Defining Ecosystem Assets for Natural Capital Accounting.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Accounting* ; Ecosystem*; Conservation of Natural Resources/*economics ; Conservation of Natural Resources/*methods; Carbon Dioxide/metabolism ; Europe ; Forestry ; Housing ; Humans ; North America ; Pinus/growth & development ; Soil/chemistry

Competing Interests: We have the following interests: K.J. Bagstad was seconded by USGS to the World Bank, but his salary was paid by USGS, during the period he worked on this manuscript. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
In natural capital accounting, ecosystems are assets that provide ecosystem services to people. Assets can be measured using both physical and monetary units. In the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, ecosystem assets are generally valued on the basis of the net present value of the expected flow of ecosystem services. In this paper we argue that several additional conceptualisations of ecosystem assets are needed to understand ecosystems as assets, in support of ecosystem assessments, ecosystem accounting and ecosystem management. In particular, we define ecosystems' capacity and capability to supply ecosystem services, as well as the potential supply of ecosystem services. Capacity relates to sustainable use levels of multiple ecosystem services, capability involves prioritising the use of one ecosystem service over a basket of services, and potential supply considers the ability of ecosystems to generate services regardless of demand for these services. We ground our definitions in the ecosystem services and accounting literature, and illustrate and compare the concepts of flow, capacity, capability, and potential supply with a range of conceptual and real-world examples drawn from case studies in Europe and North America. Our paper contributes to the development of measurement frameworks for natural capital to support environmental accounting and other assessment frameworks.

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0 (Soil)
142M471B3J (Carbon Dioxide)

Date Created: 20161110 Date Completed: 20170703 Latest Revision: 20181113

20250114

PMC5102381

10.1371/journal.pone.0164460

27828969