Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II The Implementation of Integrated Land and Ecosystem Accounts in Europe 2. Ecosystem accounts MEDSTAT II WORKSHOP – Economic environment approaches Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 Jean-Louis Weber EEA

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Why accounting for ecosystems is important? Key policy issues –Biodiversity conservation –Sustainable use of living/ cycling resource (natural and managed systems) and land –Adaptability to climate change Recent developments & research: –SEEA2003 –Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Natural Assets and Human Well-being ecosystem services: provisioning (goods), regulating, support, cultural –IUCN / VALUE project (Counting ecosystems as water infrastructure…) –Ecological economics in general (ISEE…) –GEOSS –Europe's project of Ecosystem Assessment 2012 –and more...

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II SEEA: expansion of the System of National Accounts (UN1993) in order to include more environmental aspects RM HASSAN - UN The System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (UN 2003) - RANESA Workshop June 12-16, 2005 Maputo

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Accounting for Ecosystems Land use accounts and Ecosystem accounts Land use accounts and Ecosystem accounts The story so far…. The next steps….

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II CORE LAND COVER ACCOUNT Soil Flora & Fauna Water system Atmosphere/ Climate Land use economic & social functions Artificiality of land Intensity of use LAND & ECOSYSTEM ACCOUNTS Ecosystem services Ecosystem potentials Integrity, health & viability Vulnerability Production & Consumption Natural Assets Population Infrastructures & Technologies Land use and ecosystem accounting

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Accounting for ecosystems: Conceptual Model Spatial analysis DP S IR Driving forces (production, consumption) Pressures State of environment Impacts of state on society, economy and ecosystems Responses Causation Framework

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Causation: DPSIR within the ecosystem accounting framework: e.g. Wetlands *

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Scales: individual ecosystems v.s. geo-statistical monitoring/ accounting WETLANDS 1990 OF N-W EUROPE EEA/ETCTE (courtesy Danube Delta National Institute)

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Stocks/ flows Assets & Values Goods & Services System Interactions, resilience Framework

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem Accounting Framework Stocks & flows –Spatial systems: land cover (units, zones, landscape types) river reaches, rivers, catchments coastal systems –Biomass, Productivity (NPP/NEP), Carbon Storage –Nutrients (N,P) –Water –Species –Other… System interactions Goods & Services Assets & Values Basic ecosystem stock accounts

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Biomass & NPP Anomalies, distress symptom Direct Material Consumption – Total Material Requirement (Material Flows Accounts) HANPP Supporting service

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Example of asset account for Biomass/C (draft)

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Example of resource use and supply account (draft)

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem Accounting Framework Stocks & flows System interactions –Spatial interactions (ecotones, distributions, composition / scales) –Components interactions Spatial & temporal interactions (water stress, species dynamics…) Bio-chemical-physical cycles –Human interactions Re-structuring, over-harvesting/over-extraction, deposition of residuals and force-feeding, introduction of species – use of land and the natural capital Goods & Services Assets & Values Functioning, health, resilience

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem health: counts of diversity/integrity Specific diagnosis From selection of markers and threshold values according to habitat types, region, context 1.Homeostasis state (no alteration foreseen). 2.Resilience state (the disturbance that ecosystems are still able to absorb or compensate, keeping the same functions, identity and feedbacks (Walker, 2005). 3.Reversible process without compensation (degradation). 4.Irreversible change (death). Ecosystem Distress Syndrome model: –Disruptions of nutrients cycling (loss or excess) –Degradation of substrates (fragmentation, water stress, chemical stress) –Change in species composition (invasive…) –Dependence of systems from artificial input (energy, water, subsidies …) –Capacity of supporting healthy communities Focussed research of stressors –overharvesting, overuse –land/rivers restructuring –deposition of residuals –introduction of species Physical wealth as stocks*coefficients (potential, resilience) Source: David J. Rapport

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem accounting Stocks & flows System interactions Goods & Services –Land use functions –Ecosystem input to production (marketed or not) –End services to population (collective or individual) –Maintenance of the natural capital Assets & Values Sustainability assessment

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem services Ref to Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Land use functions & ecosystem goods and services

