1. Land and Ecosystems Accounts (LEAC) &
Analysis of the potential of the Ecological Footprint and related assessment tools for use in the EU’s Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources Tuesday, 3 June 2008 DG Environment, Av. de Beaulieu Brussels ENV Room BU-5 4/53
Land and Ecosystems Accounts (LEAC)
&
net Landscape Ecological Potential (nLEP)
Jean-Louis Weber (EEA)
DGENV, 3 June 2008

2. The 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.
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 the 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 (the market tells: price is zero).
DGENV, 3 June 2008

3. Aggregates: integrated indicators valid at multiple scales
This is not only a scientific, technical or data issue but a governance issue
Action scale: local communities, conservations agencies, companies, citizens – management, development, production, consumption, mitigation
Government scale: regions, countries (Unions of…) – framing and implementing policies, tradeoffs, monitoring
Global scale: global market and global ecosystem (atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, river catchments…) – common objectives, conventions, monitoring, global mitigation
Some indicators are scale-specific, other indicators are valid at multiple scales: ecological potential, HANPP, virtual land, cost of maintenance and restoration of ecosystems
net Landscape Ecological Potential (nLEP):
a multi-scale indicator developed by the EEA from LEAC
DGENV, 3 June 2008

4. The making of nLEP Corine land cover (derived from satellite images)
Green Background Landscape Index (derived from CLC)
Naturilis (derived from Natura2000 & CDDA)
Effective Mesh Size (MEFF, derived from TeleAtlas and CLC)
net Landscape Ecological Potential (nLEP) 2000, by 1km² grid cell
nLEP 2000 by NUTS 2/3
DGENV, 3 June 2008

5. Measuring change: LEAC/nLEP 1990-2000
Change in Ecological Potential of SES Wetlands,
ES,FR, IT, GR – 10 km strip
2000
Change
1990
DGENV, 3 June 2008

6. nLEP at the local level: e.g. effect of land cover change
DGENV, 3 June 2008