In February this year, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) published Australia’s first set of National Ecosystem Accounts. The accounts follow the United Nations System of Environmental Economic Accounting Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) – the international standard for natural capital accounting.
The ABS will publish the National Ecosystem Accounts each year. This will provide consistent information about the relationship between the environment, society and the economy in Australia. Over time, the accounts will demonstrate trends in this crucial relationship and will allow us to track progress in a number of areas including:
- impacts of nature positive projects
- changes to wellbeing
- improvements in productivity
- responses to climate change
- opportunities for biodiversity conservation.
Ecosystem condition in the SEEA EA
Ecosystem condition is a fundamental part of the SEEA EA and consequently the National Ecosystem Accounts.
The SEEA EA defines ecosystem condition as the quality of an ecosystem as measured in terms of its abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) characteristics. The structure of the SEEA EA ecosystem condition accounts can be used to organise data to meet national and international reporting requirements. But the SEEA EA does not prescribe how each country should measure and report on ecosystem condition. This reflects the variety of ecosystem types around the world and the differences in resources available for data collection.
Australia, therefore, needs to establish our own ecosystem condition measurement framework, customised to our unique ecosystems.
A collaborative project to develop an ecosystem condition framework for Australia
IDEEA Group is pleased to let you know that we will be working with the Australian National University (ANU) and Griffith University on a collaborative project with the the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW). Together, we will develop a condition measurement framework and associated implementation plan for ecosystem condition accounts. Our work will be intrinsically aligned to the SEEA and will ultimately provide an effective resource for those preparing condition accounts in any context across Australia.
The SEEA EA recommends compiling condition accounts using the following steps:
- identify ecosystem condition characteristics (qualitative)
- identify condition variables (quantitative, unscaled)
- identify condition indicators (scaled against reference condition levels)
- develop a condition index (aggregation of condition indicators).
To apply the SEEA EA approach in an Australian context, our team will draw upon the large amount of existing literature and research on Australian methods for measuring ecosystem condition.
We will address the following questions:
- What can we learn from the ecosystem condition methods in use in Australia already to support further development of an Australian condition account? We will consider each method’s purpose, scope and alignment with the SEEA EA.
- How can the Australian Government ensure that an Australian ecosystem condition measurement framework is fit for purpose?
- What ecosystem characteristics should be measured as part of future ecosystem accounts? How can the account best encompass the range of characteristics described in the ecosystem condition typology?
This project will take place over the next few months, and we look forward to letting you know more about the framework and implementation plan once the project is complete.