Der Beitrag gibt einen kurzen ideengeschichtlichen Überblick über wesentliche Entwicklungen bis zur heutigen Naturschutzökonomie. Dafür werden Meilensteine der Disziplin skizziert. Darüber hinaus zeigt der Beitrag den Bedeutungszuwachs der Disziplin anhand der verstärkten thematischen Verankerung in (inter)nationalen Rahmenwerken und Strategien auf. Um die thematische Vielfalt der Naturschutzökonomie zu veranschaulichen, werden ausgewählte Teilbereiche und deren Entwicklungen dargestellt. Dazu gehören die monetäre Bewertung von Ökosystemen und deren Leistungen, ökonomische Aspekte der Wiederherstellung der Natur, Ausgaben und Finanzierung des Naturschutzes, Unternehmen und Biodiversität, Subventionen und weitere Anreizinstrumente mit Auswirkungen auf die Biodiversität sowie die Ökosystemgesamtrechnung.
Bemühungen um Nachhaltigkeit, Schutzgebietssysteme und Biodiversitätsstrategien haben bislang nicht zu einer Trendumkehr beim Verlust von Arten, intakten Ökosystemen und Landschaftsräumen geführt. Eine wesentliche Ursache wird im strukturellen Versagen ökonomischer Berichterstattung sowohl auf der nationalen als auch der Unternehmensebene gesehen. Im neuen Policy-Brief des BfN wird daher empfohlen, die Wirtschaftsberichterstattung in Deutschland zu erweitern, etwa indem die Erfassung und Bewertung der verschiedenen Ökosysteme, ihrer Ausmaßes und Zustands sowie der Ökosystemleistungen als jährliche Flussgrößen fortgeführt und in die Ökosystemgesamtrechnungen (international: SEEA-EA) integriert werden müssen.
Press New digital atlas shows ecosystems in Germany Distribution of settlement areas, farmland, forests and water bodies in Germany Share Press release No. 526 of 18 November 2021 WIESBADEN – There is a wide variety of ecosystems in Germany whose sizes vary considerably between regions. Their great importance for climate protection and biodiversity is increasingly a focus of public attention. The Ecosystem Atlas (only in German) of the Federal Statistical Office ( Destatis ) now makes the spatial distribution of ecosystems visible. Combining geospatial data to present carbon storing ecosystems “The Ecosystem Atlas is based on the complete area balance sheet for all ecosystems. It is the first time that this was done for all of Germany without exceptions,” said Dr. Georg Thiel, President of the Federal Statistical Office, when he presented the Atlas at the Scientific Colloquium (only in German) “By combining geospatial data we can determine the ecosystem type of every area, be it ever so small. What we get is an accurate representation of the areas covered by floodplain forests and bogs, for instance. These ecosystems are particularly important for carbon storage and thus climate regulation.” Great variety of the regional landscape becomes visible Users can view detailed spatial data of each municipality or association of municipalities for as many as 74 different ecosystem classes. This makes regional differences visible. In the municipality of Backnang in southwest Germany, for example, the largest share of the municipal area was covered by orchard meadows (11% or roughly 1,900 hectares) in 2018. In Wittstock/Dosse in the northeast, approximately 3,300 hectares of heathland (8% of the municipal area) dominated the landscape. Changes in the ecosystems from 2015 to 2018 are shown as well. In addition, separate thematic maps on settlement areas, farmland, forests, open land and water bodies show the wide variety of ecosystems in all of Germany. For example, field hedges are most widespread in northern Germany, while mixed forests can be found mainly in the southern part of the country. Next expansion stages: State of, and services provided by ecosystems The data basis used for the Ecosystem Atlas is the area balance sheet of the ecosystems, 2015 to 2018, which has been developed in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy. The area balance sheet is the first step in setting up a comprehensive reporting system of ecosystem accounts. As the next step to be done in 2022, the state of the ecosystems will be assessed by means of selected variables and indicators. The services provided by ecosystems to society, such as protection against erosion or flooding, will then be calculated. Ecosystem accounts are an extension to environmental-economic accounts. It is planned to continue all ecosystem balance sheets in the form of time series at regular intervals. This reliable data basis on the use of ecosystems for mankind will allow decision-makers in politics and society to take adequate account of the services provided by the environment. More information: The Ecosystem Atlas and the tables on the area balance sheet of ecosystems are the first partial results of ecosystem accounts published by the Federal Statistical Office. Detailed results on this topic are contained in the volume of tables on the area balance sheet of ecosystems on the environmental-economic accounting theme page. More information on the methodology is available in the Methodenbericht . contact for further info Environmental-economic accounting Phone: +49 611 75 8855 Contact Form
