Joint meeting of the Working Groups on Environmental Accounts & Environmental Expenditure Statistics

Luxembourg, 10 March 2015

Integrated geo-statistical accounting for ecosystems

(point 11 of the agenda)

Eurostat – Unit E2

Anton Steurer

What is the EU policy context?• EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020:

– Action 2 Mapping and Assessment of ecosystems & their services (->MAES)

– Integrate natural capital into accounting and reporting systems

• EU 7th Environmental Action Programme– Objective 1: preserve ‘natural capital’– Objective 5: build environmental knowledge base

• Environment Knowledge Community at EU level to support knowledge base for 7EAP

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EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy: Target 2

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Action 5: Improve knowledge of ecosystems and their services in the EU

Member States, with the assistance of the Commission, will map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services in their national territory by 2014, assess the economic value of such services, and promote the integration of these values into accounting and reporting systems at EU and national level by 2020.

Abiotic assets:

Solar radiation

non-depletable

Minerals, fossil fuels,ozone layer,

gravel,etc.

depletable

Abiotic flows:

Renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro..)

non-depletable

Phosphate fertiliser, radiation

protection,etc.

depletable

Ecosystems as asset:

Extent, structure & condition of :

Forests, woodlands, rivers, lakes, oceans,

coasts, wetlands, grasslands, croplands,

heathlands, urban parks, etc.

depletable

Ecosystem service flows:

• Provisioning services (food, fibre, energy etc.)

• Regulation & maintenance (of climate, river flow, pollination etc.)

• Cultural services (recreation in nature, spiritual use of nature etc.)

depletable

Ecosystem capital:

GENERATING

W h at is ‘n atu ral cap ital':

MAES working definitionFocus of talk

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International & EU guidance documents as framework:• United Nations, European Commission,

FAO, OECD and World Bank (2014): System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 - Experimental Ecosystem Accounting. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seeaRev/eea_final_en.pdf

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• European Commission (2013): Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their services. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/knowledge/ecosystem_assessment/pdf/MAESWorkingPaper2013.pdf

• CBD (2015): Ecosystem natural capital accounts – a quick start package. http://www.cbd.int/doc/publications/cbd-ts-77-en.pdf

• And others..

Coverage of 'natural capital' in SEEA?

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• SEEA CF: defines environmental assets as naturally occurring living and non-living components of the Earth, together constituting the biophysical environment, which may provide benefits to humanity1. Mineral and energy resources (oil, gas, mineral resources) 2. Land 3. Soil resources 4. Timber resources (cultivated and natural) 5. Aquatic resources (cultivated and natural) 6. Biological resources (other - livestock, wild animals……) 7. Water resources (surface, ground and soil water resources)

• SEEA EEA: adds ecosystems and in principle the atmosphere and the sea8. Ecosystems 9. Planetary systems (atmosphere, climate and hydrological system…)

What is the challenge? IMany different & separate & expensive data gathering exercises but not really

tailored towards measuring ecosystems

LUCAS (ground observation)

COPERNICUS (satellite images)

Farm Structure Survey (agricultural census)

Corine Land Cover

Natura 2000 data

Biodiversity monitoring

Forest statistics

Et cetera

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Water FD reporting

What is the challenge? II• We need biophysical accounts for direct use and as

a basis for valuation studies, upscaling• We need an EU layer of accounts as a frame for

countries and for EU policy -> we need the data foundation & the capacity to analyse these data

• We need experiments and demonstrations with these accounts (on ecosystem capital)

• We need stepwise standards & recommendations towards a common methodology

=> Knowledge innovation project on ‘natural capital’8

What is the challenge? III

Tasks identified for ‘KIP’ on natural capital:

1) Identify the required information 2) Develop a shared sampling frame and an

integrated system3) Set joint minimum data standards (e.g. on geo-

referencing)4) Establish a shared data platform5) Integrate all available data and make sure new

data fit into the system9

Regulation 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts

• Article 10: …..every 3 years the Commission shall submit a report …. if appropriate accompanied by proposals for introducing new modules, such as …… water accounts, waste accounts, forest accounts, ecosystem services accounts….

• Economic crisis massively slowed progress (no human resources in MS, no political support, desire to reduce burden…)

• Monetary valuation problematic for NSIs (conceptual and quality issue)

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Next steps within the KIP• Fully map available data sets at EU level;

• Develop and implement an overall integrated information system based on a combination of various data sets, including LUCAS-type surveys and the analysis of satellite images providing layers of geo-referenced data. The system should be modular, with generic layers.

• Promote further harmonisation and standardisation of data sets and environmental reporting (e.g. via INSPIRE) to make data sets developed at national and EU level more complementary;

• Develop and implement a joint analytical frame (sample, data categories…) that ensures all efforts efficiently contribute to improving the data foundation..

• Establish and maintain an analytical capacity at EU level that ensures that basic accounts and analyses are available for the EU, allowing Member States and other stakeholders to develop plug-in applications.

• Link and integrate this project to any forthcoming digital policy of the European Commission as well as to the European Statistical Program 2013 – 2020, with a specific focus on the data revolution and big data11

Eurostat

Thanks!