Basic Principles of Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) Accounting

doi:10.5814/j.issn.1674-764x.2022.03.014

Abstract

Abstract:

Gross ecosystem product (GEP) is the gross value of all ecosystem products and services provided by ecosystems for human society. In practice, GEP measures the ecosystems' contributions to human well-being and constitutes one of the core issues in the construction of ecological civilization systems. Currently, GEP accounting faces a series of problems, such as the inconsistency of accounting subjects and a lack of accounting standards, the result of which is the non-reproducibility and weak applicability of accounting results. In this paper, mainstream models for ecosystem service valuation are summarized in a systematic manner. On this basis, eight basic principles are established for screening accounting indicators: biological productivity, human benefits, production territoriality, current increment, actual effectiveness, physical metrizability, data availability, and harmlessness. Next, a series of ecosystem service subjects are identified that need to be excluded from accounting, and the detailed reasons for their exclusion are presented. Finally, three ideas for improving GEP accounting are offered from the perspectives of the relationship between biological production and human production, the circulation-transport relationship and spatial differences, and harms to the ecosystem carrying capacity. The purpose is to provide positive considerations aimed at promoting the socio-economic applications of accounting and to contribute to the scientific quantification of the values of ecological products.

Key words: gross ecosystem product (GEP), ecosystem services, application of accounting results

ZHANG Linbo, HAO Chaozhi, SONG Yang, WANG Yiyao, ZHANG Wentao, HUANG Yuhua, LIANG Tian. Basic Principles of Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) Accounting[J]. Journal of Resources and Ecology, 2022, 13(3): 501-510.

Figures/Tables 3

References 25

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Functional category	Costanza et al. (1997)	MEA (2005)	TEEB (2010)	UN (2021)
Ecosystem products	Food production	Food	Food	Biomass
	Raw materials	Fiber	Raw materials	Genetic material
	Water resources	Fresh water	Water	Water supply
	Gene resources	Genetic resources	Genetic resources	Other
	-	Biochemicals, natural medicines, and pharmaceuticals	Medicinal resource	-
	-	Decorative resources	Ornamental resources	-
Human settlement regulation	Climate regulation	Regulation of climate	Climate regulation	Global and local climate regulation
Human settlement regulation	Gas regulation	Regulation of climate	Climate regulation	Rainfall pattern regulation Noise attenuation
Pollutant and waste treatment	Waste treatment	Regulation of air quality	Air quality regulation	Air filtration
		Purification of water	Water purification	Water purification
		Disposal of wastes	Waste treatment	Solid waste remediation
Ecological and hydrological regulation	Water regulation	Regulation of water resources	Water flow regulation	Water flow regulation
Ecosystem disaster mitigation	Interference regulation	Regulation of natural disasters	Moderation of extreme events	Flood control Storm mitigation
	Biological control	Disease regulation	Biological prevention and control	-
	Biological control	Pest regulation	Biological prevention and control	-
Soil erosion control	Erosion control and sediment retention	Regulation of erosion	Prevention of erosion	Soil quality regulation Soil and sediment retention
Spiritual and cultural services	Leisure and recreation	Pastime and ecotourism	Recreation and tourism opportunity	Recreation Visual amenity
	Cultural services (arts, aesthetics, spirit, education, and science)	Aesthetic value	Aesthetic information	Education, scientific and research
		Knowledge system	Culture, arts, and design inspiration
		Educational value
		Inspiration
		Social relations	Cognitive development information
		Spiritual and religious value	Spiritual experience	Spiritual, symbolic, and artistic
		Nostalgia complex
		Traditional cultural values
Supporting services	Soil formation	Soil formation	‒	‒
	‒	Photosynthesis	-	Nursery population and habitat
	‒	Primary production	‒	‒
	Nutrient cycling	Nutrient cycling	‒	‒
	‒	Water cycling	-	‒
	Epibiotic species reserves	-	Gene pool protection	Maintenance
	‒	-	Lifecycle maintenance	Biological control
	Pollination	Pollination	Pollination	Pollination

