Bridging the gap between ecosystem service indicators and ecosystem accounting in Finland

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how progress on ecosystem service indicators could contribute to ecosystem accounting within the scope of environmental-economic accounting in Finland. We propose an integration framework and examine the integration of ecosystem service indicators into environmental-economic accounting with two case studies relevant for Finland: (1) water-related ecosystem services and (2) the ecosystem services of fish provisioning in marine ecosystems. In light of these case studies, we evaluate the relevance of existing Finnish ecosystem service indicators, the data availability for ecosystem accounting in Finland, and the applicability of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting ö Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA) framework to integrate Finnish ecosystem service indicators and other relevant data into environmental-economic accounts. The results indicate that the present ecosystem service indicators can assist in creating a basis for ecosystem accounting, but the indicators require further elaboration to be more compatible with the existing environmental-economic accounting system.