Research On Terrestrial Ecosystem Accounting Methods And Applications In China

In March 2021,the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted a landmark new accounting framework,the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting:Ecosystem Accounting(SEEA EA).This new SEEA framework explicitly incorporates natural capital-forests,wetlands,and other ecosystems-into economic reporting.While numerous scholars have argued that the gross domestic product(GDP)metric commonly used in the economy is a good measure of the value of goods and services exchanged in the marketplace,it does not reflect the economy’s dependence on nature or its impact on nature,such as the deterioration of water quality or the loss of forests.In the last 50 years,the global economy has grown nearly fivefold,but at the same time the exploitation of natural resources and energy has tripled.The misuse of natural resources has resulted in a global climate crisis,environmental pollution,and species extinction,among other harsh consequences.The introduction of the new accounting framework can make more countries aware of the importance of ecosystems,and through the estimation of natural capital,it can highlight the contribution of nature in human development and reshape the relationship between humans and nature.Currently,more than 34 countries are experimenting with ecosystem accounting standards.China,as one of the member countries of the UN project"Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services",has also launched a pilot project in Guizhou province.However,the pilot project is still focused on the preparation of natural resource balance sheets with Chinese characteristics,only starting with individual resources,lacking a study of the ecosystem as a whole,and differing greatly from the ecosystem accounting content of other countries.It is also necessary to study the ecosystem as a whole in order to compare the results of research in other countries.Therefore,this paper tries to from the basic concept of ecological system of accounting,basic accounting principles,basic principles,scope of business accounting,accounting contents,accounting framework,and researching the ecosystem valuation method,to build the core consists of five terrestrial ecosystem accounting accounts and a terrestrial ecosystem project accounting account China’s terrestrial ecosystems,including accounting account system.Five core of terrestrial ecosystems accounting account are scope of terrestrial ecosystems,the condition of terrestrial ecosystems,converting land ecosystem services accounting account(in the form of converting ecosystem services supply and use of the account),terrestrial ecosystem service value accounting account(in the form of value ecosystem services supply and use of the account)and terrestrial ecosystems asset value accounting account.A thematic account for terrestrial ecosystems is the forest ecosystem balance sheet.The internal relations of these five core accounts are as follows:(1)the ecosystem scope account and the ecosystem condition account are mainly used to describe the characteristics of the ecosystem and the characteristics of the ecosystem will affect the supply of ecosystem services.Therefore,these two types of accounts are related to the ecosystem services account in the form of physical quantities.(2)Through the valuation of ecosystem services,the ecosystem services accounting account in the form of physical quantity can be transformed into the ecosystem services accounting account in the form of value quantity.(3)By discounting the future ecosystem service flows,we can estimate the value of ecosystem assets and compile an accounting account of ecosystem assets value.Based on the above terrestrial ecosystem accounting system,this paper formulated the Chinese terrestrial ecosystem accounting account.It mainly includes China’s terrestrial ecosystem scope account from 1980 to 2020,China’s terrestrial ecosystem condition account from 1999 to 2019,China’s terrestrial ecosystem service supply account from 2020,China’s terrestrial ecosystem service use account from 2020,and China’s terrestrial ecosystem asset account from 2020.The results show that the extent of settlement ecosystems has increased the most by 80.86%and 120400 km~2 between 1980 and 2020.Other ecosystems(bare land and bare rock and gravel land)have increased by 23.02%and142400 km~2.The areas of farmland ecosystems,forest ecosystems,water bodies and wetland ecosystems,and desert ecosystems have slightly increased.The extent of grassland ecosystem has decreased significantly by 11.12%,and decreased by 338900 square kilometers.Specifically,from 1980 to 2010,the area of settlement ecosystems did not change substantially although it increased year by year,but from 2010 onward,the scope of settlement ecosystems expanded rapidly,increasing by 69,400 square kilometers between2010 and 2020,which is 35.17%higher compared to the total area of settlement ecosystems in 2010.About half of the agricultural land is converted into settlement ecosystems,while other types of land are converted back into agricultural land.Of all terrestrial ecosystem types,only the area of grassland ecosystems decreased over the 40-year period,and most of the reduced area(58.45%)was converted into desert and other ecosystems(mainly bare land and bare rocky texture),thus the degradation of grassland was the most serious.The annual value of ecosystem services produced by terrestrial ecosystems in China in2020 is 4264.158 billion yuan,which is about 42.27%of GDP in 2020.The annual ecosystem service value of agricultural ecosystems is 288.5198 billion yuan,the annual ecosystem service value of forest ecosystems is 159.87715 billion yuan,the annual ecosystem service value of grassland is 115.96819 billion yuan,the annual ecosystem service value of water bodies and wetland ecosystems is 116.01929 billion yuan,and the annual ecosystem service value of desert ecosystems is 515.382 billion yuan,and other ecosystems produce ecosystem services worth 54.515 billion yuan per year.Collectively,forest ecosystems produce the highest annual value of ecosystem services,followed by water and wetland ecosystems and grassland ecosystems.Categorically,China’s terrestrial ecosystems produce the highest value of hydrological regulation services at 142,578.70billion yuan,followed by climate regulation services at 847,888.88 billion yuan,and again by soil conservation services at 409,757.79 billion yuan.In terms of provinces,Tibet(5,978.553 billion yuan)and Inner Mongolia(4,818.193 billion yuan)generated the largest total value of ecosystem services.In terms of the supply and use of ecosystem services,there is a clear difference between the southeast and northwest regions of China,with demand exceeding supply in the southeast and supply exceeding demand in the northwest.The total value of China’s terrestrial ecosystem assets in 2020 is 3,535.90 trillion yuan,of which the value of farmland ecosystem assets is 261.06 trillion yuan,forest ecosystem assets is 1,314.38 trillion yuan,grassland ecosystem assets is 957.13 trillion yuan,water and wetland ecosystems is 956.70 trillion yuan,desert ecosystem assets is 42.27 trillion yuan,and other ecosystem assets valued at 4.36 trillion yuan.In terms of provinces,the five provinces with the highest total ecosystem assets are Tibet(496.47 trillion yuan),Inner Mongolia(400.33 trillion yuan),Heilongjiang(284.14 trillion yuan),Xinjiang(281.94trillion yuan)and Qinghai.(275.70 trillion yuan).The innovation of this paper is as follows:According to the supply and use of terrestrial ecosystem services,a three-tier progressive ecosystem services classification system is constructed,so that the accounting data of terrestrial ecosystem services can be better incorporated into the accounting account.Based on the actual situation of China,this paper set up the thematic accounting account and the balance sheet of China’s terrestrial ecosystem,and took the forest ecosystem as an example to carry out the research.According to China’s national conditions and data basis,based on China’s terrestrial ecosystem assets classification method and ecosystem services classification method,and referring to the ecosystem accounting framework of SEEA EA,this paper constructed China’s terrestrial ecosystem accounting account system.Finally,according to the construction of the Chinese terrestrial ecosystem accounting account system,the Chinese terrestrial ecosystem accounting account is actually compiled.Through the above theoretical research and practical exploration,we hope to provide reference for the pilot work of ecosystem accounting in China.