Functional category	Costanza et al. (1997)	MEA (2005)	TEEB (2010)	UN (2021)
Ecosystem products	Food production	Food	Food	Biomass
	Raw materials	Fiber	Raw materials	Genetic material
	Water resources	Fresh water	Water	Water supply
	Gene resources	Genetic resources	Genetic resources	Other
	-	Biochemicals, natural medicines, and pharmaceuticals	Medicinal resource	-
	-	Decorative resources	Ornamental resources	-
Human settlement regulation	Climate regulation	Regulation of climate	Climate regulation	Global and local climate regulation
Human settlement regulation	Gas regulation	Regulation of climate	Climate regulation	Rainfall pattern regulation Noise attenuation
Pollutant and waste treatment	Waste treatment	Regulation of air quality	Air quality regulation	Air filtration
		Purification of water	Water purification	Water purification
		Disposal of wastes	Waste treatment	Solid waste remediation
Ecological and hydrological regulation	Water regulation	Regulation of water resources	Water flow regulation	Water flow regulation
Ecosystem disaster mitigation	Interference regulation	Regulation of natural disasters	Moderation of extreme events	Flood control Storm mitigation
	Biological control	Disease regulation	Biological prevention and control	-
	Biological control	Pest regulation	Biological prevention and control	-
Soil erosion control	Erosion control and sediment retention	Regulation of erosion	Prevention of erosion	Soil quality regulation Soil and sediment retention
Spiritual and cultural services	Leisure and recreation	Pastime and ecotourism	Recreation and tourism opportunity	Recreation Visual amenity
	Cultural services (arts, aesthetics, spirit, education, and science)	Aesthetic value	Aesthetic information	Education, scientific and research
		Knowledge system	Culture, arts, and design inspiration
		Educational value
		Inspiration
		Social relations	Cognitive development information
		Spiritual and religious value	Spiritual experience	Spiritual, symbolic, and artistic
		Nostalgia complex
		Traditional cultural values
Supporting services	Soil formation	Soil formation	‒	‒
	‒	Photosynthesis	-	Nursery population and habitat
	‒	Primary production	‒	‒
	Nutrient cycling	Nutrient cycling	‒	‒
	‒	Water cycling	-	‒
	Epibiotic species reserves	-	Gene pool protection	Maintenance
	‒	-	Lifecycle maintenance	Biological control
	Pollination	Pollination	Pollination	Pollination

No.	Basic principles	Contents included in accounting	Contents excluded from accounting
1	Biological productivity	Food and raw materials directly formed by photosynthesis; services provided by biological production through improving eco-environments	Services produced by pure human labor; services produced by physicochemical processes in the natural world
2	Human benefits	Services producing direct benefits for humans; services reducing the costs of human protective inputs	Indirect services produced by ecosystem intermediate processes; services requiring no human protective inputs; services insensitive to human activities or free of human control
3	Production territoriality	Services produced by local ecosystems; global shared services	Ecosystem services produced non-locally, circulated, and transported to their destination
4	Current increment	Service increments of a certain period; products and services produced in the current period	Ecological resource stocks; service flows already converted to stock
5	Actual effectiveness	Actual services	Potential, unrealized services; services failing to meet benchmark conditions
6	Physical metrizability	Services with definitely measurable physical quantity	Services whose physical quantity cannot be measured; services without suitable physical quantity indicators
7	Data availability	Actual monitoring data available	Accounting available only in reference to empirical parameters
8	Harmlessness	Services beneficial or harmless to ecosystem functions; services capable of sensitively reflecting human protection, restoration, or damaging activities	Services which may harm the ecosystem bearing capacity

No.	Basic principles	Contents included in accounting	Contents excluded from accounting
1	Biological productivity	Food and raw materials directly formed by photosynthesis; services provided by biological production through improving eco-environments	Services produced by pure human labor; services produced by physicochemical processes in the natural world
2	Human benefits	Services producing direct benefits for humans; services reducing the costs of human protective inputs	Indirect services produced by ecosystem intermediate processes; services requiring no human protective inputs; services insensitive to human activities or free of human control
3	Production territoriality	Services produced by local ecosystems; global shared services	Ecosystem services produced non-locally, circulated, and transported to their destination
4	Current increment	Service increments of a certain period; products and services produced in the current period	Ecological resource stocks; service flows already converted to stock
5	Actual effectiveness	Actual services	Potential, unrealized services; services failing to meet benchmark conditions
6	Physical metrizability	Services with definitely measurable physical quantity	Services whose physical quantity cannot be measured; services without suitable physical quantity indicators
7	Data availability	Actual monitoring data available	Accounting available only in reference to empirical parameters
8	Harmlessness	Services beneficial or harmless to ecosystem functions; services capable of sensitively reflecting human protection, restoration, or damaging activities	Services which may harm the ecosystem bearing capacity

