Alessandra La Notte

Ecosystem services classification: a systems ecology perspective of the cascade framework

Highlights • Different ecosystem service definitions and interpretations create too much ambiguity.• The cascade model is used as framework, and Systems Ecology as theoretical basis.• The notions of biomass information and interaction enrich a refreshed conceptualization.• The cascade framework shifts from a ‘two dimensional’ to a ‘telescopic’ perspective.• This perspective can emphasize the ecological dimension and its complex reality.

Spatially explicit monetary valuation of water purification services in the Mediterranean bio-geographical region

This case study tested an approach for large-scale monetary valuation of water purification services based on spatially explicit, biophysical mapping of nitrogen retention in river networks. The study area for the case study was the Mediterranean bio-geographical region. The monetary value of nitrogen retention was assessed using replacement costs (RCs), based on the construction, operation and maintenance of constructed wetlands (CWs). The value of nitrogen retention by rivers in 2005 was estimated at €2167 km–1, on average. If the capacity or the potential of rivers and lakes to retain nitrogen was considered, the monetary value was €35,000 km–1 on average, much higher than the effective retention. The coupling between a biophysical model simulating the transport and retention of nitrogen in the aquatic environment and monetary estimates of potential and realized nitrogen removal resulted in detailed spatial information of one of the benefits that are provided by rivers and streams.

Physical and monetary ecosystem service accounts for Europe: A case study for in-stream nitrogen retention

In this paper we present a case study of integrated ecosystem and economic accounting based on the System of Environmental Economic Accounting — Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA-EEA). We develop accounts, in physical and monetary terms, for the water purification ecosystem service in Europe over a 20-year time period (1985–2005). The estimation of nitrogen retention is based on the GREEN biophysical model, within which we impose a sustainability threshold to obtain the physical indicators of capacity – the ability of an ecosystem to sustainably supply ecosystem services. Key messages of our paper pertain the notion of capacity, operationalized in accounting terms with reference to individual ecosystem services rather than to the ecosystem as a whole, and intended as the stock that provides the sustainable flow of the service. The study clarifies the difference between sustainable flow and actual flow of the service, which should be calculated jointly so as to enable an assessment of the sustainability of current use of ecosystem services. Finally, by distinguishing the notion of ‘process’ (referred to the ecosystem) from that of ‘capacity’ (pertaining specific services) and proposing a methodology to calculate capacity and flow, we suggest an implementable way to operationalize the SEEA-EEA accounts.

Environmental Accounting at Different Levels of Government: The State of the Art

Environmental policy, focusing on the control of pollution and on over-exploitation, easily overlooks the extensive range of interconnections between economic activities and natural systems. In this timely book, a number of specialists examine how crucial aspects of complex environmental problems and policy can be dealt with in decentralized governmental systems.

Sustainability assessment and causality nexus through ecosystem service accounting: The case of water purification in Europe

The paper builds on the Supply and Use Tables module within the System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts - Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EEA) developed by the UN. We explore the evolution of Supply and Use Tables from the System of National Accounts (SNA) to the System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounts - Central Framework (SEEA CF) and then to the SEEA EEA, and we propose a further extension: we propose that ecosystem types should be treated as accounting units able to produce, consume and exhibit changes in regeneration and absorption rates. The implications are first explained in the methodological section and then shown in the application where the water purification service is tested against two major policy issues: sustainability assessment (we show how to assess whether the ecosystem service is used sustainably by comparing the quantification of potential and actual flow) and causality nexus (we quantify the connection between the value of agricultural production and that of the ecosystem service used). The paper highlights how the overall outcomes change when considering different scales. A contrast emerges, for example, between the positive balance at the continental scale, where water purification services appear to be used sustainably (thanks to the high potential flow of Northern European countries) and the negative balance of almost all European countries when considered at a national scale. Taking advantage of the experimental opportunities offered by operating with external satellite accounts, we are able to show how the proposed complementary tables could support policy action.