implementing national, regional or local ocean accounts, following the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership Technical Guidance on Ocean Accounting. It is further complemented by amendments proposed by the African Community of Practice based on lessons learned during the implementation of ocean accounts pilots across the WIO region. Compiling ocean accounts is an adaptative and iterative process and should be constantly ameliorated and adjusted to local contexts and priorities. However, efforts should be made to maintain coherence with the framework and international standards

Exploring how citizen science projects measuring beach plastic debris can support UN Sustainable Development Goals

Plastic debris within marine environments is an issue of global concern, leading to commitments at international, regional, and national scales to remove plastics from the environment and prevent further entry. The United Nations (UN) created a global framework of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with several goals to advance the environmental dimension of sustainable development, with global and country progress tracked by targets and their indicators. Countries voluntarily report their progress on the basis of guidance provided by the UN on what data is needed. SDG 14, Life Below Water, contains one target to significantly reduce marine pollution, with specific mention of plastic debris. To date, however, national information on plastic debris has been sparse, although citizen science projects have been collecting data at a spatial and temporal coverage relevant to SDG reporting. This paper provides an overview to clarify the data requirements for reporting on the SDG indicator of plastic debris density and the complex process in which data for SDGs is requested from and provided by countries. We then explore the potential for citizen science to assist countries in filling evidence gaps, through providing data on plastic pollution. We focus on the sub-indicator for beach debris, which accounts for most citizen science projects collecting data on plastic pollution. Then, we unpack the opportunities and challenges of augmenting SDG reporting with information gathered from citizen science communities. Lastly, we recommend ways for citizen science communities and governments to synergize efforts monitoring plastics to inform pathways for preventing and reducing such pollution ending up in our marine environments