Presse Neuer digitaler Atlas zeigt Ökosysteme in Deutschland So sind Siedlungsflächen, Agrarland, Wälder und Gewässer in Deutschland verteilt Seite teilen Pressemitteilung Nr. 526 vom 18. November 2021 WIESBADEN – In Deutschland gibt es eine große Vielfalt an Ökosystemen, deren Verbreitung regional stark variiert. Ihre hohe Bedeutung für Klimaschutz und Biodiversität rückt immer stärker in den öffentlichen Fokus. Mit dem Ökosystematlas des Statistischen Bundesamtes (Destatis) wird die räumliche Verteilung der Ökosysteme nun sichtbar gemacht. Darstellung kohlenstoffspeichernder Ökosysteme durch Kombination von Geodaten „Der Ökosystematlas basiert auf der lückenlosen Flächenbilanzierung aller Ökosysteme. Diese wurde erstmals bundesweit vollständig durchgeführt“, so Dr. Georg Thiel, Präsident des Statistischen Bundesamtes bei der Präsentation des Angebots im Rahmen des Wissenschaftlichen Kolloquiums . „Durch die Kombination von Geodaten ist es möglich, für jede noch so kleine Fläche einen Ökosystemtyp zu bestimmen. So werden zum Beispiel Ökosysteme wie Auenwälder und Moore, die für die Kohlenstoffspeicherung und damit Klimaregulierung besonders wichtig sind, flächenscharf erfasst.“ Landschaftliche Vielfalt wird regional sichtbar Nutzerinnen und Nutzer können sich für jede Gemeinde beziehungsweise jeden Gemeindeverband detaillierte Flächenangaben zu insgesamt 74 verschiedenen Ökosystemklassen anzeigen lassen. Dadurch werden regionale Unterschiede sichtbar. So hatte im Jahr 2018 die Gemeinde Backnang im Südwesten Deutschlands mit rund 1 900 Hektar beziehungsweise 11 % ihrer Gemeindefläche flächenmäßig den höchsten Anteil Streuobstwiesen. In der Gemeinde Wittstock/Dosse im Nordosten war Heideland mit rund 3 300 Hektar (8 % der Gemeindefläche) landschaftsprägend. Auch die Veränderung der Ökosysteme im Vergleich von 2015 zu 2018 wird dargestellt. Einzelne thematische Karten zu Siedlungsflächen, Agrarland, Wäldern, Offenland und Gewässern zeigen zudem bundesweit die Vielfalt der Ökosysteme: So sind beispielsweise Feldhecken am weitesten im Norden Deutschlands verbreitet, während Mischwälder vor allem im Süden des Landes vorkommen. Nächste Ausbaustufen: Zustand und Leistungen der Ökosysteme Als Datengrundlage für den Ökosystematlas dient die Flächenbilanz der Ökosysteme 2015 - 2018 , welche in Kooperation mit dem Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie (BKG) erstellt wurde. Die Flächenbilanz ist der erste Schritt zum Aufbau eines umfassenden Berichtssystems der Ökosystemgesamtrechnungen. In einem nächsten Schritt wird 2022 zunächst der Zustand der Ökosysteme anhand von ausgewählten Variablen und Indikatoren bilanziert. Anschließend erfolgt die Berechnung der Leistungen, die Ökosysteme für die Gesellschaft zur Verfügung stellen, wie beispielsweise Erosions- oder Überflutungsschutz. Die Ökosystemgesamtrechnungen stellen eine Erweiterung der Umweltökonomischen Gesamtrechnungen dar. Alle Ökosystembilanzen sollen in Zukunft als Zeitreihen in regelmäßigen Intervallen fortgeführt werden. Diese verlässliche Datengrundlage über den Nutzen der Ökosysteme für den Menschen ermöglicht Entscheidungsträgern in Politik und Gesellschaft, die Leistungen der Umwelt adäquat zu berücksichtigen. Weitere Informationen: Mit dem Ökosystematlas und den Tabellen der Flächenbilanz der Ökosysteme veröffentlicht das Statistische Bundesamt die ersten Teilergebnisse der Ökosystemgesamtrechnungen. Detaillierte Ergebnisse zum Thema enthält der Tabellenband Flächenbilanz der Ökosysteme auf der Themenseite der Umweltökonomischen Gesamtrechnungen . Weitere Informationen zu Methodik finden Sie im Methodenbericht . Kontakt für weitere Auskünfte Umweltökonomische Gesamtrechnungen (UGR) Telefon: +49 611 75 8855 Zum Kontaktformular Zum Thema Umweltökonomie Ökosystematlas Ökosystemrechnungen Klima
The WISE Water Accounts database contains monthly water accounts for the years 1990-2015 for 117 European river basins extracted from the ECRINS functional river basin districts. This resource contains the spatial vector data related to the water accounts tabular data. The water accounts tabular data can be accessed here: https://sdi.eea.europa.eu/catalogue/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/73f4f0ae-aa2c-49fd-9fc4-9feb4792e646 Extensive clarifications on the development of the European water accounts can be found in the following reports published by the European Commission (DG ENV): "Guidance document on the application of water balances for supporting the implementation of the Water Framework Directive" (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/balances.htm) and "Water ecosystem accounts reports" (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/blueprint/balances.htm)
