An experimental framework for ecosystem capital accounting in Europe. Technical Report No 13/2011.
Ecosystem accounts are being developed as part of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts which aims at supplementing the UN System of National Accounts with information on the environment and natural capital. The purpose is to broaden the scope of the variables taken into account in policymaking in order to improve understanding of the interdependence and interactions between the economy and the environment. Ultimately, these ecosystem accounts will yield new indicators and aggregates expressed in physical and monetary units that will be made available to policymakers and analysts to assess the efficiency of natural resource use, the pattern of economic growth, the contribution of nature and its use within and outside the market, the short- and longer-term constraints resulting from the need to maintain living and other renewable capital, and the related benefits and costs.