RESOURCE ACCOUNTING AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A LESSON FOR BANGLADESH

This article explores the concept of natural resource accounting (or "green accounting") and its profound implications for achieving sustainable development, with a specific focus on its lessons for Bangladesh. It critiques the conventional system of national accounts (SNA), which measures GDP, for its failure to account for the depletion of a country's natural capital. The study explains the methodologies of resource accounting, which aim to create environmentally-adjusted national accounts that provide a more accurate measure of sustainable income. The research argues that for a country like Bangladesh, which is heavily dependent on its natural resource base (such as fisheries, forests, and natural gas), the adoption of resource accounting is a critical necessity. The paper posits that by making the costs of environmental degradation visible in the national accounts, green accounting can provide a powerful tool for promoting more sustainable development policies. The analysis concludes by outlining the practical steps and challenges for introducing a system of resource accounting in Bangladesh.

Conventional economic indicators like GDP can be dangerously misleading, as they often record the depletion of natural capital as an increase in income. This paper explores an alternative framework, natural resource accounting, and argues for its urgent adoption in Bangladesh. The study begins with a clear, conceptual explanation of "green accounting." It details how this methodology seeks to adjust the standard national accounts by subtracting the value of depleted natural resources (like forests and minerals) and the estimated costs of environmental degradation (like pollution) to arrive at a more accurate measure of a nation's sustainable economic performance. The core of the article is an application of this concept to the specific context of Bangladesh. It identifies the key natural resource sectors in the country, such as fisheries, forestry, and natural gas, and discusses how their depletion is currently not reflected in the national economic statistics. The paper argues that this omission creates a distorted picture of progress and encourages unsustainable patterns of development. For example, rapid shrimp farming that destroys mangrove forests might show up as a net positive in the GDP, while a green accounting system would reveal the long-term ecological and economic loss. The findings lead to a strong policy recommendation: Bangladesh should begin the process of developing a system of natural resource accounts. The paper concludes that such a system would provide a more honest and accurate compass for guiding the country towards a genuinely sustainable development path, ensuring that the needs of the present are met without compromising the well-being of future generations.