Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment, Apr 1, 2010
Negli ultimi decenni il concetto di contabilita ambientale ha attraversato un notevole sviluppo d... more Negli ultimi decenni il concetto di contabilita ambientale ha attraversato un notevole sviluppo dal punto di vista teorico, applicativo e nelle possibili utilizzazioni. Al momento presente da una parte, a livello macroeconomico, gli uffici statistici nazionali e comunitari assieme ad organizzazioni internazionali hanno lavorato ad un sistema di conti integrati economico-ambientali (SEEA) che ‘completa’ attraverso conti satellite il sistema di contabilita nazionale. Dall’altra parte iniziative locali, come Agenda 21, coordinate anche da organizzazioni internazionali, come ICLEI, hanno avviato una serie di sperimentazioni che introducono la rendicontazione sull’ambiente negli enti pubblici locali. Si tratta di due sistemi diversi che operano a diversi livelli instituzionali. Ci si chiede quindi se e possibile ed utile trovare fra essi un punto di incontro. Puo essere utile perche, da una parte, a scala sub-regionale una contabilita ambientale del territorio e del tutto assente e, dall’altra, sarebbe di aiuto una rigorosa base metodologica per la rendicontazione ambientale degli enti locali. Tale impostazione diventa possibile nel momento in cui si fa una chiara distinzione fra i moduli contabili veri e propri e gli indicatori da inserire nei documenti atti alla comunicazione. In questo lavoro si propone un sistema di integrazione fra i conti integrati economico- ambientali (SEEA) e il bilancio ambientale diffuso in molti comuni e province italiani (CLEAR). Nello specifico si presenta una possibile integrazione fra i dati NAMEA- emissioni in atmosfera e rifiuti e alcuni indicatori dei conti fisici CLEAR nella Provincia di Torino.
A modelling environment has been developed to assess optimum combinations of water retention meas... more A modelling environment has been developed to assess optimum combinations of water retention measures, water savings measures, and nutrient reduction measures for continental Europe. This modelling environment consists of linking the agricultural CAPRI model, the LUMP land use model, the LISFLOOD water quantity model, the EPIC water quality model, the LISQUAL combined water quantity, quality and hydro-economic model, and a multi-criteria optimisation routine. Simulations have been carried out to assess the effects of water retention measures, water savings measures, and nutrient reduction measures on several hydro-chemical indicators, such as the Water Exploitation Index, Environmental Flow indicators, N and P concentrations in rivers, the 50-year return period river discharge as an indicator for flooding, and economic losses due to water scarcity for the agricultural sector, the industrial sector, and the public sector. Also, potential flood damage of a 100-year return period flood...
Via Po, 53 10124 Torino (Italy) Tel. (+39) 011 6704917 - Fax (+39) 011 6703895 URL: http//www.d... more Via Po, 53 10124 Torino (Italy) Tel. (+39) 011 6704917 - Fax (+39) 011 6703895 URL: http//www.de.unito.it ... Local environmental accounting: Methodological lessons from the application of NAMEA tables at sub-national levels ... Dipartimento di Economia S. Cognetti de Martiis
Europe is a leader in the tourism industry, with half of the world's international arrivals i... more Europe is a leader in the tourism industry, with half of the world's international arrivals in 2018. Nowadays tourism activities related to the enjoyment of nature, Nature-based tourism (NBT), are amongst the main tourism markets worldwide. NBT represents both a challenge and an opportunity. In fact, on the one hand, it contributes to creating new markets and spurring job growth, especially for small businesses and, on the other hand, it might impact the environment and local communities. What's more, it is extremely difficult to quantify the role of nature in traditional economic accounting. In this context, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) covers this gap by reporting information not included in the traditional system of economic accounts. The Central SEEA framework was adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 2012 and the Ecosystem Accounting module (SEEA EA) has recently been adopted to quantify the role of ecosystems. In this study, we fine-tune...
Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment, Apr 1, 2010
Negli ultimi decenni il concetto di contabilita ambientale ha attraversato un notevole sviluppo d... more Negli ultimi decenni il concetto di contabilita ambientale ha attraversato un notevole sviluppo dal punto di vista teorico, applicativo e nelle possibili utilizzazioni. Al momento presente da una parte, a livello macroeconomico, gli uffici statistici nazionali e comunitari assieme ad organizzazioni internazionali hanno lavorato ad un sistema di conti integrati economico-ambientali (SEEA) che ‘completa’ attraverso conti satellite il sistema di contabilita nazionale. Dall’altra parte iniziative locali, come Agenda 21, coordinate anche da organizzazioni internazionali, come ICLEI, hanno avviato una serie di sperimentazioni che introducono la rendicontazione sull’ambiente negli enti pubblici locali. Si tratta di due sistemi diversi che operano a diversi livelli instituzionali. Ci si chiede quindi se e possibile ed utile trovare fra essi un punto di incontro. Puo essere utile perche, da una parte, a scala sub-regionale una contabilita ambientale del territorio e del tutto assente e, dall’altra, sarebbe di aiuto una rigorosa base metodologica per la rendicontazione ambientale degli enti locali. Tale impostazione diventa possibile nel momento in cui si fa una chiara distinzione fra i moduli contabili veri e propri e gli indicatori da inserire nei documenti atti alla comunicazione. In questo lavoro si propone un sistema di integrazione fra i conti integrati economico- ambientali (SEEA) e il bilancio ambientale diffuso in molti comuni e province italiani (CLEAR). Nello specifico si presenta una possibile integrazione fra i dati NAMEA- emissioni in atmosfera e rifiuti e alcuni indicatori dei conti fisici CLEAR nella Provincia di Torino.
A modelling environment has been developed to assess optimum combinations of water retention meas... more A modelling environment has been developed to assess optimum combinations of water retention measures, water savings measures, and nutrient reduction measures for continental Europe. This modelling environment consists of linking the agricultural CAPRI model, the LUMP land use model, the LISFLOOD water quantity model, the EPIC water quality model, the LISQUAL combined water quantity, quality and hydro-economic model, and a multi-criteria optimisation routine. Simulations have been carried out to assess the effects of water retention measures, water savings measures, and nutrient reduction measures on several hydro-chemical indicators, such as the Water Exploitation Index, Environmental Flow indicators, N and P concentrations in rivers, the 50-year return period river discharge as an indicator for flooding, and economic losses due to water scarcity for the agricultural sector, the industrial sector, and the public sector. Also, potential flood damage of a 100-year return period flood...
Via Po, 53 10124 Torino (Italy) Tel. (+39) 011 6704917 - Fax (+39) 011 6703895 URL: http//www.d... more Via Po, 53 10124 Torino (Italy) Tel. (+39) 011 6704917 - Fax (+39) 011 6703895 URL: http//www.de.unito.it ... Local environmental accounting: Methodological lessons from the application of NAMEA tables at sub-national levels ... Dipartimento di Economia S. Cognetti de Martiis
Europe is a leader in the tourism industry, with half of the world's international arrivals i... more Europe is a leader in the tourism industry, with half of the world's international arrivals in 2018. Nowadays tourism activities related to the enjoyment of nature, Nature-based tourism (NBT), are amongst the main tourism markets worldwide. NBT represents both a challenge and an opportunity. In fact, on the one hand, it contributes to creating new markets and spurring job growth, especially for small businesses and, on the other hand, it might impact the environment and local communities. What's more, it is extremely difficult to quantify the role of nature in traditional economic accounting. In this context, the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) covers this gap by reporting information not included in the traditional system of economic accounts. The Central SEEA framework was adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 2012 and the Ecosystem Accounting module (SEEA EA) has recently been adopted to quantify the role of ecosystems. In this study, we fine-tune...
