Third Meeting of the UN Committee of Experts on
Environmental-Economic Accounting
New York, 26-27 June 2008
Ecosystem Ecosystem accounts
within SEEA revision
An EEA proposal
“Global warming may dominate headlines today.
Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow”
Corporate Ecosystems Services review, WRI et al. March 2008
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
What’s at stake – human and planetary well being
Human wellbeing,
poverty alleviation
Society
Ecosystem services
Direct drivers
of change
Ecosystem integrity
land use, resource use,
species, technology
(functions, biodiversity,
résilience…)
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Economy
Climate Change
Application of ecosystem accounting foreseen for…
• MA follow-up 2015 (in Europe: Eureca! 2012)
• IPBES, The Intergovernmental Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
• Adaptability to Climate Change
• EU’s Thematic Strategy Sustainable Use of Resource (“basket”
of 4 headline indicators)
• ESEA, European Strategy for Environmental Accounting
• European Data Centers related to land and ecosystems
• Beyond GDP (natural K in physical units, inclusive final
consumption, full cost of goods & services, of imports...)
• TEEB, The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity
• IPES, International Payments for Ecosystem Services
• National initiatives (accounting, ecosystem assessment,
mitigation banking…)
• Corporate accounting guidelines for environmental liability
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
The economic questions behind ecosystem accounting
• Risks of unsustainable use of the living/cycling natural
capital are ignored: the negative impacts of over-harvesting,
force-feeding with fertilisers, intoxication, introduction of species,
fragmentation by roads or dams, or sealing of soil by urban
development have no direct monetary counterpart in GDP or
corporate accounts.
• The natural capital is not even amortised in accounting books of
companies and in the national accounts – no depreciation
allowance is made for maintaining ecosystems’ critical
functions and services. The full cost of domestic products is not
covered in many cases by their price.
• This is as well the case of the price of imported products made
from degraded ecosystems: their full cost is not covered by
their price.
• The actual value for people of free ecosystem services is not
accounted in their final consumption (the market tells: price =
zero).
3 UNCEEA
Meeting
rd
New York 26-27 June 2008
Accounting for ecosystem costs and benefits
at different scales…
Action level,
local scale
National &
regional
government,
European
market
Global scale
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Doñana, Spain:
Migratory Birds
Flyways, Wetlands
Amvrakikos,
Greece:
Water, Wetland
& Strawberries
& Bird Flu
Prevention Water & Fish
Wetland
management,
… & accounts for connecting different scales
LEAC/ Landscape Ecological Potential 1990-2000, 1km² grid
(Source: Ecosystem Accounting for Mediterranean Wetlands, an EEA feasibility study for TEEB)
Natural Park of Camargue (France)
Change
1990
1990-2000
Legend
Camargue Regional Park, France
Change in net LEP 1990 to 2000
1 km² grid, range : -100 to +100
Improvement/ Highest : 47
Degradation/ Lowest : -33
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Central role of the SEEA framework
Action level, local scale,
business, projects, case
studies
Guidelines, accounting charts
Implementation by
municipalities, agencies,
business
Clearing house on tariffs
National & regional
government
SEEA 2012
Framework
Global scale,
framing & monitoring of
International Conventions
and markets (IPES)
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Beyond GDP Accounting
(statistical offices,
environmental agencies…)
Global monitoring
programmes
Simplified accounts
International statistics
Ecosystem accounting at the action scale, an example
An accounting system for
an ecosystem liability of
organisations
Working Group
“Integrating biodiversity into
corporate strategies”
3.3 Le « bilan biodiversité » des entreprises
Un système comptable pour une responsabilité écosystémique des organisations
A.
Au niveau de l’entreprise individuelle (cf. entité juridique)
•
•
•
B.
Au niveau des relations interentreprises
•
•
C.
