Identifying research priority

The first international exposure of the SEEA (System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting) occurred in 1991 when the IARIW (International Association for Research in Income and Wealth) Special Conference convened in Baden, Austria in order to discuss the manuscript of the framework being prepared by the United Nations. At the conference, the accounting framework was discussed by experts drawn from around the globe. Some of the papers from the conference were published in a proceedings volume (Franz and Stahmer, 1993). This publication was dubbed an Interim Version, making clear its tentative nature in the continued development of the framework. The manual became the basis of case studies in a host of countries, some assisted by the United Nations and the World Bank, some others in their own framework, results of which are reported in this volume.