The purpose of ecosystem services accounting is to quantify the main transactions from ecosystems... more The purpose of ecosystem services accounting is to quantify the main transactions from ecosystems to society and economy and to report these transactions into accounting tables that are compatible with the structures and practices used in traditional economic accounting. The European Commission launched in 2015 the INCA (Integrated system for Natural Capital Accounting) project to produce concrete applications for the EU, compliant with the international standard of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting – Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA). In this report we assess, value and account for three new ecosystem services: Habitat and Species Maintenance, on site Soil Retention and Water Purification. We also review and improve already existing ecosystem services accounts, such as Crop and Timber provision, Carbon Sequestration and Crop Pollination. Based on the nine ecosystem services accounts compiled for the EU, we finally start processing INCA readily available indicators, that can support policy analysis and can contribute to international reference frameworks such as the post 2020 Biodiversity framework and the Sustainable Development Goals
Biodiversity is an intangible asset essential for ecosystem function and human wellbeing. The Eur... more Biodiversity is an intangible asset essential for ecosystem function and human wellbeing. The European Union is at the forefront of biodiversity management and policy implementation and has set ambitious strategies to better protect biodiversity and lead achievement of global biodiversity goals. However, biodiversity management entails balancing a range of economic and social trade-offs. A deeper understanding of society’s perception towards biodiversity, the values attached to it, and the heterogeneity around preferences for biodiversity protection and habitat maintenance is key to inform future European strategies. This report provides European-level spatially explicit estimates of biodiversity non-use value applicable in the decision-making processes and appreciates the hidden contribution of habitat and species maintenance to human wellbeing. A stated preference survey with the choice experiment was conducted in four European countries that were selected to represent a range of diverse environmental and social contexts. A European map of biodiversity values is produced via value transfer techniques. Overall, our results suggest that strengthening habitat and species maintenance policy is considered a necessity by the public. In fact, considering the aggregated amount Europeans are prepared to pay annually (30 billion Euros) for biodiversity, we can anticipate that the Post-2020 Biodiversity policy committed to an annual budget of 20 billion Euros would likely find public support.
This report outlines the ecosystem accounting applications that have been presented in the Ecosys... more This report outlines the ecosystem accounting applications that have been presented in the Ecosystem Services World Conference in Hannover, Germany in 2019. Eight cases are summarized here; applications of ecosystem accounts in Europe, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Uganda, Bulgaria, Andalusia-Spain and Oslo-Norway. Most of these applications are in line with the System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) framework and the outcomes are regarded as pilot attempts concluding in interesting messages that should be accounted for in next development steps. All cases discuss the compilation process of certain type of ecosystem asset or ecosystem services accounts either at regional, national or local level depicting the methodological process as well as the main outcomes. They also report the policy priorities that these accounts attempted to address and the policy implications that may follow given the accounts’ results. Some of the strong highlights emerged from these cases are summarized as follows: countries should initiate the development of accounts using currently available data and then evolve this attempt based on pilot accounts. It is imperative that collaboration between institutes is ensured as ecosystem accounting is a complex process that demands strong joint forces between different experts as well as stakeholders. Demand for ecosystem accounts should be systematically developed if ecosystem accounting is to be institutionalized. Accounts need to demonstrate clear messages and be linked to certain policy needs even in this primary stage to foster policy support.
This report summarises key results of the INCA project. INCA delivered an integrated system of ec... more This report summarises key results of the INCA project. INCA delivered an integrated system of ecosystem accounts for the EU. The report provides an introduction to ecosystem accounting and presents ecosystem extent accounts, initial ecosystem condition accounts and ecosystem services accounts for EU28, before the withdrawal of the UK. The report shows practical examples of possible uses of ecosystem services accounts and existing policy applications. The report is intended for a broad audience — policy makers, researchers, compilers of ecosystem accounts and other expert and non-expert users who wish to learn how ecosystems and their services support our society, what changes in ecosystems and ecosystem services took place in the EU in the past couple of decades and how all this can be measured in a standardised and comparable way.
The acronym LISBETH stands for LInking accounts for ecosystem Services and Benefits to the Econom... more The acronym LISBETH stands for LInking accounts for ecosystem Services and Benefits to the Economy THrough bridging. LISBETH is based on INCA (Integrated system for Natural Capital Accounting) and is meant to facilitate the use of INCA accounts in traditional economic analytical tools. Three practical examples are described and commented on. The first application shows how to combine crop provision accounts with the conventional accounts related to agricultural products and their trade. Combined account presentations are useful for policymakers, not only for technical analytical purposes but also for communicating with a wider non-technical audience. The second application shows how to build consumption-based accounts using multiregional input–output tables; in our example we assess the water purification service embedded in traded crops. Consumption remains in fact the ultimate driver behind production processes. The third application shows how to link ecosystem services accounts to general equilibrium models to assess the economic impacts generated by changes in ecosystem services; in our example we address the impact of invasive alien species on pollination and in turn on pollination-dependent crops and their trade. The three applications provide several insights in terms of their usefulness at different steps of the policy cycle, their feasibility, their technical complexity (and thus the level of skill required) and also in terms of the primary users (from specialised analysts to a nonspecialised audience).