Mettre en évidence les flux monétaires // systèmes vivants dans les bilans annuels et
comptes de résultats
Mettre en évidence les flux non monétaires de consommation des ressources (cf. écoefficience énergétique et matérielle)
Fournir des explications quantitatives et qualitatives sur la nature des interactions en
termes de coévolution avec la biodiversité
Élargir les démarches précédentes aux filières d’approvisionnements / filiales et
réseaux de firmes (approche de type Analyse de Cycle de Vie)
Participer à la comptabilité des écosystèmes (marins et terrestres) => Évaluer des
coûts de gestion et de restauration imputables à l’entreprise
Investir individuellement et collectivement dans des mécanismes de co-viabilité
•
•
•
Repenser les processus de production, d’approvisionnement, de communication, de
formation, etc.
Innover simultanément en termes de technologies, de modes d’organisation (ex.
logistique, standards EDI, etc.) et d’institutions
Ex. d’innovations institutionnelles : neutralité fiscale, marchés de droits, etc.
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
“Participate in
ecosystem
accounting (marine
and terrestrial) 
Assess
management and
restoration costs
chargeable to
companies”
Classificationand
of ecosystem
Ecosystem
services services
Use of commodities
& non-produced services
Supply of commodities
Non nature-based
sources of goods
and services
Mostly
negative
feedbacks
Market & nonmarket values
Provisioning
Food, water, fibre, wood, fuel,
medicines
Regulating
Climate, floods, soil formation,
carbon sequestration, air quality,
water quality, pest and diseases
control, pollination, invasion
resistance, habitat provisioning
Cultural
Aesthetics, tourism,
spiritual, education,
research, traditional
knowledge
Supporting
Primary production
Water cycle
Biogeochemical cycles
Stocks & flows, Integrity, Biodiversity
Functional Landscape
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
Adapted
Scholes,
New York from
26-27 June
2008 2007, Lomas, 2007
Maintenance / restoration of natural capital
Insurance value
Accounting for ecosystem services value &
sustainability
Capital stocks
and functions
Distance to stated targets & additional
maintenance/restoration costs
Market values
Services
Ecosystem assets
Internal
Support to ES
functions
functions
Regulation
Ecosystem
Services
Ecosystem
services
valuation
Valuation
Ecosystem
ES used as part Final use of non
Services
of commodities
market ES
Provisioning
M
S
Cultural
M
S
Regulating
M
S
C
Ecosystem maintenance and restoration
costs (to offset depreciation)
Physical measurement
and shadow prices
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Refugium
Breeding
Cycling
Prevention
Didactic
Sink
Identity
Y
Y
Amenity
Y
Y
Physical
support
Y
Y
Plant-related
Y
Y
Forest treesrelated
3.5
Y
Materials
3.4
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Y
Water bodies
Y
Wetlands
Y
Open space with
little/ no vegetation
3.3
Y
Heathland,
sclerophylous veg.
3.2
Y
3.1
Y
2.3
Y
2.2
Y
2.1
Y
Forests & woodland
shrub
1.5
Y
Grassland & mixed
farmland
1.4
Y
Arable land &
permanent crops
1.3
Y Y Y
Artificial surfaces/
Urban
1.2
Y
Land cover types
1.1
Y
Services
Food
Social Dimension of Ecosystem Accounting: Spatial integration
of ecosystems, land use, services, & population
LEAC/Land cover accounts as basic infrastructure
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
LEAC: from changes to flows of land cover
2000
Corine land cover typ
1990
Change Matrix
(44x43=1932
possible changes)
summarized into
flows
LCF5
LCF1
LCF2
LCF3
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Land cover flows
LCF1 Urban land management
LCF2 Urban residential sprawl
LCF8
LCF3 Sprawl of economic sites and infrastructures
LCF4 Agriculture internal conversions
LCF6
LCF5 Conversion
from other land cover to agriculture
LCF4
LCF6 Withdrawal of farming
LCF7 Forests creation and management
LCF8 Water
LCF7 bodies creation and management
LCF9 Changes due to natural & multiple causes
