7. Glossary

Aquatic resources comprise fish, crustaceans, molluscs, shellfish, aquatic mammals and other aquatic organisms (including microorganisms) that are considered to live within the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of a country throughout their life cycles, including both coastal and inland fisheries. Migrating and straddling fish stocks are considered to belong to a given country during the period when those stocks inhabit its EEZ. (SEEA Central Framework 5.393, 5.398)

Biological resources include timber and aquatic resources and a range of other animal and plant resources (such as livestock, orchards, crops, and wild animals), fungi and bacteria. (SEEA Central Framework 5.24) (See also Cultivated biological resources, Natural biological resources, Other biological resources.)

BSU – The Basic Spatial Unit is the minimal spatial measurement unit used for ecosystem accounting. It generally corresponds to the pixel size of the satellite images (e.g., 30m by 30m) used to establish land cover. However, countries have also applied BSUs of irregular shape, such as cadastral (land registry) areas.

CICES - The Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services, in its current version (V5.1), lists 67 biotic (more directly linked to ecosystem processes) and 31 abiotic services (less directly linked to ecosystem processes) services. The CICES was originally developed from the work on environmental accounting undertaken by the European Environmental Agency (EEA). Although not an international standard, it is widely used for ecosystem accounting, especially in Europe.

CMECS - Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard was developed by NOAA as a comprehensive and systematic classification of coastal and marine ecosystems. The main components are the water column (structure and characteristics of the water column), geoform (geomorphic structural character of the coast or sea floor), substrate (Character and composition of surface and near-surface substrates) and biotic (assemblages of benthic or suspended/floating biota). See https://iocm.noaa.gov/cmecs/ .

Cultivated biological resources cover animal resources yielding repeat products and tree, crop and plant resources yielding repeat products whose natural growth and regeneration are under the direct control, responsibility and management of an institutional unit. (SEEA Central Framework 5.24)

Degradation considers changes in the capacity of environmental assets to deliver a broad range of ecosystem services and the extent to which this capacity may be reduced through the action of economic units, including households. (SEEA Central Framework 5.90)

Depletion, in physical terms, is the decrease in the quantity of the stock of a natural resource over an accounting period that is due to the extraction of the natural resource by economic units occurring at a level greater than that of regeneration. (SEEA Central Framework 5.76)

EEZ - Exclusive economic zone of a country: the area extending up to 200 nautical miles from a country’s normal baselines as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982. (SEEA Central Framework 5.248 and related footnote)

Household: a group of persons who share the same living accommodation, who pool some, or all, of their income and wealth and who consume certain types of goods and services collectively, mainly housing and food. (SEEA Central Framework 2.111)

Institutional unit: an economic entity that is capable, in its own right, of owning assets, incurring liabilities and engaging in economic activities and in transactions with other entities. (SEEA Central Framework 2.110)

LME - Large Marine Ecosystems characterize distinct bathymetry, hydrography, productivity and food webs of coastal ecosystems at a large scale (DOALOS, 2016). The LMEs is an ecologically-based definition, particularly suitable for addressing management issues, notably those pertaining to fisheries on continental shelves, and coastal area management.

MEOW Marine Ecosystems of the World is a biogeographic classification of the world's coasts and shelves. As a nested system of 12 realms, 62 provinces, and 232 ecoregions, MEOW provides a basis for planning units for coastal and shelf areas. MEOW suggested that the most appropriate outer boundary for coastal and shelf realms, provinces, and ecoregions is the 200-meter isobath.

MSDI - Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure Is a framework for storing, sharing and using spatial information about the ocean. The framework consists of 1) people (e.g., public/private providers and users), 2) data, 3) standards (e.g., resolution, projection, metadata, data quality assessment), 4) policy (e.g., data sharing/privacy policy, coordination structure), and 5) the access network. Spatial Data Infrastructure frameworks traditionally focus on land administration and management and are already integrated with land accounts in many countries. May also be referred to as “marine cadastres” or “marine GIS”.

Natural biological resources consist of animals, birds, fish and plants that yield both once-only and repeat products for which natural growth and/or regeneration is not under the direct control, responsibility and management of economic units. (SEEA Central Framework 5.24)

NSDI - National Spatial Data Infrastructure is a framework for storing, sharing and using spatial information. Many countries have initiated OneMap programs to integrate official maps from different government sectors (e.g., environment, forestry, agriculture, land administration…). As with MSDI, the best practice is to ensure that the providers and users, the data itself, the standards that are applied, the applications of the data and the means of access are considered in the design.

Ocean services are biotic and abiotic contributions of the ocean to the economy and other human activities. Biotic services are synonymous with what are generally considered to be “ecosystem services”, that is the components of nature enjoyed, consumed or used to yield human well-being”. Abiotic services are generally thought of as the non-living commodities, such as minerals and seawater, but could also include abiotic energy sources (wind, tidal, etc.), results of physical processes (such as upwelling to recycle nutrients), results of chemical processes (e.g., buffering ocean acidification).

Other biological resources comprise all biological resources, both cultivated and natural, other than timber resources and aquatic resources. (SEEA Central Framework 5.460, 5.461)

PSUT - Physical Supply and Use Tables are applied in the SEEA to trace the flow of physical units of natural inputs from the environment to the economy, within the economy and the returns of associated residuals back to the environment. PSUTs are described for materials (generally all materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, minerals, non-metallic minerals). water and energy. PSUTs may be compiled for specific materials, such as timber or fish. PSUTs are also described for residuals, such as air emissions, water emissions and solid waste. In the case of residuals, the “supply” (generation) comes from the consumption of materials and energy.

Rent is the income receivable by the owner of natural resources or land (the lessor or landlord) for putting the natural resource or land at the disposal of another institutional unit (a lessee or tenant) for use of the natural resource or land in production. (SEEA Central Framework 4.161)

Residuals are flows of solid, liquid and gaseous materials, and energy, that are discarded, discharged or emitted by establishments and households through processes of production, consumption or accumulation. (SEEA Central Framework 2.92, 3.73)

Seamounts are underwater mountains rising from the ocean seafloor, but not reaching the water’s surface.