Events

Leading specialists of the group of companies participated in the Expert meeting on Ecosystem Valuation in the context of Natural Capital Accounting

The seminar on building bridges between policy, welfare economics and natural capital accounting was organized by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and took place in Bonn, Germany.
   The seminar included several sections:
   Session 1: Setting the scene. The session introduced the policy demand for ecosystem accounting and valuation as well as the current initiatives at international level to respond to these demands. It also presented the System of Environmental Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EEA), the Technical Recommendations in support of the SEEA EEA and elaborated on the research agenda for the revision of the SEEA EEA.
   Session 2: The valuation of ecosystem services for accounting. The session discussed issues on the valuation of ecosystem services, including the relationship between exchange values, following the SNA principles of valuation, and welfare valuation. Theoretical developments in the comprehensive “green” accounting literature were considered with implications for measurement. The session also discussed institutional arrangements that are assumed in case of non-market valuation. The event also included parallel sessions on selected cultural and regulating services to discuss accounting and welfare valuation-based approaches for selected cultural and regulating services with the objective of identifying best practices for valuation methods in different ecological, socio-economic and data environments.
   Session 3: Valuing ecosystem wealth, degradation and/or enhancement. The session discussed valuation of stocks of ecosystem assets, their degradation and/or enhancement over time: assumptions on discount rates, asset life, projections of service values when using the net present value (NPV); alternative valuation approaches for estimating wealth; relationship to market values; defining and valuing the degradation of ecosystems in nominal and real terms; cost versus damage-based approaches; attributing degradation costs to economic actors; treatment of defensive expenditures. Within the expert meetings, our specialists made the report "Cultural Ecosystem Services Assessment within Natural Capital Assessment in Novokuznetsk District, Kemerovo Region, Russian Federation." The report described the experience of natural capital assessment at the federal and regional levels, conducted by the Group of companies, including a cultural ecosystem services assessment project as a part of natural capital of Novokuznetsk district, Kemerovo region, Russia. It also elaborated on proposals formulation process for the ecosystem conservation in the coal mining area based on a specified economic value of cultural and other ecosystem services.