A World Bank three-day workshop on natural capital accounting (NCA) began on Monday. 

The workshop brings together experts from 12 nations to discuss tools that would allow countries to better manage and enhance the overall use of assets. The World Bank has partnered with the Turkish Ministry of Development and the Turkish Statistical Institute. 

“Sustainable economic growth requires that countries build on and maintain their natural capital," World Bank Country Director for Turkey Martin Raiser said. "Natural capital accounting is a key tool to facilitate better decision-making, oriented toward greater economic resilience and a more efficient use of a country’s natural endowments.”

Countries with representatives at the workshop include Belarus, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kazakhstan, among others.

The program is partially a result of the Wealth Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) Partnership Program, which also works with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the U.N. Development Program and Statistics Netherlands.