1. Treatment of cultivated biological resources in SEEA-MFA 13th Meeting of the London Group on Environmental Accounting 29 September - 3 October 2008, Brussels, Belgium Karl Schoer, consultant UNSD

2. Objective of this paper (a) to introduce a solution of the issue of “cultivated crops and trees” for the SEEA-MFA by following the principal line of the London Group conclusions; (b) to provide an improved presentation of the alternatives for dealing with cultivated crops and trees in MFA accounting; (c) and to present the implications of the proposed approach for other MFA modules.

5. Extraction of non-cultivated biological resources Other economyEnvironment Technical metabolism Biological metabolism Oxygen, etc. Fuels and other produced inputs Air emissions, waste, etc. 12.0 By-catch of fishing etc. Material flows of extraction of non-cultivated biological resources Natural resourcesRaw materials Products Natural inputsResidualsInternal flows Waste, waste water, etc.

6. Cultivation of plants Other economyEnvironment Biological metabolism Carbon dioxide, natural water, soil minerals552.3 Oxygen and other natural inputs9.0 3.0 Fuels and other produced inputs Carbon dioxide, water vapor12.0 Seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrig. water (not incorporated)7.0 Oxygen, water vapor201.4 Unused biomass increase160.0 195.1 Material flows of plant cultivation: “ecosystem approach” Technical metabolism Used biomass increase 195.1 Products Natural inputsResidualsInternal flows Seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water11.2Seed, fertilizers etc.11.2

7. Material flows of plant cultivation: “harvest approach” Cultivation of plants Other economyEnvironment Biological metabolism Carbon dioxide, natural water, soil minerals552.3 Oxygen and other natural inputs9.0 3.0 Fuels and other produced inputs Carbon dioxide, water vapor12.0 Seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrig. water (not incorporated)7.0 Oxygen, water vapor201.4 Unused biomass increase160.0 195.1 Technical metabolism Used biomass increase 195.1 Products Natural inputsResidualsInternal flows Seed, fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water11.2Seed, fertilizers etc.11.2

9. Why Harvest approach as the standard? (a) Dominance of the biological metabolism for cultivation of crops, plants and trees (b) Harmonisation with EW-MFA (c) Analytical usefulness: ecosystem inputs are a much less meaningful indicator compared to crops and trees (d) Data availability

10. Implications of using the “harvest approach” approach EW-MFA: Change in inventories in standing crops and timber have to be introduced to the current Eurostat reporting system (but indicators will exclude change in inventories of standing timber) Other SEEA-MFA modules: General: Only non-product flows related to biological metabolisms are affected, flows related technical metabolisms remain unchanged Module on agriculture : Focus on product flows and specific residual flows, but no complete mass balancing Module on forestry: Focus on product flows and specific residual flows, but no complete mass balancing Module on water: Direct take up of natural water by cultivated plants, crops and trees is not regarded Module on waste: Unused crop residues are not regarded as waste

11. Questions to the London Group 1.Do you agree that EW-MFA should be designed as a fully integrated sub-module of SEEA-MFA (harmonization)? 2.Do you agree to use the “harvest approach” as the standard concept of SEEA-MFA for reporting the material flows of cultivation of biological resources? 3.Do you agree to use the “ecosystem approach” and the “extended harvest approach” as additional concepts of SEEA-MFA in order to meet specific circumstances or specific analytical requirements?