SEEA Experimental Ecosystem
Accounting Overview
Alessandra Alfieri
United Nations Statistics Division
Rationale for Experimental
Ecosystem Accounting
• Envisaged as part of SEEA revision process
initiated in 2007 under the management of the
Committee of Experts on EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting
• Complements SEEA Central Framework
• Not intended to be an international statistical
standard but initial conceptual framework for
accounting for ecosystem assets and
associated services from which testing
and research can be undertaken
Blending underlying concepts
• Conceptual model is ecosystem accounting
formed from established concepts in
• Ecology
• Ecological economics
• National accounts
• Statistical measurements
Why an accounting approach?
• Accounting is funded on defined relationships
between stocks and flows
• The conceptual relationships and associated
measurement boundaries are present in physical
and monetary terms
• Derivation of aggregates is an outcome of defined
relationships and use of common measurement
units
• Within measurement boundaries the accounts are
comprehensive and internally consistent
Basic Accounting Model
• Stocks = Ecosystem Assets
• Spatial area
• Fixed characteristics (e.g., slope, altitude)
• Variable characteristics (e.g., land cover,
biodiversity)
• Flows
• Intra-ecosystem (within ecosystem)
• Inter-ecosystem (between ecosystems)
• Ecosystem services (to people)
Basic Accounting Model
Ecosystem asset
(spatial area)
Exchanges of
products & social
interactions
Economic & other
human activity
Ecosystem
services
Human impacts
Intra-ecosystem flows
Economic & other
human activity
Human impacts
Ecosystem processes
Ecosystem characteristics
Ecosystem asset
(spatial area)
Ecosystem
services
Ecosystem processes
Intra-ecosystem flows
Inter-ecosystem flows
Ecosystem characteristics
Model related to flows of ecosystem services
Individual & societal wellbeing
Benefits
SNA & non-SNA
Human inputs (e.g.
labour, produced assets)
Ecosystem
services
Ecosystem processes
Ecosystem characteristics
Intra-ecosystem flows
ECOSYSTEM ASSET
Inter-ecosystem flows
Ecosystem assets
• Two perspectives on environmental assets
Individual
environmental assets
-Timber resources
- Aquatic resources
- Mineral & energy res
- Soil resources
- Land
- Water resources
Bio-physical
environment
Ecosystem assets
“Combinations of biotic
communities and their
abiotic environment
functioning together in
a spatial area”
- excludes mineral &
energy resources
Ecosystem Asset Measures
Capacity of ecosystem
asset to generate
ecosystem services
Expected ecosystem service
flows (for a given basket of
ecosystem services)
Ecosystem condition (quality of ecosystem
characteristics relative to reference condition)
Ecosystem extent (spatial area/size of ecosystem)
Spatial Area Representation
Ecosystem Accounting Unit
LCEU type A
BSU
LCEU type B
LCEU type C
LCEU
type A
Key Considerations
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Multi-disciplinary nature
Accounting approach benefits
Physical and monetary accounting
Complements SEEA Central Framework
Continued research and testing needed
Potential to meet policy demands
Multi-disciplinary nature
• Conceptual model in ecosystem accounting formed
from established concepts in
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Ecology
Economics
National accounts
Statistical measurement
• Inputs from many disciplines in drafting
• Cooperation among disciplines necessary in testing
and research
• Important role for National Statistical Offices
Accounting Approach Benefits
• Broad coverage related to defined set of
components
• Comprehensive (not selective) measurement
within boundaries
• Integrated and coherent relationships between
stocks and flows
• Basis for organizing information
• Potential for aggregation and consistent time
series
Physical and Monetary
Accounting
• Physical accounting relevant and
important in assessment of changes in
ecosystems
• May be sufficient for many purposes
• Monetary accounting allow the
linkages of the physical flows with the
monetary flows
• Valuation remains challenging but it is
important to clarify valuation
principles of SNA and beyond
Complements SEEA Central
Framework
• Compilation of land accounts is a building block for
ecosystem accounting
• Measurement of individual assets inform ecosystem
conditions and services
• Combined presentations
• Link information on environmental pressures (e.g. flows
of natural inputs of water and energy and flows of
residuals of air emissions and waste) to environmental
impacts
• Link responses (environmental protection
expenditures, taxes and subsidies)
to ecosystem changes
Continued Research and Testing Needed
• Conceptually sound framework, providing broad
platform for research & testing
• Aspects requiring further research
• Ecosystem degradation
• Valuation approaches for accounting purposes
• Need for testing across different ecosystems and
countries
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Delineation of spatial units
Classifications (spatial areas, ecosystem services)
Selection of indicators
Accounting tables and aggregation methods
Potential to Meet Policy Demands
• Framework for assessing environmental
impact of economic activity
• Can assist in answering key policy questions
(e.g. trade-off analysis)
• Integrated, multi-disciplinary framework
suited to analysis of cross-cutting policy
issues
• Potential basis for monitoring international
processes
• Potential to scale to local, national and global
levels
Proposed Next Steps
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Research agenda implementation
Testing in countries
Formation of expert group
Three areas of research
• Physical ecosystem accounting
• Monetary ecosystem accounting
• Communication and dissemination