The role of enabling actors in ecosystem service accounting

Abstract

When accounting for ecosystem services, it is important to distinguish between the flow of services and the flow of benefits (which can be part of economic accounts or not) generated by those services. To disentangle services and benefits, particular attention has to be paid in allocating each category of flows in the use table to those institutional sectors that generate the need for the services and have the power to modify them -the enabling actors -and to final beneficiaries. The general concept of use, without specifying whether services or benefits are referred to, could in fact lead to misinterpretations. This paper discusses the issue of the allocation of ecosystem services and the role of enabling actors through a practical example of water purification accounts in the Netherlands. In particular,

Beyond the economic boundaries to account for ecosystem services

“…This is possible when the flow of the service is assessed through biophysical models that simulate biological systems using mathematical formalisations of physical properties and connect human influence (variables of the models) to biological and physical factors and vice versa. Human influence in this case represents the factor that activates the service and that modifies its flow: the enabling actor (La Notte and Marques, 2017).…”

“…We do not deny that the receivers of SNA and non-SNA benefits are those sectors and households who get the outcome of what is generated by the service, but the service itself should be attributed on the principle of activity-based allocation (United Nations et al, 2014b). Examples for water purification are presented by La Notte and Marques (2017).…”

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

“…When services and benefits are embedded it is not possible to establish a link between who modifies the actual flow and who enjoys or suffers the effects of this modification. When services and benefits are disentangled, policies are able to address the actors who have the power to modify the actual flow of the service, because the causality between them and the impact in terms of generation of benefits and flows returning to ecosystem types can be identified ( La Notte and Marques 2017 ).…”