1. Ecosystem Accounting DIMESA Meeting of 17 June 2008 Copenhagen
“Global warming may dominate headlines today.
Ecosystem degradation will do so tomorrow”
Corporate Ecosystems Services review, WRI et al. March 2008

2. What’s at stake – human and planetary well being
Human Well-being and
Poverty Reduction
Basic material for a good life
Health
Good Social Relations
Security
Freedom of choice and action
Indirect Drivers of Change
Demographic
Economic (globalization, trade, market and policy framework)
Sociopolitical (governance and institutional framework)
Science and Technology
Cultural and Religious
Direct
Drivers
Indirect
Ecosystem
Services
Human
Well-being
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Life on Earth:
Biodiversity
Direct Drivers of Change
Changes in land use
Species introduction or removal
Technology adaptation and use
External inputs (e.g., irrigation)
Resource consumption
Climate change
Natural physical and biological drivers (e.g., volcanoes)
The conceptual framework for the MA posits that people are integral parts of ecosystems and that a dynamic interaction
exists between them and other parts of ecosystems, with the changing human condition driving, both directly
and indirectly, changes in ecosystems and thereby causing changes in human well-being. (See Figure B.) At the same
time, social, economic, and cultural factors unrelated to ecosystems alter the human condition, and many natural
forces influence ecosystems. Although the MA emphasizes the linkages between ecosystems and human well-being, it
recognizes that the actions people take that influence ecosystems result not just from concern about human well-being
but also from considerations of the intrinsic value of species and ecosystems. Intrinsic value is the value of something
in and for itself, irrespective of its utility for someone else.
Changes in drivers that indirectly affect biodiversity, such as population, technology, and lifestyle (upper right corner of Figure), can lead to changes
in drivers directly affecting biodiversity, such as the catch of fish or the application of fertilizers (lower right corner). These result in changes to
ecosystems and the services they provide (lower left corner), thereby affecting human well-being. These interactions can take place at more than
one scale and can cross scales. For example, an international demand for timber may lead to a regional loss of forest cover, which increases
flood magnitude along a local stretch of a river. Similarly, the interactions can take place across different time scales. Different strategies and
interventions can be applied at many points in this framework to enhance human well-being and conserve ecosystems.

3. Accounting for ecosystem costs and benefits at different scales…
Amvrakikos, Greece:
Wetland management, Water & Fish
Global scale
Migratory Birds Flyways, Wetlands
& Bird Flu Prevention
Doñana, Spain:
Water, Wetland & Strawberries
National & regional government, European market
Action level, local scale

4. … & accounts for connecting different scales
LEAC/ Landscape Ecological Potential , 1km² grid
(Source: Ecosystem Accounting for Mediterranean Wetlands, an EEA feasibility study for TEEB)
Natural Park of Camargue (France)
Change
1990

5. The economic questions behind ecosystem accounting
Risks of unsustainable use of the living natural capital are ignored: the negative impacts of over-harvesting, force-feeding with fertilisers, intoxication, introduction of species, fragmentation by roads, 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 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.
Actual value for people of free ecosystem services is not accounted in their final consumption (the market tells: price is zero).

6. value of economic assets
SEEA2003: enlargement of SNA1993 for a better description of the economy-environment relation
Revision  SEEA2012
Impacts on ecosystems & related services/benefits
RM HASSAN - UN The System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (UN 2003) -
RANESA Workshop June 12-16, 2005 Maputo
Volume 1
Statistical Standard
NAMEA,
expenditure,
physical quantities,
sub-soil, energy,
value of economic assets
Volume 2
Non Standard
Accounts
ecosystems,
quality,
valuation…
Volume 1
Statistical Standard
Volume 2
Non Standard
Accounts
Macro-ecological closure
(non-linear feedback, spatial issues)

7. SEEA Integrating Ecosystems
Physical flows
Monetary flows/valuation
Assets valuation
Natural capital / assets
Rest of the World
Subsoil Assets
[stocks]
Ecosystem Assets
[stocks and resilience]
Subsoil Assets
[stocks]
Material & Energy Flows
Ecosystem Assets
[stocks and resilience]
Ecosystem Functional Services
Ecosystem Services
NAMEA
Additional Ecosystem Maintenance Costs
Environmental Expenditures, Taxes
Additional Ecosystem Costs
in Imports
(less
in Exports)
SNA flows & assets

8. Application of ecosystem accounting foreseen for…
Eureca! 2012
MA follow-up 2015
IPBES, The Intergovernmental Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem services
IPES, International Payments for Ecosystem Services
TEEB, The Economics of Ecosystems & Biodiversity
Adaptability to Climate Change
Thematic Strategy Sustainable Use of Resource
ESEA, European Strategy for Environmental Accounting
Data centers related to land and ecosystems (Go4 recommendation)
Beyond GDP
National initiatives
Corporate accounting guidelines for environmental liability