Ecosystem accounts

Ecosystem Accounts - National Ecosystem Classification for Germany

At the Federal Statistical Office, work on the compilation of ecosystem accounts began in August 2020. The aim of this work is to create a nationwide, spatially and temporally consistent data basis on the extent and condition of the ecosystems and the services they provide to humans, in order to effectively support political decision-making. The extent account, in which Germany’s ecosystems are recorded, classified and mapped, constitutes the basis of the reporting system. The comparison between the extent accounts of different survey years also offers the possibility to identify changes between ecosystems.

Authors: Marius Bellingen, Simon Felgendreher, Johannes Oehrlein, Simon Schürz, Stephan Arnold

Article published in "WISTA – Scientific Journal", 6-2021

What is the difference between ecosystem accounts and statistics on land use?

In contrast to the statistics on land use, area balance sheets of the ecosystems are mainly based on ecological criteria. This means that the focus of area classification is on the ecological importance and relevance for ecosystem services rather than on the type of land use. Structuring the areas is based on the detailed national ecosystem classification comprising a total of 74 different classes.

While land use statistics are based on data of the Official Land Registry Information System (ALKIS), a multitude of additional geographical datasets such as satellite images, orthophotos and biotope maps are processed for the calculation of the ecosystem area balance sheet.

The area balance sheet of the ecosystems covers not only the terrestrial territory but also Germany's marine waters and the exclusive economic zone in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.