Expert Meeting on Ecosystem Valuation in the context of Natural Capital Accounting

Expert Meeting on Ecosystem Valuation

The objective of the meeting is to establish and strengthen the dialogue between policy makers, environmental economists, ecosystem valuation practitioners and accountants, in the context of the Aichi Target 2 which calls to mainstream biodiversity in national accounts and action 5 of the European Union Biodiversity strategy of 2020, which calls to map and assess the state of ecosystems and their services, including economic valuation and integration into accounting and reporting systems. The meeting will also advance the research agenda on valuation in the context of the revision of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA). In response to the extended testing and experimentation in countries, there is an increasing demand to revise the SEEA EEA with the objective of reaching consensus on concepts, methods and classifications of ecosystem accounting by 2020.

Starting from the SEEA EEA research agenda on valuation and accounting, the meeting will address key issues on valuation concepts for ecosystem services and assets, explore suitable valuation methods for key ecosystem services, present the current state of the art of valuation in the context of ecosystem accounting and discuss issues pertaining to the valuation of ecosystem degradation and enhancement in the context in the SEEA EEA revision process.

The meeting is funded and organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN, for its German acronym), in collaboration with the United Nations Statistics Division and the United Nations Environment Programme. The meeting is also an activity of the European Union funded project “Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services”.

To find more details on the meeting and registration process, please click here.

Bundesamt fur Naturschutz (BfN) Bonn, Germany

Event Date

Tuesday, 24 April 2018 - 9:00am to Thursday, 26 April 2018 - 4:00pm

Presentations

Welcome and introduction.

Natural Capital Accounting - Thomas Graner - Deputy President BfN, Germany

II. Aims of the expert meeting - Beyhan Ekinci - BfN and Eduard Interwies - InterSus

Session 1: Setting the scene

1.1  SEEA EEA Framework, revision process and research agenda - Alessandra Alfieri, UNSD

1.2 (a) Policy demand and debate surrounding valuation issues - Salman Hussein, UN Environment

1.2 (b) Policy demand for ecosystem valuation in the European Union - Laure Ledoux, Deputy Head Biodiversity Unit, DG ENV, European Commission

1.3 Overview of the SEEA EEA with examples from The Netherlands - Sjoerd Schenau, Statistics Netherlands

1.4 EU Knowledge Innovation Project KIP-INCA - Lisa Waselikowski, EUROSTAT

Session 2: The valuation of ecosystem services for accounting

2.1 Key issues in the valuation of ecosystem services for ecosystem accounting - Carl Obst, UN Consultant

2.2 Theoretical developments in the comprehensive (or 'green") national accounting literature - Geir Asheim, University of Oslo

2.3 Compatibility between consumer surplus based values and real income - Burkhard Schweppe-Kraft, BfN

2.4 Learning from 30 years of non-market valuation - Luke Brander, VU University of Amsterdam and University of Hong Kong

2.5 Ecosystem services and asset valuation in the RECAMAN project: Integrating market and simulated exchange values - Alejandro Caparros, Spanish National Research Council, Spain

Session 3: Valuing ecosystem wealth, degradation and/or enahancement

3.1 World Bank's Accounting - Raffaello Cervigni, World Bank

3.2 Inclusive wealth index - Salman Hussain, UN Environment

3.3 Valuing natural capital in the context of ecoystem based management - Eli Fenichel, Yale University

3.4 A "collectively recognized ecological debt" based on a measure of the cost of ecosystem degradation - Yann Kervinio, Ministry of an Ecological and Solidary Transition, France

3.5 Applying the concept of defensive expenditures to ecosystem degradation and enhancement - Hans Dieferbacher, University of Heidelberg

3.6 Economic valuation of environment and policies in Mexico - Raul Figueroa Diaz, INEGI, Mexico

3.7 Estimating ecosystem wealth, degradation and enhancement in SEEA EEA - Carl Obst, UN Consultant

3.8 Valuing ecosystem wealth: the UK case Rocky Harris, DEFRA, UK

3.9 Corporate Natural Capital Accounting -  Will Evison, PWC

Paralell Sessions: Valuation of Ecosystem Assets

A1  Two approaches to Valuation of Ecosystem Assets: NPV and Cost-based

A2  Two approaches to Valuation of Ecosystem Assets: NPV and Cost-based

B1  Challenges and solutions to measuring the NPV of Ecosystem Assets

B2  Challenges and solutions to measuring the NPV of Ecosystem Assets

Paralell Sessions: Selected Regulating Services

Air Filtration - Rocky Harris, DEFRA, UK

Carbon Accounting and Air Filtration Lars Hein, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Erosion control in Japan - Takashi Hayashi, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan

Erosion control in South AfricaJane Turpie, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Erosion control - Summary

Crop pollinationAlessandra La Notte, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Pollination Services - Juha Silkamaki, IUCN

Urban recreation valuation - David Barton

Valuation of public green spacesJens Kolbe, Technishe Universitaet Berlin, Germany

Cultural Ecosystem Services Assessment - Loshadkin Konstantin, Cadaster Institute, Russia

Economic impacts of tourism in GermanyManuel Woltering, Universitaet Wuerzburg, Germany

Carbon AccountingLars Hein, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Carbon Sequestration - Peter Elsasser, Thuenen Institute for International Forestry and Forest Economics, Germany

Water PurificationAlessandra La Notte, Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Water quality amelioration - Jane Turpie, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Flood ControlTakashi Hayashi, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan

Water filtration Summary