Data, Information and Knowledge
The Unfinished Foundation for
Sustainable Development : The example
of Natural Capital Accounting
Earth Observations for the SDGs
GEO - Mexico City, 10 November 2015
John M Matuszak
Bureau of Oceans, international Environmental and Scientific Affairs
United States Department of State
Sustainable Development and Wealth
We don’t judge a company solely on the basis of its income
statement—look at both income and balance sheet.
• Increasing assets (wealth) support long-term growth.
• In the short term, income can appear to grow by liquidating
assets, but this undermines long-term growth.
Why do we assess country economic progress on the basis of
national income, GDP alone? (J. Stiglitz,, WB Nobel prize,
economics former Chair President's Council of Economic
Advisors, former WB Chief Economist )
The source of income and well-being is wealth, broadly defined
to include
– Tangible/Manufactured capital (land, physical equipment
infrastructure, Natural capital, ‘Intangible’ capital (human capital and
social capital)
What is the methodology for NCA?
SEEA responds to complex policy
questions such as
• How can natural resources be used sustainably? What is
the impact of regulatory environmental measures on
different economic sectors and households?
• How do ecosystems contribute to the well-being of people
and to the economy?
• Which are the most cost-efficient measures to improve the
state of the environment?
• What are the effects of environmental taxes on the
environment and on the economy?
• Etc.
Where has Natural Capital Accounting been most useful?
1. Indicators for monitoring sustainable development
2. Water accounting: managing a scarce resource
3. Energy and air pollution: cleaner, more efficient
production
4. Stocks of minerals & energy: fiscal rules, managing
mineral revenues for long term growth
5. Land and ecosystems: balancing the needs of
tourism, commercial and subsistence agriculture,
water supply, soil erosion, and other uses
From Statistics to Accounts
SEEA integrates environment and economic statistics by following the same
statistical principles (those of the System of National Accounts)
Statistics
Accounts
Source: United Nations Statistics Division
Audiences for information
Public
Politicians
Indicators
Accounting
(SNA, SEEA-CF)
Basic Statistics
(environment, business, labor,…)
Researchers
Micro data
Policy Makers
Strategic planners
Water issues and policy objectives:
A broad grouping
Policy objectives
•
•
Limited access
Unequal distribution
I. Improving water
supply and sanitation
services
II. Managing water
supply and demand
Water
security
•
Reduced quality and
pollution
Allocating water among
competing users:
contribution to GDP,
employment, social
wellbeing
•
III. Improving the state of
the environment and
water resources
Adapting to extreme
hydro-meteorological
events
Managing for
increased
floods/droughts
BOSTWANA
Are scarce water resources allocated efficiently?
% share in GDP, employment & water use, 2011
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
% of GDP
15%
% of formal employment
10%
% of water consumption
5%
0%
Source: DWA
Example Norway: «Profile» with output and
GHG emissions by industry – who
contributes the most
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The framework
Land cover types
Forest land
Scope of the ecosystem based forest
account
Scope of the resource based forest
account
Shared area of analysis
Urban land
Agricultural land
Individual resources
Ecosistema
Ecosistema
forestal
forestal
(Mangle)
Forest land
Urban land
Agricultural land
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Ecosystems
Ecosistema
urbano
Ecosistema
agricola
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Mapping of the forest area & ecosystems
Steps proposed by the EEA to define units to account for forest assets
• Basic Statistical Units
BSUs: Basic Statistical Units
Min grid resolution info
LCEUs Closest to ecosystems
Broadleaved primary forest
Broadleaved secondary forest
EAUs
Long-term monitoring
Not protected forest
Natural park (protected forest)
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Indicators to characterize the forest ASSET
Forest land
Standing timber
Condition of forest ecosystems
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General structure of the forest accounts – ASSET ACCOUNTS
 resource by resource
Opening stock of timber resources
Additions to stock
Natural growth
Reclassifications
Total additions to stock
Reductions in stock
Removals
Natural losses
Catastrophic losses
Reclassifications
Total reductions in stock
Closing stock of timber resources
Type of timber resource
Natural timber resources
Cultivated
Available
Not available
timber resources
for wood
for wood
supply
supply
Monetary units
Type of timber resources
Natural timber
Cultivated timber
resources Available
resources
for wood supply
 Cultivated: management practices constitute a process of economic
production
 Natural: where the previous doesn’t apply.
 Not AFWS: due to physical, economic or regulatory reasons
Monetary units
 forest asset (forest ecosystem unit)
Vegetation
Opening
condition
Improvements
in conditions
Reduction in
condition
Closing
condition WAVES © 2014
Changes of ecosystem condition
Biodiversity Soil
Water
EAU or LCEU
Carbon
Opening stock
Additions to stock
Regeneration-natural
Regeneration. human
Total additions to stock
Reductions in stock
Extraction and harvest
Catastrophic losses
Total reductions in stock
Revaluations
Closing stock of ecosystem assets
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Indicators to characterize the forest FLOWS
Provisioning services
Regulating services
Cultural services
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General structure of the forest accounts – FLOW ACCOUNTS
Products
Economic activities: suppliers
 PHYSICAL UNITS: flow of materials and products / flow of ES
 MONETARY UNITS: aggregated value .
Products
Economic activities: intermediate and final consumers
Enterprises
Generation of ecosystem services
Suppliers Rest of the world
Households
Government
Total
Enterprises
Use of ecosystem services
ConsumersRest of the world
Households
Government
Total
Type of ecosystem services (by CICES)
Provisioning services
Regulating services
Cultural services
Services
Provisioning services
Regulating
services
20.8.2004
WAVES
© 2014
Cultural services
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Where do we get the data from?
Spaceborne remote sensing
Why remote sensing?

Dynamic data source of area covered by
vegetation

Identification of different vegetation types

Upgrade forest inventories

Information forest condition

Geographical reference

Constant technological development
Example: Land cover classification based on
Landsat 8 imagery. Pacific coast; Guatemala
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Forest Modeling
Why modeling ?
 Various indicators of forest assets and flows can
not be measured directly.
 Particularly useful for deriving indicators of environmental services.
 Some examples are:
•Wild fauna population
•Erosion protection
•Surface discharge
•Carbon sequestration
•Green area deficit in urban areas
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Other sources

Livelihood surveys

Population census

Other statistics, reports, spatial databases

etc.

SNA  validate

Global forest
watch (?)
Source: Mustonen, S.; Raiko, R.; Luukkanen, J. Bionergy consumption
and biogas potential in Cambodian households. Sustainability. 2013 (5)
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1875-1892 doi:10.3390/su5051875
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track and respond to change
High temporal resolution
High spatial resolution
for near real-time monitoring and
response
for accurate measurement of annual
deforestation
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