Objective: Despite improved understanding of the links between ecosystem health, provision of ecosystem services and human well-being, further conceptual and empirical work is needed to make the ideas of ecosystem services (ESS) and natural capital (NC) operational. OpenNESS will therefore develop innovative and practical ways of applying them in land, water and urban management: it will identify how, where and when the concepts can most effectively be applied to solve problems. To do this, it will work with public and private decision makers and stakeholders to better understand the range of policy and management problems faced in different case study contexts (ranging across locales, sectors, scales and time). OpenNESS will consolidate, refine and develop a range of spatially-explicit methods to identify, quantify and value ecosystem services, and will develop hybrid assessment methods. It will also explore the effectiveness of financial and governance mechanisms, such as payments for ecosystem services, habitat banking, biodiversity offsetting and land and ecosystem accounting. These types of interventions have potential for sustaining ESS and NC, and for the design of new economic and social investment opportunities. Finally, OpenNESS will assess how current regulatory frameworks and other institutional factors at EU and national levels enable or constrain consideration of ESS and NC, and identify the implications for issues related to well-being, governance and competitiveness. OpenNESS will analyse the knowledge that is needed to define ESS and NC in the legal, administrative and political contexts that are relevant to the EU. The work will deliver a menu of multi-scale solutions to be used in real life situations by stakeholders, practitioners, and decision makers in public and business organizations, by providing new frameworks, data-sets, methods and tools that are fit-for-purpose and sensitive to the plurality of decision-making contexts.
Environmental-economic accounts provide a comprehensive overview of the interaction between the environment and the economy. They are based on the internationally agreed System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) and use standard concepts, definitions and classifications. Environmental-economic accounts are compatible with national accounts to the excent possible and thus provide aditional aspects to the economic view of national accounts. The coherent accounting aspects to the economic view of national accounts. The coherent accounting system of environmental-economic accounts is an important tool for analysis and policy impact assessment, also in combination with the accounting system of national accounts. Overview Here you will find an overview of the environmental-economic accounts at the Federal Statistical Office. More Raw materials, material flows, water Here you will find information on the extraction or harvest of raw materials in Germany, on the global use of raw materials for German consumption, on the use of water in production processes and households and on the waste water produced as a result. More Energy flows, emissions Energy accounts provide information on how much energy is consumed in production processes, transport and households and what energy sources are used. Air emission accounts provide information on the extent to which greenhouse gases such as CO 2 and air pollutants are produced during the production or use of energy and beyond. More Taxes and other charges Environmentally related tax accounts provide information on taxes that have a potential effect on the environment. This information refers to the time the environmental impact of the tax occurs rather than when payment of the tax is received. In addition to the energy and electricity tax, the nuclear fuel tax, motor vehicle tax and aviation tax, environmentally related taxes also include revenues from the national and European emissions trading systems, the EEG surcharge under the Renewable Energy Sources Act, other charges included in the price of electricity and the contribution to the German National Petroleum Stockpiling Agency. More Environmental protection expenditure Environmental protection comprises any measures aimed at preventing, reducing and eliminating pollution and any other degration of the environment. General government, corporations and households not only make investments but also incur current expenditure to protect the environment. This section shows current expenditure and investments for water protection, waste disposal, protection of biodiversity and landscapes, and many other environmnetal areas by sector (general government, corporations, households). More Agriculture, forest Forests cover just under one third of Germany's territory. Due to their resources of wood, they are not only an economic factor but they also have ecological functions such as air quality control, climate protection and biodiversity. The wood biomass balance of forest accounts shows the economic aspects, and the carbon balance the ecological aspects of the forest ecosystem and its products, among other things. Half of the area of Gemany is used for agriculture. These areas are shown here together with the areas used worldwide for food products consumed in Gemany. Information on the agricultural accounts (only in german) showing the income and product flows in