An accounting representation of sustainable agriculture practices: the case of a biogas agricultural unit in Sichuan

This article provides an accounting representation of a system of sustainable agricultural production, organized around a biogas unit in the Province of Sichuan, China. The aims of this exercise are numerous. <P>First, it is important to highlight the existence of examples of sustainable practices, although (and because) they are fewer and fewer. A focus on the operationalization and analysis of the practical dimensions of sustainability is becoming an imperative in ecological economics. Secondly, this article works on the basis that a policy tool actually showing how sustainable production is organized could be more useful in helping policy-makers shift the current management of the economies towards a more sustainable one than 'aggregate green indicators' such as 'green GNP'. Finally, I show that green accounting systems need to evolve if they are to reflect new understandings of sustainability functioning. This accounting representation given in this paper provides an alternative view of green accounting. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment