Assigning value to the priceless: New 'ecosystem accounting' framework will help StatsCan predict environmental impact on human health

Canadian researchers aim to track and predict the impact of environmental changes on our health and wellbeing, and ecosystem accounting is one specific way Statistics Canada plans to do just that.

In 2021, the United Nations developed the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework to model how governments can collect data to monitor the changing climate and its impact on the environment and human health. 

Statistics Canada used this model to create its own framework for 30 urban centres in Canada, where about 61 per cent of the country’s population lives. The framework data was released earlier this year.

Ok, but what is ecosystem accounting, exactly?

It’s a framework that assigns a monetary value to natural assets, such as green spaces, waterways, and agricultural land, explained Stephanie Udhe, one of the authors of Statistics Canada’s framework for ecosystem accounting in urban areas. 

This framework provides decision-makers and communities with high-quality information on the extent and health of ecosystems. 

“These data also help to identify medium and large to long-term trends such as insect infestations and [the] effect of wildfires on air quality. And so it’s medium-to-large-scale and medium-to-long-term trends,” Udhe said. 

Nature is a gift, Udhe said, so how can we quantify what nature contributes? 

“We’re trying to put dollar amounts on the environment. It’s a very novel concept,” said Su-Yi Tan, environmental scientist and associate professor at the University of Waterloo. 

While the technical aspects of ecosystem accounting can be cumbersome for the average person to follow, Tan said the important thing to remember is in the end, it’s about sustainability. 

“It makes it easier to understand why we need to keep track of what’s going on now, so that we can make changes in the future,” she added. 

This is the first time Statistics Canada has collected data using the new framework, and it found that the fastest-growing urban ecosystems are those with the least amount of vegetation cover. 

As greenspace continues to be used for more housing, roadways, and built structures, researchers hope to quantify the impact of this on the environment, climate change, and human health, and inform policy changes. 

Building the framework 

“The majority of the global population actually lives in cities,” Tan said. “If you look historically at rural population versus urban population, a few years ago the global urban population surpassed the rural population.” 

“If most of us are living in urban centres, how can we identify what is in the city and map it all out?” 

Geography, satellite data, remote sensing and transportation data are just some of the tools used to map out where everything is, from buildings to waterways and even the smallest green spaces tucked in between condo towers, she said. 

“Then we can actually try to monitor how they’re changing. And then if you monitor how they’re changing, then you can try to predict where change is,” Tan explained. 

This data will be crucial not only in predicting trends related to climate and development, but can also be used to inform policy and decision-making. 

Tan said that ecosystem accounting attempts to assign value to natural resources, whereas traditionally, value in cities is assigned to built structures, such as housing, roads, and parking lots. 

Biodiversity, climate change, air quality and environmental inequality have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of people who live in cities, Statistics Canada noted in its framework. 

Assets like waterways and green space benefit people who live and work in urban areas, and should be quantified as such to foster improved physical and mental health as well as environmental resilience. 

The framework also notes that ‘the focus is on ecosystem changes that have direct impacts on the wellbeing of residents and workers. However, activities in large urban areas can also impact the environment and people living elsewhere. For example, the demand from people in urban areas for industrial and agricultural goods can cause pollution emissions in other regions and countries.” 

Social resilience is the goal 

“We’re trying to monitor what nature provides to people, and they’re hugely important, and they are really being impacted by climate change,” Tan said. 

“Climate change is not just warming weather. It’s also the fact that we can get those really cold winters as well. So, as a result, as a society, as urban areas, as cities, we have to do something about that so we can protect things like water, “ Tan said. 

Even agriculture and food production are impacted, so everything is connected, she added.

“So we’re really trying to look at social resilience: How do we balance society equally so that we all have access to different levels of resources?” 

Some of the research Tan and her colleagues have conducted is in the coastal regions of Vancouver, where warming temperatures have caused flooding. 

Using census data provides critical household information, allowing researchers to view income levels, types of dwellings, and compare this data with the ecosystem to map out inequalities,” said Tan

“What we have tried to do is overlay different types of data, so you can actually profile different neighbourhoods and map them out based on high social resilience to climate change or low social resilience to climate change.” 

Udhe said Statistics Canada has not yet tested census population variables against the ecosystem accounting framework, but the goal is to link ecosystem data with socio-economic information. 

Gender, age, income, ethnicity, and Indigenous status are all examples of variables that can be used to assess whether some populations are more vulnerable to environmental impacts such as extreme heat and poor air quality. 

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