Toward development of ecosystem asset accounts at the national level

ABSTRACT Ecosystem accounting has become one of the key components in the revision of international statistical standards. Expansion of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for ecosystem services follows the rapid progress of science in this area as well as expanding applications to sustainability challenges. In this contribution, we discuss approaches to accounting of ecosystem assets as a natural capital basis that is critical for ecosystem service delivery. Based on examples from the Czech Republic, a Central European country, we illustrate the construction of ecosystem extent accounts based on the methodology of Land and Ecosystem Accounting. This analysis is complemented by monetary ecosystem asset accounting through quantification of the present value of future ecosystem service flows. Ecosystem condition is represented by the Mean Species Abundance indicator, which gauges the direction of ecosystem naturalness. Based on the demonstration of approaches to ecosystem asset accounting, we discuss selected aspects of ecosystem condition measurements, valuation, and policy implications of ecosystem asset accounting at the national level.