The Knowledge Innovation Project on an Integrated system of Natural Capital and ecosystem service... more The Knowledge Innovation Project on an Integrated system of Natural Capital and ecosystem services Accounting (KIP INCA) aims to work in line with the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting- Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EEA) and also to propose how the approaches to accounting can be further developed based on experience in the EU. The Technical Recommendations of SEEA EEA make proposals on how to develop accounting tables of ecosystem extent, asset, condition and service supply and use. This report outlines initial proposal for the service supply and use tables that will be produced by KIP INCA. JRC is the main organization responsible for the development of this set of accounts but it will collaborate closely with the other KIP partners. In particular, accounts will be developed for provisioning ecosystem services (arable cropping, marine fish, outdoor animal husbandry, timber and water), regulating and maintenance services (crop pollination, erosion control, water purification, air purification, global climate regulation and flood control) and cultural services (outdoor recreation). A detailed fact sheet with the description of each ecosystem service is also included in this report. The SEEA EEA proposes that the stocks in ecosystem accounts are represented by spatial areas, which constitute ecosystem assets. Drivers of change, such as land conversions and land management practises, alter the structure and processes within ecosystems and the functional characteristics of these ecosystem assets. A special section of this report reviews and compares a number of land cover datasets and discuss about the implications of dataset uncertainty on ecosystem service accounts. KIP INCA will apply and critically test the SEEA EEA framework. The work and experience of KIP INCA will be an essential contribution to the further development of the SEEA EEA during its current experimental phase.
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Services World Conference in Hannover, Germany in 2019. Eight cases are summarized here; applications of
ecosystem accounts in Europe, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Uganda, Bulgaria, Andalusia-Spain and
Oslo-Norway. Most of these applications are in line with the System of Integrated Environmental and
Economic Accounts (SEEA) framework and the outcomes are regarded as pilot attempts concluding in
interesting messages that should be accounted for in next development steps. All cases discuss the
compilation process of certain type of ecosystem asset or ecosystem services accounts either at regional,
national or local level depicting the methodological process as well as the main outcomes. They also report
the policy priorities that these accounts attempted to address and the policy implications that may follow
given the accounts’ results. Some of the strong highlights emerged from these cases are summarized as
follows: countries should initiate the development of accounts using currently available data and then evolve
this attempt based on pilot accounts. It is imperative that collaboration between institutes is ensured as
ecosystem accounting is a complex process that demands strong joint forces between different experts as
well as stakeholders. Demand for ecosystem accounts should be systematically developed if ecosystem
accounting is to be institutionalized. Accounts need to demonstrate clear messages and be linked to certain
policy needs even in this primary stage to foster policy support.
This report outlines initial proposal for the service supply and use tables that will be produced by KIP INCA. JRC is the main organization responsible for the development of this set of accounts but it will collaborate closely with the other KIP partners. In particular, accounts will be developed for provisioning ecosystem services (arable cropping, marine fish, outdoor animal husbandry, timber and water), regulating and maintenance services (crop pollination, erosion control, water purification, air purification, global climate regulation and flood control) and cultural services (outdoor recreation). A detailed fact sheet with the description of each ecosystem service is also included in this report.
The SEEA EEA proposes that the stocks in ecosystem accounts are represented by spatial areas, which constitute ecosystem assets. Drivers of change, such as land conversions and land management practises, alter the structure and processes within ecosystems and the functional characteristics of these ecosystem assets. A special section of this report reviews and compares a number of land cover datasets and discuss about the implications of dataset uncertainty on ecosystem service accounts.
KIP INCA will apply and critically test the SEEA EEA framework. The work and experience of KIP INCA will be an essential contribution to the further development of the SEEA EEA during its current experimental phase.