Ecosystems Accounting and policy applications Rocky Harris, Project leader, Defra, UK MAES project 19 September 2014

Need for quick wins on policy applications for spatial accounts Ambitious and challenging programme of work, but momentum may easily be lost, because Statistics more useful with a time series Initial estimates are fairly rudimentary with significant gaps and weaknesses Some of the benefits are intangible – e.g. improved coherence of data Accounts tend to re-present information which the experts already know – difficult to demonstrate value-added until integrated accounts across different ecosystems have been developed 2

The value-added is derived from interconnectedness Improved understanding of sustainability Better resource management Wealth tracking Integrated asset and services accounts Understanding pressures Managing trade- offs through efficiency policies Targeting funding programmes Links with the SNA and SEEA Spatial relationship between location of assets and services

Benefits of links with SNA and SEEA 4 Value of production of services and depreciation of assets Information on relationship between economic activities, environmental pressures and ecosystem condition Asset balance sheet Natural Capital Accounts provide overall estimates of the value of natural capital and also ownership Opportunity to relate estimates of current and capital spending to condition and value of natural capital Resource use and emissions Environmentally-related monetary flows Incorporation into ‘environmentally-adjusted’ national accounts aggregates

Spatially disaggregated accounts 5 Reporting on the benefits derived from the Public Forest Estate to Understand the extent and location of benefits and how alternative resource allocation might improve value-for-money Assess the impacts of specific tree diseases Relate expenditure needed for maintenance/restoration to benefits Accounts for National Parks and other protected areas can Inform resource management decisions and help to mainstream ecosystems approaches to management Identify the extent which these areas are protected and managed in order to maintain delivery of services Accounts for peatlands could Support emerging Peatlands Code and influence incentives for restoration Help to measure progress on policy commitments to reduce peat extraction

Linking habitat-based and cross-cutting accounts 6 Cross-cutting accounts (land cover/land use, carbon and water) will enable the relationships between different stocks and flows to be more readily understood Links between ecosystem asset accounts and ecosystem service accounts will throw light on the relationship between the capacity to deliver and the actual delivery of services Cross-cutting accounts provide useful summaries of the changes in our natural assets

Key messages Early engagement with relevant decision-makers to manage expectations and identify policy needs Data and methodological limitations need to be clearly understood so that the results are not misinterpreted – modelled data not reliable at locally detailed levels Accounts and underlying data need to reflect changes in resource management or ecosystem condition in a timely way - need to optimise use of data from Earth Observation Accounts need to build on existing forms of ecosystem service mapping 7

Outstanding issues (1) SEEA EEA research agenda item Issues of concern to UK Work currently being undertaken Delineation and classification of land and spatial units (including marine)(a) Coastal and marine delineation and treatment of linear and point features; also accounts based on land use but need to reconcile with Land Cover Map Marine accounts use of HWM; issues in reconciling National Forest Inventory and Agricultural Census with LCM/Countryside Survey; delineation of urban and coastal Methods for measuring different ES and ecosystem condition (including biodiversity and carbon)(b) Limits and thresholds; treatment of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning Use of trip generating functions; Defra project on synoptic biodiversity indicators Presentation and structure of accounts (c) Reliability of modelled results at sub-national levels Policy applications of sub-national accounts Methods for geo-spatial linking of environmental and socio-economic data (d) Role of subnational accounts within broader National Accounts framework New project on protected areas 8

Outstanding issues (2) SEEA EEA research agenda item Issues of concern to UK Work currently being undertaken Valuation methods for ES (including wealth accounting and corporate accounting)(e) Valuation of subsoil carbon; use of random Utility Models; non-use values; incorporation of restoration costs; time period for asset valuation Seminar on valuation of renewable resources; use of production functions for recreation services; time period issue now resolved? Accounting concepts (f) Counterfactual/reference condition Woodland ecosystem water regulation service Developing science on link between ES and ecosystem condition and dependencies between ecosystems (g) Use of bird indicators as a proxy for condition of biodiversity Defra project on synoptic biodiversity indicators Aggregation and formation of ecosystem-wide indicators (h) Consistency between asset accounts; treatment of disservices; use of value transfer techniques; overlap with SNA 9