Not seeing the accounts for the forest: A systematic literature review of ecosystem accounting for forest resource management purposes

Isobella Grover, Julianne O'Reilly-Wapstra, Shaun Suitor and Darla Hatton MacDonald

Ecological Economics, 2023, vol. 212, issue C

Abstract: Ecosystem accounting is a systematic approach that combines environmental and economic data to track the full physical and monetary value of natural capital and can be applied at various spatial scales and for a range of purposes. Our main objective is to identify where and how ecosystem accounting has been applied in the specific context of forest resource management. We selected the System of Economic Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA) Ecosystem Accounting (EA) which is aligned with national accounting for our analysis. Our systematic literature review was conducted on publications between 2012 and 2023 that apply SEEA EA consistent methodology for forest ecosystems globally. We find the use of SEEA EA consistent ecosystem accounts in forestry have been limited and tends to occur where governmental and institutional support is available. Detailed analysis of forestry case studies identified gaps and challenges including the variation in which SEEA EA had been applied, limited number of ecosystem services reported, issues related to valuation, and a lack of industry adoption. The results of this review highlight the urgent need to make ecosystem accounting more achievable and accessible in the forest sector to ensure that quantifying forest natural capital is mainstreamed for decision and policy processes.

Keywords: SEEA EA; Ecosystem accounting; Forest ecosystems; Systematic literature review; Sustainable Forest management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:212:y:2023:i:c:s0921800923001854

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107922

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