Advancing the global statistical standard for urban ecosystem accounts
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA), adopted by UNSD, provides a standardized global framework for measuring and monitoring ecosystems extent, condition, and services. However, its application to urban ecosystems faces conceptual and operational challenges. Building on SEEA-EA, we propose advancing the framework for thematic urban ecosystem accounting, identifying main challenges and framing potential solutions based on existing lessons and approaches. Through a literature review on ecosystem accounting and urban science, we identified 24 challenges, with lessons and approaches suggested for 17 of them. Results show that many challenges are highly interconnected and shared with accounts for other ecosystem types. Urban-specific challenges include a lack of consensus in defining urban ecosystems, their specific assets, and their classifications. Additionally, findings highlight the need for defining appropriate methods to capture socio-ecological degradation, impacts, and dependencies of urban ecosystems. Suggested solutions include adapting the accounting structure and prioritizing the resolution of urban- specific challenges.