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Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Natural Capital Accounting: Framework and Applications in the Southeastern U.S.
Citation:
Warnell, K., L. Olander, K. Bagstad, M. Russell, AND C. Rhodes. Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Natural Capital Accounting: Framework and Applications in the Southeastern U.S. ACES, Washington, DC, December 03 - 06, 2018. https://doi.org/10.23645/epacomptox.22557586
Impact/Purpose:
Present natural capital accounting analysis for the South eastern region of the US as an example of US national experimental ecosystem accounts being worked on by a USGS/SESYNC working group
Description:
Natural capital accounting is a method of assessing the contribution of ecosystems to the economy, making the links between natural and economic systems more clear. While the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts’ Central Framework (developed by the U.N. and other international statistical organizations) focuses on tangible environmental assets such as water, timber, and fish, ecosystems create a wide variety of additional products and processes that benefit people. Incorporating ecosystem services into natural capital accounting allows information about their provision and use, as well as the extent and condition of individual ecosystems, to be tracked in a standardized way, helping governments, businesses, and other entities to make better-informed decisions about actions that will affect our ecosystems and economy. As part of a working group led by the U. S. Geological Survey, we used the SEEA - Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (EEA) as the foundation for an ecosystem accounting structure that contains information on the extent and condition of ecosystems as well as the supply and use of ecosystem services. To test the framework, we developed pilot accounts for a ten-state region in the southeastern U.S. for 2001 through 2011. Natural capital accounts track contributions of ecosystems to industries and households in physical and monetary terms; we focused on physical contributions in the pilot accounts. The three basic ecosystem account types are ecosystem extent, condition, and supply and use of ecosystem goods and services. Ecosystem extent accounts quantify the area of each ecosystem type; we used land cover as an initial classification for ecosystem type, but did not create extent accounts for the Southeast pending ongoing work to create national land accounts (also presented in this session). Condition accounts can contain information on any aspect of ecosystem condition. We used condition accounts to track information relevant to ecosystem functions and characteristics of interest to people that could not be included in supply-use tables because they are not directly used by people or information about their use was not available. Our condition accounts for the Southeast include metrics related to the availability of wild pollination, the removal of pollutants from runoff water and air, and bird biodiversity. Supply-use accounts track the amount of ecosystem products and processes supplied by ecosystems and directly used by households, industries, or government. The supply-use accounts for the Southeast include information on two ecosystem services: recreational birdwatching and clean air. Attributing ecosystem services and processes to particular ecosystem types highlights the importance of certain ecosystems for individual services and related processes, including low-density developed areas for recreational birdwatching and woody wetlands near agricultural lands for the availability of wild pollinators. Tracking trends in service provision and ecosystem condition over time illustrates where human actions may threaten the long-term ability of ecosystems to provide services and processes valuable to people, such as water purification in rapidly-developing counties around major metropolitan areas. The process of compiling data for the ecosystem accounts illuminated gaps in data availability and understanding of ecosystem service provision, as well as the relationship between ecosystem condition and the provision of ecosystem services, all of which can help to guide future research and data collection efforts to develop more information-rich accounts.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Natural Capital Accounting: Framework and Applications in the Southeastern U.S.
PRESENTATION.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 802.631 KB, about PDF)