Piloting accounts for recreational ecosystem services: Quality, use, and monetary value of freshwaters in Finland

Abstract

Ecosystem accounting produces data on ecosystems, their condition, and the services they provide in a consistent and comparable form with the System of National Accounts (SNA). This study focused on accounting of recreational ecosystem services in the context of freshwaters in Finland. We used georeferenced data to measure the extent and condition of ecosystems available for recreation, and representative population data to measure the actual use of the services. In the monetary valuation of the recreational service, we applied the simulated exchange value method, which has been developed for the monetary valuation of non-market ecosystem services in accordance with the SNA. We extend the simulated exchange value method to incorporate the effect of water quality on the number and monetary value of recreational visits.