Discourses in Ecosystem Accounting: A Survey of the Expert Community

- The ecosystem accounting community agrees on broadening scope and mainstreaming.
- The community diverges mainly on ethical positions.
- Four distinct sub-communities (discourses) were revealed.
- Convergence could be fostered by more detailed definitions and monetization methods.
- Discourses align with roles: research, standardization, testing and implementation

National ecosystem accounting is an emerging framework for measuring the links between ecosystems and human well-being for national planning. It directly addresses Sustainable Development Goal 15.9, in which countries have agreed to integrate ecosystem values into national planning. The community of practice for national ecosystem accounting includes not only the international and national researchers who develop such a framework, but also the national analysts who implement it and the decision makers who apply it. To foster convergence within this community on such a common measurement platform, it is first necessary to understand the issues of divergence of values and preferences among the diverse and international ethical perspectives, disciplines and roles involved.A cluster analysis of a survey of 131 expert stakeholders in national ecosystem accounting reveals agreement within this community on the need for broadening the scope, addressing multiple decision contexts and mainstreaming national ecosystem accounting in national planning. The most important sources of divergence in this community of practice are attributed to ethical positions regarding monetization of ecosystem services, differences in the interpretation of several core concepts, such as biodiversity and ecosystem services, and the role of spatial analysis.