IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/accfor/v42y2018i3p219-234.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Creating financial value for tropical forests by disentangling people from nature

Author

Listed:
  • Cuckston, Thomas

Abstract

Efforts to address environmental problems have led to a rapid proliferation of mechanisms for creating financial value for nature. This paper argues that the creation of financial value for nature requires work to disentangle and frame the relation between people and nature so as to render this relation calculable, and that this work acts to alienate people from nature. To pursue and progress this argument, the paper analyses the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to establish a mechanism to create financial value for tropical forests based on their capacity to store carbon. The analysis finds that the UNFCCC’s work of disentanglement and framing, so as to render calculable the relation between people and forests, has created conditions that threaten to materially degrade the ecological value of tropical forest biodiversity and the cultural/spiritual value of forests to indigenous peoples. The findings support this paper’s argument that the alienation of people from nature is not simply a consequence of financial valuation, but rather is a necessary prerequisite for creating financial value for nature.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuckston, Thomas, 2018. "Creating financial value for tropical forests by disentangling people from nature," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 219-234.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:42:y:2018:i:3:p:219-234
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accfor.2018.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0155998217302351
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.accfor.2018.07.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    2. Dennis van Liempd & Jacob Busch, 2013. "Biodiversity reporting in Denmark," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(5), pages 833-872, June.
    3. Deegan, Craig, 2017. "Twenty five years of social and environmental accounting research within Critical Perspectives of Accounting: Hits, misses and ways forward," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 65-87.
    4. Thomas Cuckston, 2017. "Ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity in the production of a blanket bog," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1537-1567, September.
    5. Luisa Lombardi, 2016. "Disempowerment and empowerment of accounting: an Indigenous accounting context," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(8), pages 1320-1341, October.
    6. Andrew, Jane & Kaidonis, Mary A. & Andrew, Brian, 2010. "Carbon tax: Challenging neoliberal solutions to climate change," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 611-618.
    7. Momin, Mahmood Ahmed, 2013. "Social and environmental NGOs’ perceptions of Corporate Social Disclosures: The Case of Bangladesh," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 150-161.
    8. Skærbæk, Peter & Tryggestad, Kjell, 2010. "The role of accounting devices in performing corporate strategy," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 108-124, January.
    9. Martin Kornberger & Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen & Anders Koed Madsen, 2015. "Making Things Valuable," Post-Print hal-01892822, HAL.
    10. Patty McNicholas & Carolyn Windsor, 2011. "Can the financialised atmosphere be effectively regulated and accounted for?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(8), pages 1071-1096, October.
    11. Carlos Ferreira, 2017. "The contested instruments of a new governance regime," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1568-1590, September.
    12. Lehman, Glen, 2017. "The language of environmental and social accounting research: The expression of beauty and truth," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 30-41.
    13. Jill Atkins & Barry Colin Atkins & Ian Thomson & Warren Maroun, 2015. "“Good” news from nowhere: imagining utopian sustainable accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(5), pages 651-670, June.
    14. Jan Bebbington & Carlos Larrinaga & Jose M. Moneva, 2008. "Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 337-361, March.
    15. Russell Craig & Rawiri Taonui & Susan Wild, 2012. "The concept oftaongain Māori culture: insights for accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(6), pages 1025-1047, July.
    16. Lohmann, Larry, 2009. "Toward a different debate in environmental accounting: The cases of carbon and cost-benefit," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 499-534, April.
    17. Vollmer, Hendrik & Mennicken, Andrea & Preda, Alex, 2009. "Tracking the numbers: Across accounting and finance, organizations and markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 619-637, July.
    18. Shanta Shareel Davie & Tom McLean, 2017. "Accounting, cultural hybridisation and colonial globalisation: a case of British civilising mission in Fiji," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(4), pages 932-954, May.
    19. Gray, Rob, 2010. "Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability...and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-62, January.
    20. Craig, Russell J. & Brennan, Niamh M., 2012. "An exploration of the relationship between language choice in CEO letters to shareholders and corporate reputation," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 166-177.
    21. Rakatama, Ari & Pandit, Ram & Ma, Chunbo & Iftekhar, Sayed, 2017. "The costs and benefits of REDD+: A review of the literature," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 103-111.
    22. Olivier Boiral, 2016. "Accounting for the Unaccountable: Biodiversity Reporting and Impression Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 751-768, June.
    23. Deegan, Craig, 2013. "The accountant will have a central role in saving the planet … really? A reflection on ‘green accounting and green eyeshades twenty years later’," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 448-458.
    24. Thomas Cuckston, 2013. "Bringing tropical forest biodiversity conservation into financial accounting calculation," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(5), pages 688-714, June.
