环境会计专业外文翻译--我们现在所处的状况及我们前进的方向

外文原文：Environmental AccountingWhere We Are Now, Where We Are Headingby Joy E. HechtInterest is growin

外文原文： Environmental Accounting Where We Are Now, Where We Are Heading by Joy E. Hecht Interest is growing in modifying national income accounting systems to promote understanding of the links between economy and environment. T he field of environmental accounting has made great strides in the past two decades, moving from arather arcane endeavor to one tested in dozens of countries and well established in afew. But the idea that nations might integrate the economic role of the environment into their income accounts is neither aquick sell nor aquick process; it has been under discussion since the 1960s. Despite the difficulties and controversies described in this article, however, interest is growing in modifying national income accounting systems to promote understanding of the links between economy and environment. Why Change? Governments around the world develop economic data systems known as national income accounts to calculate macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product. Building anation’s economic use of the environment into such accounts is aresponse to several perceived flaws in the System of National Accounts (SNA), as defined by the United Nations and used internationally. One flaw in the SNA often cited is that the cost of environmental protection cannot be identified. Consequently, money spent, say, to put pollution control devices on smokestacks increases GDP, even though the expenditure is not economically productive, some argue. These critics call for differentiating “defensive” expenditures from others within the accounts. Also misleading is the fact that some environmental goods are not marketed though they provide economic value. Fuelwood gathered in forests, meat and fish gathered for consumption, and medicinal plants are examples. So are drinking and irrigation water, whose sale prices reflect the cost of distribution and treatment infrastructure, but not the water itself. While some countries do include such goods in their national income accounts, no standard practices exist for doing so. When nonmarketed goods are included in the accounts, they still cannot be distinguished from those that are marketed. Valuing environmental services such as the watershed protection that forests afford and the crop fertilization that insects provide is difficult. Though some experts call for their inclusion in environmentally adjusted accounts, typically neither the economic value nor the degradation of these services is included. On the other hand, however, the alternate goods and services needed to replace them—water treatment plants, for example—do contribute to GDP, which can be