You are here:
A proposed ecosystem services classification system to support green accounting
Citation:
LANDERS, D. H., J. POWERS, AND M. WEBER. A proposed ecosystem services classification system to support green accounting. Presented at Ecosystem Services Partnership Conference, Wageningen, NETHERLANDS, October 02 - 09, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
There are a multitude of actual or envisioned, complete or incomplete, ecosystem service classification systems being proposed to support Green Accounting.
Description:
There are a multitude of actual or envisioned, complete or incomplete, ecosystem service classification systems being proposed to support Green Accounting. Green Accounting is generally thought to be the formal accounting attempt to factor environmental production into National accounts since it is recognized that the Gross Domestic Product calculations ignores environmental production. To date, most such ecosystem service classification systems suffer from inadequacies in three areas: completeness, definition of non-overlapping and discrete units and linkages to human well being. In the absence of a widely accepted and demonstrably useful ecosystem service accounting system, it is not possible to proceed with routine, broadly acceptable aggregation and accounting at multiple spatial scales, to develop a green GDP. There was a similar problem with defining and classifying economic metrics and indicators in the 1930s that was resolved by developing a classifications system, and updating it regularly, for the market sector. The North American Product Classification System (NAPCS), which is focused on classifying commercial goods and services. It is analogous in many ways to ecosystems goods and services and we expect it will be used throughout the statistical community to coordinate the collection, tabulation and analysis of data on the quantity and value of goods and services produced by industries. In a similar vein, we propose to develop a National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS) to provide the definitions, classification and structure of those ecosystem services of greatest interest and to provide a list of attributes and metrics suitable to quantify them. One way to evaluate these frameworks and classification systems is to develop a general mathematical model describing the micro-foundations of the production, consumption and valuation of ecosystem services. Such a model would provide a clear description of the general elements, relationships and boundaries associated with empirically modelling the production, consumption and valuation components. We have developed elements of a NESCS based on ecosystem categories (i.e. streams, estuaries, etc.) and focused on beneficiaries. Our next steps are to develop the previously mentioned empirical model and to continue to develop the Final Ecosystem Goods and Services approach for additional ecosystem categories (i.e. agro ecosystems, forest ecosystems etc.). The resulting system would provide the underlying structure necessary for application at multiple spatial scales by a variety of policy makers to quantify and value ecosystem services on a routine basis.