The Earth Observations for Ecosystem Accounting (EO4EA) initiative was part of the GEO Symposium in June 2021 and was highlighted in the biodiversity session. Conversations are ongoing within the GEO community on aligning indicators, especially biodiversity indicators, so that they can be used to directly support ecosystem accounting. Also, we have been coordinating with the Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) for System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA) modeling platform to ensure interoperability between data and models; building on the work done last year on Ecosystem Account Ready Data.
Efforts complementary to the EO4EA initiative are ongoing in Indonesia. Recently capacity building efforts with the Conservation International-Indonesia technical team were initiated. This took the form of a multiday “training of trainers” approach, and focused on both the conceptual and technical aspects of ecosystem accounting. This approach is a response to the rapidly changing situation in Indonesia-- due to new regulations by the government, training with the provisional government in West Papua must be led by Indonesian staff. Training components may done virtually too, depending on COVID restrictions. Methods have been documented for creating the ecosystem extent maps and a step-by-step manual has been created for use in capacity building. Discussions with the provisional government are underway on how they might use the ecosystem extent map to inform decisions, most notably, to help identify 2 million hectares for new conservation areas and identify ecosystem-based conservation priorities