    25. Shona Russell & Markus J. Milne & Colin Dey, 2017. "Accounts of nature and the nature of accounts," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1426-1458, September.
    26. Till Neeff & Francisco Ascui, 2009. "Lessons from carbon markets for designing an effective REDD architecture," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 306-315, May.
    27. Sian Sullivan & Mike Hannis, 2017. "“Mathematics maybe, but not money”," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1459-1480, September.
    28. MacKenzie, Donald, 2009. "Making things the same: Gases, emission rights and the politics of carbon markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 440-455, April.
    29. Jones, Michael John, 2010. "Accounting for the environment: Towards a theoretical perspective for environmental accounting and reporting," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 123-138.
    30. Belal, Ataur Rahman & Cooper, Stuart M. & Roberts, Robin W., 2013. "Vulnerable and exploitable: The need for organisational accountability and transparency in emerging and less developed economies," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 81-91.
    31. Vollmer, Hendrik & Mennicken, Andrea & Preda, Alex, 2009. "Tracking the numbers: across accounting and finance, organizations and markets," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 27073, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    32. Helen Tregidga, 2013. "Biodiversity offsetting: problematisation of an emerging governance regime," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 26(5), pages 806-832, June.
    33. Fabian Muniesa & Yuval Millo & Michel Callon, 2007. "An introduction to market devices," Post-Print halshs-00177928, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cuckston, Thomas, 2022. "Accounts of NGO performance as calculative spaces: Wild Animals, wildlife restoration and strategic agency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Walaa Wahid ElKelish*, 2023. "Accounting for Corporate Human Rights: Literature Review and Future Insights," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(2), pages 203-226, June.
    3. Jan Bebbington & Tom Cuckston & C. Feger, 2021. "Biodiversity," Post-Print hal-03746729, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. C. Feger & Laurent Mermet, 2021. "Advances in accounting for biodiversity and ecosystems: a typology focusing upon the environmental results imperative [Innovations comptables pour la biodiversité et les écosystèmes : une typologie," Post-Print hal-02549016, HAL.
    2. Olivier Boiral, 2016. "Accounting for the Unaccountable: Biodiversity Reporting and Impression Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 135(4), pages 751-768, June.
    3. Cuckston, Thomas, 2022. "Accounts of NGO performance as calculative spaces: Wild Animals, wildlife restoration and strategic agency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Jan Bebbington & Tom Cuckston & C. Feger, 2021. "Biodiversity," Post-Print hal-03746729, HAL.
    5. Lee Roberts & Abeer Hassan & Ahmed Elamer & Monomita Nandy, 2021. "Biodiversity and extinction accounting for sustainable development: A systematic literature review and future research directions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 705-720, January.
    6. Madlen Sobkowiak, 2023. "The making of imperfect indicators for biodiversity: A case study of UK biodiversity performance measurement," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 336-352, January.
    7. Torelli, Riccardo & Balluchi, Federica, 2020. "Business Legitimacy, Agricultural Biodiversity and Environmental Ethics: Insights from Sustainable Bakeries," OSF Preprints sxzjf, Center for Open Science.
    8. Haque, Faizul & Jones, Michael John, 2020. "European firms’ corporate biodiversity disclosures and board gender diversity from 2002 to 2016," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    9. Pucci, Richard & Skærbæk, Peter, 2020. "The co-performation of financial economics in accounting standard-setting: A study of the translation of the expected credit loss model in IFRS 9," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Clément Feger & Laurent Mermet, 2017. "A blueprint towards accounting for the management of ecosystems," Post-Print hal-01930913, HAL.
    11. Tregidga, Helen & Laine, Matias, 2022. "On crisis and emergency: Is it time to rethink long-term environmental accounting?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    12. Faulconbridge, James R. & Muzio, Daniel, 2021. "Valuation devices and the dynamic legitimacy-performativity nexus: The case of PEP in the English legal profession," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy & Abeer Hassan & Suman Lodh & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2022. "Corporate Accountability Towards Species Extinction Protection: Insights from Ecologically Forward-Thinking Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 571-595, July.
    14. Martinez, Daniel E. & Pflueger, Dane & Palermo, Tommaso, 2022. "Accounting and the territorialization of markets: A field study of the Colorado cannabis market," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    15. Kornberger, Martin & Pflueger, Dane & Mouritsen, Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures: Accounting for platform organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 79-95.
    16. Rong He & Le Luo & Abul Shamsuddin & Qingliang Tang, 2022. "Corporate carbon accounting: a literature review of carbon accounting research from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 261-298, March.
    17. Rodrigue, Michelle & Romi, Andrea M., 2022. "Environmental escalations to social inequities: Some reflections on the tumultuous state of Gaia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Kornberger Martin & Pflueger Dane & Mouritsen Jan, 2017. "Evaluative infrastructures : Accounting for platform organization," Post-Print hal-02276737, HAL.
    19. Passetti, Emilio & Cinquini, Lino & Marelli, Alessandro & Tenucci, Andrea, 2014. "Sustainability accounting in action: Lights and shadows in the Italian context," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 295-308.
    20. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:accfor:v:42:y:2018:i:3:p:219-234. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/accounting-forum .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.