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Source: Roy Haines-Young Ecosystem regulation service: Account of new housing in flood risk zones Low High Proportion of new residential housing in high risk flood zones, by landscape type ( ) in south east England

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Ecosystem accounting Stocks & flows System interactions Goods & Services Assets & Values Value of ecosystem goods and services, wealth, natural capital Source: Roy Haines-Young

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Framework of Ecosystem Accounts Natural assets accounts Natural capital structure, resilience & wealth (physical units, by sectors) Capital consumption & accumulation (physical units, ) Ecosystem assets wealth () Natural Capital Accounts/ living & cycling natural capital Functions & Services Land use function Natural function Supply & use of ecosystem goods and services (Use of resource by sectors, supply to consumption & residuals, accumulation, I-O analysis) Material/energy flows (focus on biomass, water, nutrients, residuals) Accounts of flows of ecosystem goods and services Counts of stocks diversity / integrity (by ecosystem types, focus on quality) Ecosystem Stocks & State Accounts Ecosystem State (health diagnosis and wealth calculation) Core accounts of stocks & flows (by ecosystem types, raw quantities) Ecosystem types Economic sectors Spatial integration Economic integration

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Integration of Environmental & Socio-Economic Data Land cover maps Area sampling (crops, habitats…) Socio-economic statistics (e.g. by regions, municipalities, sectors, farm holdings, household groups...) Monitoring of individual sites or stations (e.g. nature, water…) Earth observation: multi-scales land cover + vegetation + NPP +…

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Conclusions By examining all uses of land in an integrated manner, it makes it possible to minimize conflicts, to make the most efficient trade-offs and to link social and economic development with environmental protection and enhancement, thus helping to achieve the objectives of sustainable development. Agenda 21, Chapter 10

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Differences in accounting for economic and ecological systems In economy: + > – = gains = increase in wealth – > + = losses = decrease in wealth aggregated results are defined as the sum of elementary flows over a fixed period (year or quarter) at the national or regional levels economic factors are generally substitutable average values make sense in most cases In ecology: specific ecosystem dimensions need to be reflected… multiple scales and interactions variability, time scales resilience, health of ecosystems, thresholds no need to account for everything, just the key markers (variables) necessary for making the diagnosis (assessment)

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II (Some) Specific dimensions of ecosystems that need to be reflected… Extreme events, distributions/ not only average conditions Multiple time frames (inc. long term), variability Multiple (nested) scales Multiple causalities, linear change is not the rule Sectors interactions (partial solutions dont work very long…), No optimal state (maximizing yields…) can be kept indefinitely Assessment of sustainable development paths requires considering the resilience of ecosystems and socio-ecological systems: potentials, feedbacks, vulnerability to external shocks… (from Brian Walker, CSIRO) Land & ecosystem accounts as candidate for data assimilation at the meso scale

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Time frame: e.g. water resource/demand Mean annual values may tell the same stories (i.e. no water shortage in the river)… … for very different conditions. Variability matters…

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Renewable resource from ecosystems Input necessary for ecosystem reproduction, conservation of ecosystem health/integrity, functions & services Ecoproduct (of cycling and reproductive systems/ capital) are produced by means of other ecoproducts. The ecosystem production function includes a surplus ecoproduct that can be used by the economy. (from Anthony Friend 2004) Sources: Kling/U Michigan_2005 & Friend/ISEE_2004 Economy Available surplus for human harvesting/extraction Basic eco- product Non-basic eco- product

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Renewable resource from ecosystems: depletion/ degradation by over-use Basic eco- product Non-basic eco- product Input necessary for ecosystem resilience (reproduction, conservation of ecosystem health/integrity, functions & services) Sources: Kling/U Michigan_2005 & Friend/ISEE_2004 Economy Available surplus for human harvesting/extraction Non-sustainable harvesting/extraction Possible compensation = artificial input (irrigation, energy, nutrients, infrastructures…) Trade-off = increased yields against losses of natural functions and biodiversity

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Example of indicator based on NPP

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II Example of indicator based on NPP

Luxembourg, 5-9 February 2007 MEDSTAT II HANPP OUR CHANGING PLANET The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Year 2006