Definition: Ecosystem capacity

Category: System of Environmental-Economic Accounting

The concept of ecosystem capacity is not defined from a measurement perspective in SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting. It is linked, instead, to the general model of ecosystem assets and ecosystem services as described. In general terms, ecosystem capacity refers to the ability of a given ecosystem asset to sustainably generate a set of ecosystem services into the future. While this general concept is highly relevant to ecosystem assessment, definitive measurement of ecosystem capacity requires the selection of a particular basket of ecosystem services and in this regard measures of ecosystem capacity are more likely to relate to consideration of a range of alternative ecosystem use scenarios than to a single basket of ecosystem services. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/UN_experimental_ecosystem_accounting_2012_EN.pdf