Total Consumption of 1990 land cover, km²
No Change
LCF9
Total land cover 1990, km²
LCF1 Urban land management
LCF2 Urban residential sprawl
Framework of Ecosystem Accounts
Ecosystem types
Spatial integration
Economic sectors
Accounts of flows of ecosystem goods and services
Core accounts of
assets & flows
Material/energy flows
(by ecosystem types, raw
quantities)
(biomass, water, nutrients,
residuals…)
Land cover
Rivers
Soil, sea, atmosphere
Components: water, biomass, C, N P,
species…
Counts of ecosystem
health/resilence
(diagnosis by ecosystem types)
Ecosystem Stocks &
State Accounts
• Incorporated into products (€)
• Free end use ES (physical units, €)
Supply & use of ecosystem goods and services
(Use of resource by sectors, supply to consumption & residuals,
accumulation, I-O analysis, NAMEA)
Natural capital
• Natural capital stocks, resilience (physical units, by sectors)
• Natural capital consumption/maintenance & restoration costs (physical
units and €)
• Ecosystem assets inclusive wealth (€)
Natural Capital Accounts/ living & cycling natural capital
Economic integration
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Functional Ecosystem
Services
SNA/SEEA Integrating Ecosystems
Physical flows
Monetary flows/valuation
Assets valuation
Assets / Natural capital
Subsoil Assets
[stocks]
Ecosystem Assets
[stocks and resilience]
Rest of
the World
Subsoil Assets
[stocks]
Material & Energy Flows
Ecosyste
m
Functional
Services
Ecosystem
Assets
[stocks and
resilience]
NAMEA
Environmental
Expenditures, Taxes
Ecosystem
Additional
Maintenance
Costs
Ecosystem
Services
Ecosystem
Additional
Maintenance
Costs
SNA flows & assets
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
in Imports
(less
in Exports)
SEEA2003: enlargement of SNA1993
for a better description of the economy-environment relation
Revision  SEEA2012
Impacts on ecosystems & related
Natural resources
Ecosystems
services/benefits
Economic
Non-economic
assets (SNA)
assets
Opening
stocks
Volume
Opening 1
Volume
2
Opening
stocks
State
Statistical Standard
Statistical
Standard
Non Standard
Standard
Non
Economic Accounts
Accounts
activities,
Changes
SNA
Changes in
Changes

NAMEA,
transactions 
 natural
stocks
in
stocks
in state
and other
expenditure,
ecosystems,
processes,
flows
physical quantities,
quality,
etc.
sub-soil, energy,
valuation…
value of economic
Closing
Closing assets
Closing
stocks
stocks
state
Described in SNA
Macro-ecological closure
(non-linear feedbacks, spatial issues)
RM HASSAN - UN The System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (UN 2003) RANESA Workshop June 12-16, 2005 Maputo
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
EEA’s proposal
• Publish SEEA volume 2 (version 1) at the same
date as volume 1  SEEA full picture in 2012
• Steer volume 2 project and editing:
 ecosystem accounts (see next slide);
 qualitative aspects assets possibly treated in Volume 1
from a quantitative perspective;
 valuation issues related to ecosystem “degradation”,
“depletion” being part of Volume 1;
 other items will be postponed…
• Review edition with London Group & international
panel of experts
• Look after projects related to ecosystem
accounting (TEEB, headline indicators, MA…)
• Report to London Group & UNCEEA
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
1st Draft outline
for ecosystem accounts in SEEA revision
Part A - Overview and accounting framework
Chapter 1.
Chapter 2.
Chapter 3.
Objectives, system analysis, main features
Implementation of ecosystem accounts
Synthesis and Reporting
Part B - Accounts by dominant ecosystem types
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
3rd UNCEEA Meeting
New York 26-27 June 2008
Land cover accounts
Urban ecosystems
Cropland systems
Pasture, mosaics and natural grassland systems
Forest ecosystems
Non cultivated dryland, sparse vegetation and bare soils
Wetlands
Lakes and rivers
Soil
Sea
Atmosphere
Regional approaches (mountains, coastal zones, islands,
catchments, biogeographic zones)