Assesssment Tools Fact Shee
ets WP4. Multi‐sc
W
cale tools, m
methods and models for i ntegrated asssessment Task 4.2. LEAC
C Tool Facct Sheet Tool: Lan
T
nd and Eccosystem
m Accoun
nts (LEAC
C) Authors: Emil
A
l Ivanov, Royy Haines‐You
ung and Mariion Potschin Universitty of Nottinggham (UNOTT) Laand and Ecosystem Acco
ounts (LEAC) have been rrecognized ass an importa
ant tool for ddecision makers. Such accounting co
overs a broad
d range of en
nvironmentaal issues. In P
PEGASO the a
application oof Land and E
Ecosystem Accounts to c
A
coastal issuess is develope
ed in the conntext of the ggoals of Integ
grated Coasttal Zone Man
nagement (ICZM). What are eco
W
osystem acco
ounts? Laand and Eco
osystem Acco
ounts can support differeent aspects o
of spatially e
explicit envirronmental asssessments aand monitoring. In
m
n particular iit can provide spatial inddicators for regional assessments on tthe status an
nd change (ggain or loss) of nattural capital due to huma
an actions. nts are based
d on the follo
owing type oof measurem
ments: These Accoun
•
Stockks (or resource) levels exxpressed as aa mass (e.g. biomass) orr volume (e.gg. water perr area of foreest, arablee land etc.); •
Flowss (expressingg temporal changes that can be interrpreted as be
enefits or lossses), measu
ured in termss of a ratee of some kiind (for exam
mple the chaange in agriccultural to d
developed la nd, annual cconsumption
n of waterr, or the harvvest of crop, or number oof tourists viisits/yr); and, •
Balan
nces are calcculated to acccount for thhe relations between sttock and flow
ws and their changes fo
or a given period of tim
me, e.g. annual or five‐yeear period etc. What role do
W
o Accounts play in PEGASSO? The LEAC methodology (EEA, 2006) provides multi‐scale (hierarchical) outputs, designed to
o facilitate the of processes that take place p
at diffeerent spatial scales e.g. continentall, country, re
egion and lo
ocal assessment o
le
evels. By app
plying LEAC to the differe
ent scales, thhe following o
outputs can be generateed: •
Assesssment of the t
quantityy and qualitty of the existing e
ecosystem cap ital (such as a arable laand, biodivversity, wood biomass); •
Assesssment of th
he quality an
nd quantity of the derivved annual flows f
of relaated ecosysttem servicess or functions (such as a crops harvest, carbonn sequestrattion etc.) according to tthe volume of the open
ning stocks and acco
ording to th
he conditio ns of use (pollution and a
degradaation, or restoration and a
enhan
ncement of eecosystem capital); and,
•
Assesssment of th
he ‘balancess’ of remain ing natural capital in a given year and also the potentialss or trend
ds in longer term. Understandin
U
ng the trendss in terms off what is req uired to maiintain or imp
prove major ecological fu
unctions, or the im
mpacts of the simplificattion of ecolo
ogical system
ms, or the degradation off the ecosysttems, and he
ence the futture potential of n
natural capitaal is the main
n objective oof the accoun
nting exercise. d to assess o
of the generaal integrity o
or ‘health’ off ecosystemss and issues like the quaality The accounts can be used
of the landscaape, and also to identifyy hotspots, ttrends and p
patterns of ch
hanges of m
major concern
n. Such outp
puts are therefore designed to
o support mo
ore informedd decision‐maaking. In
n PEGASO th
he accounts provide inpu
uts to the w
work on scenarios, indicators, and alsso inputs for the cases aand th
he regional aassessments. All of the acccounting eleements are e
expressed in physical terrms. Pe
egaso Project: Pe
eople for Ecosyste
em based Governa
ance in Assessingg Sustainable deve
elopment of Ocea
an and coast
www.pegasop
project.eu
Fu
unded by the Euro
opean Union unde
er FP7 – ENV.200
09.2.2.1.4 Integratted Coastal Zone Management - Grrant agreement nºº: 244170
Assesssment Tools Fact Shee
ets How can we t
H
test/apply th
hem? LEAC uses bio
o‐physical asssessments fo
or the calculaation and maapping of ma
ajor ecosysteem propertie
es, with the aaim of diagnosingg ecosystem iintegrity or h
health. The ffollowing me
ethods are ap
pplied for thiis purpose: •
ping and estiimation of accounts, a
validation andd improveme
ents on at leeast Continuous interaactive mapp
two leevels – regio
onal and case
e‐study level ; •
Desiggning a diagn
nostic accoun
nting framew
work to support specific ssubjects or thhemes; •
Bringing multiplee sources off evidence oon complex socio‐ecological probleems and perrforming mu
ulti‐
criterria assessments to derive
e consistent cconclusions; and, •
Assesssing the efffectiveness of this new
