A recently published paper, looks into how the ecosystem extent is changing by applying a national level accounting approach. The study is available in the Science of The Total Environment journal and has been conducted by a team of leading experts, amongst whom are the MAIA project partners Adrian Bruzon and Fernando Santos-Martin from the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid.

Assessing the spatial and temporal changes in ecosystems is essential to account for natural capital contribution to human well-being. However, various methods to quantify these changes challenge the development of reliable values which can be integrated into national statistical accounts. 

Based on the system of environmental economic accounting (SEEA) framework, the researchers have introduced a novel approach for the development of an ecosystem extent account, which includes an already existing ecosystem classifications.

The study investigates the spatial and statistical extent account of 26 ecosystems, by applying the proposed approach, which is considered to be crucial for a strong knowledge of ecosystem dynamics and their implications for ecosystem conditions and services at a national level. 

The full paper will be available in April 2022 here.