ABSTRACT
Drawing on perspectives from the discipline of accounting, this chapter explores various points of intersection between organizations, biodiversity and ecosystem services, and highlights management activities that are required to address these intersections. It considers two management areas with particular salience for biodiversity and ecosystem services: biodiversity offsetting (BDO) and product certification. The chapter discusses commensuration, which is a key challenge for management and accounting efforts for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the most influential guideline for external reporting, and seeks to improve and standardize reporting of organizational, and especially corporate, activities. In turn, accountability may make organizational change possible, leading hopefully to a less damaging economy and ultimately to a Green Economy. BDO is embedded (especially in the USA, UK, some parts of mainland Europe and Australasia) within governance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and is an example of an initiative that seeks to engage non-state actors in conservation activities.
