Urban experimental ecosystem accounting pilot in the Nordic cities

Urban green and blue areas offer multiple ecosystem services, that support urban resilience and contribute to the well-being and quality of life of urban dwellers. But urban development poses a risk of losing urban ecosystems and their services to inhabitants. Hence, urban green spaces need to be integrated into urban planning and decision making in a systematic way. Urban ecosystem accounting (EA) provides a framework for quantifying changes in the extent and the condition of urban ecosystems and for assessing change in the ecosystem service supply and use over time. As a result, EA provides an information system that can support municipal planning and policy. This report describes a few pilots carried out in Finland and Norway and proposes a draft roadmap for future urban ecosystem accounting in Nordic cities.