agriculture is provided by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. More Transport and tourism Transport is one of the main causes of energy consumption and emissions. This section shows various aspects related to transport such as how homegeneous branches and households contribute to the environmental effects, or the use of motor fuels and the volume of environmental taxes in the context of transport. Tourism affects the environment in many different ways. Environmental-Economic Accounts deal with various environmental-economic aspects of tourism. These include the sector's energy demand and raw material input, the greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions caused by tourism as well as environmental protection expenditure. More Private households Housing accounts for roughly one quarter of final energy consumption in Germany. This includes room heating, hot water supply, the operation of electrical appliances and lighting. This section provides detailed informaion on these items. More Ecosystem accounts Germany has a multitude of different ecosystems ranging from tidal flats, forest and agricultural landscapes to alpine pastures and mountain meadows. These ecosystems provide manifold services such as storing carbon, providing food and local recreation. The purpose of ecosystem accounting is to systematically cover, and represent over time, the geographical extent and the state of ecosystems and the services they provide for mankind. In a first step, results of the area balance sheet of ecosystems are published. This means that all areas of Gemany are assigned without gaps to one of 74 ecosystem classes and are then aggregated to form ecosystem groups, divisions and sections, in accordance with the national classification. More
This paper gives a short overview of the main objectives, the structure and the technical challenges in building a nationwide extent account. We aim to lay out and discuss general guidelines for each step, including a thorough description of semiautomated data handling and geo-data processing that facilitate the integration of future data, updates and revisions. The new ecosystem extent account for Germany, set up by the German Federal Statistical Office, is used as an example. Finally, we discuss which aspects of the SEEA EA framework have been helpful and which areas need more effective guidance to set up the extent account on a national level.
The aim of the Federal Statistical Office’s ecosystem accounts is to create a uniform data basis nationwide on the extent, condition and services of ecosystems. The accounts support monitoring and environmental policy analysis and are an important data basis at the interface between society, economy and nature. Alongside the ecosystem extent account, the ecosystem condition account is the second core component of the reporting system. Presenting selected variables and indicators, the ecosystem condition account provides comprehensive information on the quality of the ecosystems. The results are published in tabular accounts and also in map format in some cases. Authors: Marius Bellingen, Simon Felgendreher, Jonathan Reith, Simon Schürz Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 1/2024
CORINE Land Cover (CLC) data are produced from 1986 for European countries. Altogether four mapping inventories were implemented in this period, producing four status layers (CLC1990, CLC2000, CLC2006, CLC2012) and three CLC-change (CLCC) layers for three periods (1990-2000, 2000-2006, 2006-2012). To eliminate several inconsistencies from the usage of 100m raster version of original CLC data in the accounting systems at EEA, like Land and Ecosystem Accounting (LEAC), which uses a 1km grid (CUBE) base for calculation, a harmonization method were elaborated for the CLC and CLCC data. The applied solution for the harmonization combines CLC status and change layers in the 100m raster form in order to create homogeneous quality time series of CLC / CLC-change layers for accounting purposes. The so called "CLC accounting layers" fulfilling the relation: CLC-change = Harmonized CLC_ new status – Harmonized CLC old status. The modification method maximizes compatibility of “backdated” CLC status layers with CLC2012 and each other. However this simple solution causes several issues to be solved: (1) Harmonized CLC layers loose statistical comparability with original CLC layers, because of increased geometry; smaller than 25ha MMU features will appear locally where changes appear. In case of some CLC classes this causes significant differences. (2) “Fake features” are appearing in the backdated CLC status layers due to inconsistencies between CLC-change datasets. CLC1990 was the first CORINE Land Cover inventory and lasted for 10 years. Photo-Interpretation mostly done on plastic overlay. Field checking was an integral part of the work. The basic parameters of the project (25 ha minimum mapping unit, 100 m minimum mapping width and the European level-3 nomenclature) tested. These are used consistently in all subsequent inventories.