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MODULE FOR ECOSYSTEM ACCOUNTS Section 1 OBJECTIVES Ecosystem accounts present data on the extent and condition of ecosystem assets and the services they provide to society and the economy. The data are in line with the SEEA EA and compatible with the data reported under the ESA 2010. Ecosystem accounts use existing information, where possible, including from Earth observation, environmental reporting and other data sources. Section 2 COVERAGE Ecosystem accounts record the extent of ecosystems, the condition of ecosystems, and the flows of ecosystem services. Ecosystem extent is the size of ecosystems in an area. Ecosystem extent accounts cover terrestrial (including freshwater) and marine ecosystems on the national territory. Ecosystem condition is the quality of an ecosystem measured in terms of its abiotic, biotic and landscape characteristics, by ecosystem types.

Ecosystem services are the benefits ecosystems provide to economic and other human activities. They include (i) provisioning, (ii) regulating and maintenance, and (iii) cultural services. Ecosystem services accounts record the actual supply and use of ecosystem services provided by the ecosystems in the national territory. Thematic accounts are accounts that organise data according to specific policy themes such as biodiversity, climate change, oceans and urban areas. Section 3 LIST OF CHARACTERISTICS Member States shall produce ecosystem accounts according to the following characteristics: 1. Ecosystem extent accounts recording the area and change in area for each ecosystem type within the national territory. Member States shall report ecosystem extent accounts in thousand hectares.

2. As a component of the ecosystem extent accounts, a conversion matrix recording conversions between ecosystem types between two points in time, in hectares.

3. Ecosystem condition accounts recording ecosystem characteristics as follows:

(a) for settlements and other artificial areas:

— green areas in cities and adjacent towns and suburbs shall be reported in % of total area, calculated for the entire area of the cities and adjacent towns and suburbs, including all ecosystem types in that area;

— concentration of particulate matter, with a diameter up to 2,5 μm in cities, shall be reported in μg/m3 as a national average for the reporting period.

(b) for cropland:

— soil organic carbon stock in topsoil shall be reported in tonne/ha, as a national average for the reporting period;

(c) for grassland:

— soil organic carbon stock in topsoil shall be reported in tonne/ha, as a national average for the reporting period;

(d) for cropland and grassland together:

— common farmland bird index shall be reported as a national aggregate index for the reporting period;

(e) for forest and woodland:

— dead wood shall be reported in m3/ha, as a national average for the reporting period;

— tree cover density shall be reported in %, as a national average for the reporting period;

— common forest bird index; the forest bird index describes trends in the abundance of common forest birds across their European ranges over time; it is a composite index created from observational data of bird species characteristic for forest habitats in Europe; the index is based on a specific list of species in each Member State;

(f) for coastal beaches, dunes and wetlands:

— the share of artificial impervious area cover, present in a coastal area that includes ecosystem type coastal beaches, dunes and wetlands shall be reported in % as a national average for the reporting period. Cities, towns and suburbs are local administrative units, categorised according to the degree of urbanisation typology set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council ().

4. Ecosystem services accounts recording the supply and use of ecosystem services in supply and use tables. The supply table shall record the supply of ecosystem services from ecosystems to socioeconomic systems. The use table shall record the use of ecosystem services by the type of use as defined in Section 5. The supply and use tables shall be reported in the following physical units.

(a) Provisioning services — Crop provision is defined as the ecosystem contribution to plant growth as approximated by the amount of harvested crops for different uses. This includes food and fibre production, fodder and energy, and grazed biomass, as set out in Annex III, Table A, Sections 1.1 and 1.2.

— Pollination is defined as the ecosystem contribution by wild pollinators to the production of the crops referred to in the first indent. The contributions shall be reported in tonnes of pollinator-dependent crops that can be attributed to wild pollinators, by type of crop for the main types of pollinator-dependent crops comprising fruit trees, berries, tomatoes, oilseeds and ‘other’.

— Wood provision is defined as the ecosystem contribution to the growth of trees and other woody biomass and shall be reported as net increment as defined in Annex VII in over-bark, in thousand m3.

