Ecosystem accounting for measuring linked sustainable physical and economic indicators: application to Andalusian forests in protected and non-protected areas

Government regulations for natural protected areas omit standardized linked physical and economic statistical data in the implementation and evaluation of management. The objectives of this research are to develop and apply a novel refined System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (rSEEA) that measures spatialized physical productivity indices and total social sustainable income from individual natural-based products of forest ecosystems. The rSEEA is applied to Andalusian forests in protected (AFPAs) and non-protected (AFNPAs) areas at tile and regional scales covering 43,867 km 2 . The conceptual significance of the rSEEA is that total social sustainable income extends the gross value added of the standard System of National accounts 2025 (SNA). The rSEEA measures the SNA omissions of the environmental net operating surplus and the ordinary change in total capital adjusted by ordinary investments of manufactured fixed capital. The results show enhancement or maintenance of the individual physical natural stocks of the AFPAs and AFNPAs. The AFPAs present higher physical productivity indices in 11 of the 12 consumed products compared. The AFPAs present higher economic productivity indices in 13 of the 15 consumed products. The sustainable and environmental incomes from AFPAs are 1.5 times those of the AFNPAs. The total opening environmental assets of AFPAs are 2.1 times those of the AFNPAs on a per hectare basis. One of the main conclusions of this research is that in terms of policy implication, standardizing the accounting of forest ecosystems can be done by through the progressive incorporation of records for sustainable income components which are omitted by the SNA. • Andalusian forests enhancement their biological and economic asset conditions in 2010. • Ecosystem asset for protected Andalusian forest is 2.1 times that of non-protected. • Ecosystem service of protected forest is 1.5 times that of the non-protected forest. • Environmental income from protected forests represent 92 % of their sustainable income. • Landscape and biodiversity of protected forests contribute 13 % of its environmental income.