w informatio
on for supporting decissions and so
olving practtical problems. What do we n
W
need to do tto implemen
nt accounts? For implemen
nting the acccounts the fo
ollowing stepps are require
ed: •
Identify main isssues at reggional scale and the cases where LEAC can be applied for improvved understanding of the issues; •
Agreee on workingg concepts fo
or coastal an d marine zon
nes; •
Collecct, process (h
harmonize) LLEAC input ddata in coope
eration with the PEGASO
O SDI; •
Prepaare first version of the relevant LEAC tools and acccounts; •
Preseent to partneers first results and collecct feedback;
•
Impro
ove the LEAC
C tools and th
he accounts.. Key Referencees EEA (2006): La
nd and ecosyystem accoun
nting. Europeean and accountts for Europee 1990–2000.. Towards integrated lan
Environm
ment Agencyy, EEA report 11/2006, 1007p, Copenhagen, authored by Roy H
Haines‐Youngg. EEA (2010): Ecosystem Accounting A
and a the Cosst of Biodiveersity Lossess: The Case of Coastal Mediterraneean Wetland
ds. Edited byy Haines‐Young, R.; Pottschin, M.; Kumar, P. and a J.L. We ber. EEA Te
echnical Rep
port No3/20110. Haines‐Young
H
g, R. (1999): Environmen
ntal accountss for land cover: Their co
ontribution tto state of th
he environment reportingg. Transactio
ons of the Insstitute of Brittish Geograp
phers 24: 441
1‐456. Ivvanov, E. (20011): Reportt on LEAC methodology m
for coast and marine accounts a
(Intternal Delive
erable ID4.2
2.2). With con
ntributions frrom Françoisse Breton annd Roy Haine
es‐Young. EU Project PEG
GASO ‐ Grantt agreement nº: 244170. Ivvanov, E.; H
Haines‐Youngg, R. and M. M Potschin ((2013): Applications of LEAC in PEEGASO: An Overview. O
C
CEM Working Paper No 12
2, 11pp. Weber, W
J.‐L. (2007): Implementation of land an d ecosystem
m accounts at a the Europpean Environment Agen
ncy. Ecologica
al Economicss 61: 695–70
07. For more info
ormation on LEAC as partt of PEGASO see CEM wo
orking paperss no 10 and nno 11 www.nottingham.ac.uk/ccem/WorkinggPapers.htm
ml visit: http://w
Pe
egaso Project: Pe
eople for Ecosyste
em based Governa
ance in Assessingg Sustainable deve
elopment of Ocea
an and coast
www.pegasop
project.eu
Fu
unded by the Euro
opean Union unde
er FP7 – ENV.200
09.2.2.1.4 Integratted Coastal Zone Management - Grrant agreement nºº: 244170
Assesssment Tools Fact Shee
ets Exxample of acccounting in
nputs and ou
utputs La
and cover in
nputs of CORINE LLand cover ovver the Med iterranean aand Black Sea
An extension A
a basins was developed u
using a set of data‐sources:: the Europeaan CORINE la
and cover foor training a ssupervised m
maximum likeelihood classsification of MODIS multis
M
spectral and other geographic data. Extension of C
CORINE land cover in the
e Mediterrannean and Black Sea Basins (Ivanov E., 2013) La
and accountts outputs The outputs aare extracted
d by derivingg the numberr of hectaress of each land
d class per u nit area of in
nterest. An example of urrban land ‘sttocks’ (Ivanovv E., 2013) w
within three ccoastal buffe
ers in the Meediterranean
n and Black se
ea countries is shown beelow: ock’ of Urban
n area (ha) in
n year 2000 aand closing ‘‘stock’ in yea
ar 2011 Opening ‘sto
Buffer (km) ffrom coast Year Mediterraneean basin Black Sea baasin 1 km 20
000 20011
4338
894 4465519
309
969 329988
10 km 2000
2011
16
678125
1735475
86681
92694
50 km 2000 2011
1
1695056 1805063
3
89025 92419
9
At such an ag
A
gregated levvel the ‘stockks’ reveal sim
milar trends o
of expanding
g urban areass in both bassins and in th
he th
hree buffers around the coastline. Sp
patial disaggrregation by ccountry highlights wheree most of the
e changes occurred. Thee next figure shows perce
entages of u rban and arttificial area in
n 2011 for unnits defined by the co
ountries and
d the three buffers’ boun
ndaries: Pe
egaso Project: Pe
eople for Ecosyste
em based Governa
ance in Assessingg Sustainable deve
elopment of Ocea
an and coast
www.pegasop
project.eu
Fu
unded by the Euro
opean Union unde
er FP7 – ENV.200
09.2.2.1.4 Integratted Coastal Zone Management - Grrant agreement nºº: 244170
Assesssment Tools Fact Shee
ets The percentagges of urban
n and artificia
al land coverr in 2011 (Ivaanov E., 2013
3) show therre is generally a high co
oncentration
n of urban arreas within the first km oof the coast tthroughout tthe study reggion. Pe
egaso Project: Pe
eople for Ecosyste
em based Governa
ance in Assessingg Sustainable deve
elopment of Ocea
an and coast
www.pegasop
project.eu
Fu
unded by the Euro
opean Union unde
er FP7 – ENV.200
09.2.2.1.4 Integratted Coastal Zone Management - Grrant agreement nºº: 244170