Accounting as an information system to facilitate biodiversity management in the plantations sector

Abstract

Attached

Environmental degradation and social inequality has continuously threatened the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs in the pursuit of satisfying the needs of the present generations. Global warming, routine pollutants, industrial accidents, deforestation and loss of biodiversity are few such environmental threats that have received heightened attention of both public and private sectors. Among these, the variability among living organisms from all sources or biodiversity (Spicer, 2006) and its threats started receiving the limelight particularly after the Earth Summit in Rio which paved the way for Convention on Biological Diversity (Balmford et al., 2005). Furthering these developments, at present, businesses consider biodiversity either as corporate social responsibility or as a part of their . business strategy. However, the business entities that have direct interaction with the natural environment tend to incorporate biodiversity management into their mainstream business ' management. Plantations sector provides a prolific example o f such entities that have to embed biodiversity in corporate decision making on a regular basis. Consequently, the demand for biodiversity information systems in the spheres o f identifying, recording, and reporting (i.e. the main functions of accounting) become quite essential in the plantations ?cctor. The changes in business landscape coupled with stewardship towards stakeholders, have expanded the role o f accounting to provide non-financial information along with monetary information in managing natural capitals such as biodiversity. Yet, it is little known how biodiversity can be accounted for in the plantations sector in a systematic manner. This ongoing exploratory study therefore attempts to demonstrate how biodiversity accounting can be brought into mainstream accounting in the plantations sector in Sri Lanka.