(b) Regulating and maintenance services — Air filtration is defined as the ecosystem contribution to filtering air-borne pollutants through the deposition, uptake, fixing and storage of pollutants by ecosystem components (particularly trees). This mitigates the harmful effects of the pollutants. The contributions shall be reported in tonnes of particulate matter adsorbed.

— Global climate regulation is defined as the ecosystem contribution to reducing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through the removal (net sequestration) of carbon from the atmosphere and the retention (storage) of carbon in ecosystems. The contributions shall be reported in terms of tonnes of net sequestration of carbon and tonnes of organic carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems, including above ground and below ground stock.

— Local climate regulation is defined as the ecosystem contribution to regulating ambient atmospheric conditions in urban areas through vegetation that improves the living conditions of people and supports economic production. It shall be expressed and reported as the reduction of temperature in cities, due to the effect of urban vegetation, in degrees Celsius on days exceeding 25 degrees Celsius.

(c) Cultural services — Nature-based tourism-related services are defined as the ecosystem contribution, in particular through the biophysical characteristics and qualities of ecosystems, that enable people to use and enjoy the environment through direct, in situ, physical and experiential interactions with the environment. Those contributions shall be reported in number of overnight stays in hotels, hostels, camping grounds, etc. that can be attributed to visits to ecosystems.

5. Ecosystem accounts shall use the following table of ecosystem types: Section 4 FIRST REFERENCE YEAR, FREQUENCY AND TRANSMISSION DEADLINES 1. Statistics shall be compiled and transmitted:

— every 3 years for ecosystem extent and ecosystem condition accounts; the data shall refer to a representative average for the reference year, and to the conversion matrix to the change in the 3 years between 2 reference years;

— on a yearly basis, provided that modelling tools are made available by the Commission (Eurostat) for calculating ecosystem services for ecosystem services accounts; in the absence of such tools, every 3 years for ecosystem services accounts.

2. Statistics shall be transmitted within 24 months of the end of the reference year.

3. In order to meet user needs for complete and timely datasets, the Commission (Eurostat) shall produce, as soon as sufficient country data become available, estimates for the EU totals. The Commission (Eurostat) shall, wherever possible, produce and publish estimates for data that have not been transmitted by Member States within the deadline specified in point 2.

4. The first reference year is 2024. For the conversion matrix, the first reference year is 2027.

5. In the first data transmission, Member States shall include data from 2024 for extent and condition accounts and for ecosystem services supply and use tables in physical units. For the conversion matrix, the data shall show the changes between 2024 and 2027.

6. In each subsequent data transmission to the Commission, Member States shall provide ecosystem services, extent and condition accounts data for years n-3 and n, where n is the reference year. Member States shall resubmit data from 2024 onwards whenever the data are revised. Member States may provide any available data for the years preceding 2024. Section 5 REPORTING TABLES 1. Ecosystem extent accounts: for all ecosystem types referred to in Section 3, data in the first transmission shall be reported for the first reference year. For all subsequent data transmissions, data shall be reported as follows:

— extent in the previous reference year;

— additions;

— reductions;

— extent in the current reference year.

The conversion matrix shall report conversions between all ecosystem types referred to in Section 3 between the previous and current reference year.

2. Ecosystem services accounts: for ecosystem services referred to in Section 3, data shall be reported in supply and use tables as follows:

(a) supply table recording the annual supply of the services as referred to in Section 3 by all ecosystem types as referred to in Section 3, except categories 10 and 12;

(b) use table recording the use of ecosystem services according to the following breakdown:

— intermediate consumption of industries;

— government final consumption;

— households final consumption;

— gross capital formation;

— exports.

3. A Member State shall not be obliged to report data if its total land area does not exceed 0,3 % of the Union’s total land area. Section 6 MAXIMUM DURATION OF THE TRANSITIONAL PERIODS For the implementation of the provisions of this Annex, the maximum duration of the transitional period is 2 years from the first transmission deadline.