Value category	Subject category	Subjects to be excluded from accounting	Principles violated
Use values	Provisioning services	Mineral raw materials	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action, products of long-term geological actions Principle 4: Natural resource stock, instead of current increment
		Gene resources	Principle 4: Biological resource stock formed through long-term evolution and accumulation in the natural world, instead of current increment Principle 6: Impossibility to accurately measure physical quantity or value
		Solar energy, tidal energy, water power generation, wind power generation	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action
		Ocean shipping, inland river shipping	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action
		Pleasant climate	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action
		Land reclamation by flushing	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action
		Sediment transport	Principle 1: No involvement of biological production action Principle 3: Produced non-locally, transported to the final destination
		Pelagic fishery	Principle 3: Violation of the principle of production territoriality
		Human inputs in agricultural product production	Principle 1: Pesticide and fertilizer inputs in agricultural product production are non-biological production inputs
	Regulating services	Purification of water by natural rivers and lakes	Principle 8: Violation of the principle of harmlessness, possibly harming eco systems themselves
		Absorbance of atmospheric pollutants by plants	Principle 3: Violation of the principle of production territoriality Principle 8: Violation of the principle of harmlessness, possibly harming eco systems themselves
		Carbon fixation service of consumed plants	Principle 5: Grains and grasses consumed by humans and livestock are ulti mately discharged and decomposed in the form of organics, and CO₂ is again released into the air; therefore, carbon fixation has failed
		Ecosystem cooling in the winter	Principle 5: Ecosystem cooling does not come into play in the cold winter
		Noise reduction	Principle 2: Noise reduction service in empty, depopulated areas produces no human benefits Principle 6: It is difficult to accurately measure the physical quantity of popula tions and the scope of the benefit by noise reduction in urban-rural areas
		Ecosystem disaster mitigation	Principles 6 and 7: This service is affected by many natural and human factors and cannot be scientifically quantified and assessed in most cases under current scientific and technological conditions. It is difficult to obtain relevant data
		Pest control	Principles 6 and 7: It is difficult to obtain data or accurately measure physical quantity or value quantity under current conditions
		Marine waste treatment	Principle 3: Violation of the principle of production territoriality Principle 8: Violation of the principle of harmlessness, possibly harming eco systems themselves
		Dissolution and absorbance of marine greenhouse gases	Principle 1: Pure physicochemical processes, no involvement of the biological production action
		Marine temperature regulation	Principle 1: Pure physicochemical processes, no involvement of the biological production action
	Cultural services	Recreational use of artificial landscapes	Principle 1: Purely artificial recreational facilities, no involvement of biological production action
	Cultural services	Spiritual and religious value, inspiration, and nostalgia complex	Principle 6: It is difficult to accurately measure its physical quantity or value quantity
	Supporting services	Pollination	Principle 2: Ecosystem intermediate processes that do not directly benefit hu mans and ultimately serve humans through fruits
		Soil formation	Principle 2: Soil formation provides indirect services for humans via agricul tural, forestry, and animal husbandry products Principle 4: This is a stock formed by the weathering of rocks and the long-term accumulation of organics
		Net primary production	Principle 2: This is either directly consumed by humans in the form of food, or indirectly utilized by humans in the form of timber, feed, industrial raw materials, or other raw materials. The portion of primary production that is directly or indirectly utilized has already been included in GEP accounting via other subjects
		Nutrient cycling	Principle 2: This provides indirect services for humans via agricultural, forest ry, and animal husbandry products
Non-use values	Option value	Down payment made voluntarily to retain an ecosystem service	Principle 6: This has not actually occurred and should be excluded from GEP accounting
Non-use values	Existence value	Payment made voluntarily to ensure the existence of ecosystem services, including bequest value	Principle 4: Stock formed on a long-term basis in the natural world Principle 6: Confirmation of service value via willingness to pay; high subjective willingness results in the non-reproducibility, incomparability, and weak applicability of GEP accounting results