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STRENGTHENING INDICATORS AND ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS FOR NATURAL CAPITAL
Box 3.2: Examples of ESS indicators across environmental policy areas
Climate Change – Carbon sequestration/storage rates (Total amount of carbon sequestered/stored
in Gt C0 2 equiv. = sequestration capacity/storage per hectare x total area of ecosystem)
Tropical forests have an annual global sequestration rate of around 1.3 Gt of carbon, or about 15% of total carbon
emissions resulting from human activities. Forests in Central and South America are estimated to take up around
0.6 Gt C, African forests roughly 0.4 Gt, and Asian forests around 0.25 Gt. It is estimated that tropical and
subtropical forests together store nearly 550 Gt of carbon, the largest amount across all biomes. Reforestation
and halting forest degradation could enhance this further (Trumper et al. 2009). The EU therefore supports a
new instrument to generate significant funding to achieve the objective of halting global forest cover loss by 2030
(the Global Forest Carbon Mechanism, see EC 2008b). This approach uses carbon sequestration rates and an
ecosystem’s capacity to store carbon as an indicator to describe benefits arising from forest ecosystems
with regard to climate change mitigation policy. This ecosystem service can also be linked to new financial incentive
mechanisms such as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation in developing countries)
being proposed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). REDD could make explicit
the value of reduced CO 2 emissions and, compared to other GHG emission reduction alternatives, is estimated
to be a low-cost mitigation option (Stern 2006; IPCC 2007; Eliasch 2008). Related policy instruments are
discussed in Chapter 5.
Urban Air Quality – Atmospheric cleansing capacity (e.g. tonnes of particulates removed per hectare
of ecosystem)
A study by Nowak et al. (Powe 2002 and references within) found that urban trees in Philadelphia, USA, had
removed over 1,000 tons of air pollutants from the atmosphere in the year 1994. According to a UK study
(Powe 2002), trees can be seen to absorb large quantities of pollutants e.g. between 391,664-617,790
metric tonnes of PM10 (particulate matter) and 714,158-1,199,840 metric tonnes of SO 2 per year.
Urban planning can use this capacity of green infrastructure to achieve air pollution control targets e.g. air
quality standards. Values can be attached via the avoided morbidity and mortality impacts resulting from
urban green infrastructure’s contribution to reduced air pollution levels. In the context of a ‘bubble’ policy
developed for a specific area (e.g. bubble policies for air pollutants set by the US Environmental Protection
Agency), the development or conservation of green infrastructure could be used to balance air emissions
from sources included in this area. By enabling trading of air emission rights, an economic value can be
attached to such services.
Clean Drinking Water – Removal of nutrients by wetlands (amount/percentage); water quality in aquatic
ecosystems (sediment, turbidity, phosphorus etc.)
Bionade Corporation produces and distributes organically manufactured non-alcoholic drinks in Germany,
with a global turnover of 40 million Euros in 2007. Clean drinking water being a main ingredient, the company
has initiated a project with the German NGO Trinkwasserwald e.V. to create 130 hectares of ‘drinking water
forests’ throughout Germany linked to their capacity to prevent pollution. The NGO indicates that each hectare
of conifer monoculture converted into deciduous broadleaved forest will generate 800,000 l/year for a oneoff
conversion cost of 6,800 EUR/hectare. Private contracts between the NGO and the public or private forest
owners are signed for a period of twenty years (Greiber et al. 2009; for further examples, see Chapter 5).
TEEB FOR NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICY MAKERS - CHAPTER 3: PAGE 17