European Forum for Geography and Statistics
Vienna Conference
Vienna, 10 – 12 November 2015
Name (s) of author(s).
Niek van Leeuwen
Organization
Statistical Institute of the Netherlands
Title of Presentation, Paper or Poster
Natural Capital Accounting : Land Cover Ecosystem Unit map of the Netherlands
Abstract
The overall goal of the Dutch Natural Capital Accounting project is to assess how provisional guidelines of SEEA EEA
can be implemented in the Netherlands, so that, in the future, a full set of Natural Capital Accounts can be
developed at a national level. The project builds upon results from the Ecospace project.
The project aims to develop and compile land accounts (use and activity) for the Netherlands. Develop and
conceptually design Natural Capital Accounting Tables and Populate the proposed tables for a chosen area, for a
selected number of services and ecosystem types, in physical and where possible monetary data.
This presentation focusses on the assembling of the land account maps, i.e. the Land Cover Ecosystem Unit map
and the Economic Activity map. These maps were compiled using different national geo-datasets of high
resolution.
The LCEU functional unit classifies land according to land cover and ecosystem type (30 types). The map illustrates
the range of ecosystem and land use types which are present in the Netherlands. Natural and semi-natural areas
were classified in detail (e.g. wetlands, deciduous forests, heathlands), whereas the same level of detail was
applied to intensely managed and paved areas (e.g. perennial crops, non-perennial crops, greenhouses, roads).
This high level of detail allows for precise assessments of e.g. land use intensity and temporal changes in land use.
The map of economic activity identifies the users of land on cadastral units, based on the main economic activity
as will be registered for that parcel and can be used to specify the users and suppliers of a range of ecosystem
services.
A follow up will be the compiling of physical and monetary ecosystem accounts for a selection of provisioning,
regulating and cultural ecosystem services by combining the LCEU and land activity maps with maps of ecosystem
services.