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of natural capital:
key ecosystem assets
Contributors
Barney Dickson, Ralph Blaney, Lera Miles, Eugenie Regan,
Arnout van Soesbergen, Elina Vnnen, Simon Blyth,
Mike Harfoot, Corinne Martin, Chris McOwen, Tim Newbold,
Jan-Willem van Bochove
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
219 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB3 0DL, UK
E-mail: barney.dickson@unep-wcmc.org
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Citation
Dickson, B., Blaney, R. Miles, L., Regan, E., van Soesbergen, A.,
Vnnen, E., Blyth, S., Harfoot, M. Martin, C.S., McOwen, C.,
Newbold, T., van Bochove, J. (2014). Towards a global map of
natural capital: Key ecosystem assets. UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya.
The United Nations Environment Programme World
Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is
the specialist biodiversity assessment centre of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the
worlds foremost intergovernmental environmental
organisation. The Centre has been in operation for over
30 years, combining scientific research with practical
policy advice.
Available online at:
http://wcmc.io/towards_a_global_map_of_natural_capital
UNEP promotes
environmentally sound practices
globally and in its own activities.
This publication is printed on paper
from sustainable forests including recycled
fibre. The paper is chlorine free, and the inks
vegetable-based. Our distribution policy
aims to reduce UNEPs carbon footprint.
CONTENTS
SUMMARY 4
1. Introduction
10
12
12
14
15
15
16
17
5.1. Methodology
17
18
5.2.1. Water
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
REFERENCES 33
ANNEX 1: TECHNICAL DESCRIPTIONS FOR EACH MAP
36
Summary
No data
High
Low
High
Low
5
Shoal of mackerel. Rich Carey, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
1. Introduction
Viales Valley. Robert Paul Van Beets, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
he most widely used definition of an ecosystem is that adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that defines
T
ecosystem as a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment
interacting as a functional unit (CBD, 1992, Article 2).
1
Natural Capital
Environmental Assets:
Ecosystem Assets
Natural Resources
The recoverable stock of fossil fuels (i.e. coal,
oil & gas)
Ecosystem
assets
Stocks
Ecosystem
services
The value
of ecosystem
benets
Other types of
capital: human,
manufactured
and social capital
Flows
Yellow saddle goatfish. Anna Segeren, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
10
Box 1
SYSTEM OF ENVIRONMENTAL-ECONOMIC ACCOUNTING
In 1993, the UN Statistics Division released the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). A
more developed SEEA was released ten years later, in order to provide increasingly detailed information on
a common framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the
economy on the environment. It aimed to provide policy-makers with indicators and descriptive statistics
to monitor these interactions. Following an extensive global revision process led by the UN Committee
of Experts in Environmental-Economic Accounting, in February 2012 the UN Statistical Commission
approved the revised SEEA as an international statistical standard (like the System of National Accounts),
providing an agreed methodology for producing internationally comparable environmental-economic
accounts. Many countries want to take natural capital accounting beyond quantifying the SEEA-approved
material resources, to include ecosystem services and other natural assets that are not traded. Work
on the Experimental Ecosystem Accounts, which will facilitate this, was completed in 2013 (European
Commission et al., 2013).
11
Great blue heron. Brian Guest. 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
12
13
14
The increasing prevalence of natural capital and ecosystem services thinking has resulted in the increase in assessment
methodologies and tools available (Knight, in prep.). Tools such as InVEST, Co$ting Nature, ARIES and MIMES aim to improve
the consideration of ecosystem services in decision-making.
2
Waterfall. Bule Sky Studio, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
15
16
Surveying mangroves. Tappasan Phurisamrit, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
17
Map 1:
18
No data
1
19
Kolsa lake, Kazakhstan, Pikoso.kz, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Map 2:
20
21
Mangrove trees. ckchiu, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
No data
1
Map 3:
22
3
No data
1
23
Soil with maize plants. Ryo Chijiwa, 2010.
Map 4:
24
No data
1
No data
1
25
No data
1
Red-eyed tree frog. Dirk Ercken, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
Map 7:
26
No data
1
Starfish. Nazir Erwan Amin, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
27
Beluga whales. CampCrazy, 2011. Used under license from Shutterstock.com
29
7
68
-1
58
26
94
15
-9
45
61
-2
00
16
85
59
-1
28
11
4
Map 8:
No data
1
Map 10:
30
No data
High
Low
High
Low
31
32
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Annex 1: Technical
descriptions for each map
Map 1: Global fresh water resources
Short description/caption: Global renewable
fresh water resources and water stored in large
lakes and reservoirs
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37
38
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978-92-807-3403-4
DEW/1824/NA