"Understanding & Acting" conference

Abstract:
The idea of having to rapidly transform our economic system and our modes of collective organization to meet the need to preserve the biosphere, our "life support system", is now widely shared. What can accounting, the fundamental language and steering tool of human organizations, do to operationalize such a transformation? In this conference we will deal in particular with recent proposals in the field of accounting for biodiversity and ecosystems. How can the "values" of the biosphere and ecosystems be taken into account in accounting information systems that are still largely blind to these issues? How can new accounting systems be invented that are specifically dedicated to the organization of action for the maintenance and restoration of ecosystems at the level of organizations, territories and States? How can these accounts help strengthen public and private responsibility for respecting ecological limits? On what world views and principles of use should these accounts be based? Which actors (governments and public institutions, business managers and executives, scientists and nature conservation organizations, etc.) can mobilize these accounts to bring about the necessary transformations at their level of action?