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Towards a consistent approach for ecosystem accounting

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  • Edens, Bram
  • Hein, Lars

Abstract

In spite of an increasing interest in environmental economic accounting, there is still very limited experience with the integration of ecosystem services and ecosystem capital in national accounts. This paper identifies four key methodological challenges in developing ecosystem accounts: the definition of ecosystem services in the context of accounting, their allocation to institutional sectors; the treatment of degradation and rehabilitation, and valuing ecosystem services consistent with SNA principles. We analyze the different perspectives taken on these challenges and present a number of proposals to deal with the challenges in developing ecosystem accounts. These proposals comprise several novel aspects, including (i) presenting an accounting approach that recognizes that most ecosystems are strongly influenced by people and that ecosystem services depend on natural processes as well as human ecosystem management; and, (ii) recording ecosystem services as either contributions of a private land owner or as generated by a sector ’Ecosystems’ depending on the type of ecosystem service. We also present a consistent approach for recording degradation, and for applying monetary valuation approaches in the context of accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Edens, Bram & Hein, Lars, 2013. "Towards a consistent approach for ecosystem accounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 41-52.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:90:y:2013:i:c:p:41-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2013.03.003
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    1. Remme, Roy P. & Edens, Bram & Schröter, Matthias & Hein, Lars, 2015. "Monetary accounting of ecosystem services: A test case for Limburg province, the Netherlands," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 116-128.
    2. Bordt, Michael, 2018. "Discourses in Ecosystem Accounting: A Survey of the Expert Community," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 82-99.
    3. Campos, Pablo & Mesa, Bruno & Álvarez, Alejandro & Oviedo, José L. & Caparrós, Alejandro, 2022. "Towards measuring environmental income through a refined United Nations SEEA EA: Application to publicly-owned, protected, pine-forest-farm case studies in Andalusia, Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    4. Schröter, Matthias & Remme, Roy P. & Sumarga, Elham & Barton, David N. & Hein, Lars, 2015. "Lessons learned for spatial modelling of ecosystem services in support of ecosystem accounting," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 64-69.
    5. Campos, Pablo & Oviedo, José L. & Álvarez, Alejandro & Mesa, Bruno & Caparrós, Alejandro, 2019. "The role of non-commercial intermediate services in the valuations of ecosystem services: Application to cork oak farms in Andalusia, Spain," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    6. Ovando, Paola & Campos, Pablo & Oviedo, José L. & Caparrós, Alejandro, 2016. "Ecosystem accounting for measuring total income in private and public agroforestry farms," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 43-51.
    7. Häyhä, Tiina & Franzese, Pier Paolo & Paletto, Alessandro & Fath, Brian D., 2015. "Assessing, valuing, and mapping ecosystem services in Alpine forests," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 12-23.
    8. Häyhä, Tiina & Franzese, Pier Paolo, 2014. "Ecosystem services assessment: A review under an ecological-economic and systems perspective," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 289(C), pages 124-132.
    9. Martin, Jean-Christophe & Mongruel, Rémi & Levrel, Harold, 2018. "Integrating Cultural Ecosystem Services in an Ecosystem Satellite Account: A Case Study in the Gulf of Saint-Malo (France)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 141-152.
    10. Sumarga, Elham & Hein, Lars & Edens, Bram & Suwarno, Aritta, 2015. "Mapping monetary values of ecosystem services in support of developing ecosystem accounts," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 12(C), pages 71-83.
    11. Cavalletti, B. & Di Fabio, C. & Lagomarsino, E. & Ramassa, P., 2020. "Ecosystem accounting for marine protected areas: A proposed framework," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    12. Vardon, Michael & Burnett, Peter & Dovers, Stephen, 2016. "The accounting push and the policy pull: balancing environment and economic decisions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 145-152.
    13. Campos, Pablo & Caparrós, Alejandro & Oviedo, José L. & Ovando, Paola & Álvarez-Farizo, Begoña & Díaz-Balteiro, Luis & Carranza, Juan & Beguería, Santiago & Díaz, Mario & Herruzo, A. Casimiro & Martín, 2019. "Bridging the Gap Between National and Ecosystem Accounting Application in Andalusian Forests, Spain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 218-236.
    14. La Notte, Alessandra & Maes, Joachim & Dalmazzone, Silvana & Crossman, Neville D. & Grizzetti, Bruna & Bidoglio, Giovanni, 2017. "Physical and monetary ecosystem service accounts for Europe: A case study for in-stream nitrogen retention," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 18-29.
    15. Caparrós, Alejandro & Oviedo, José L. & Álvarez, Alejandro & Campos, Pablo, 2017. "Simulated exchange values and ecosystem accounting: Theory and application to free access recreation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 140-149.
    16. Banerjee, Onil & Cicowiez, Martin & Vargas, Renato & Obst, Carl & Cala, Javier Rojas & Alvarez-Espinosa, Andrés Camilo & Melo, Sioux & Riveros, Leidy & Romero, Germán & Meneses, Diego Sáenz, 2021. "Gross domestic product alone provides misleading policy guidance for post-conflict land use trajectories in Colombia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    17. Maes, Joachim & Liquete, Camino & Teller, Anne & Erhard, Markus & Paracchini, Maria Luisa & Barredo, José I. & Grizzetti, Bruna & Cardoso, Ana & Somma, Francesca & Petersen, Jan-Erik & Meiner, Andrus , 2016. "An indicator framework for assessing ecosystem services in support of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 14-23.
    18. Suwarno, Aritta & Hein, Lars & Weikard, Hans-Peter & van Noordwijk, Meine & Nugroho, Bayu, 2018. "Land-use trade-offs in the Kapuas peat forest, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 340-351.
    19. Comte, Adrien & Sylvie Campagne, C. & Lange, Sabine & Bruzón, Adrián García & Hein, Lars & Santos-Martín, Fernando & Levrel, Harold, 2022. "Ecosystem accounting: Past scientific developments and future challenges," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Remme, Roy P. & Schröter, Matthias & Hein, Lars, 2014. "Developing spatial biophysical accounting for multiple ecosystem services," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 6-18.
    21. Bianchi, Ettore & Accastello, Cristian & Trappmann, Daniel & Blanc, Simone & Brun, Filippo, 2018. "The Economic Evaluation of Forest Protection Service Against Rockfall: A Review of Experiences and Approaches," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 409-418.

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