Inclusive Ecological Wealth Accounting Research

Ever since “Our Common Future” has issued the classic definition of sustainable development,the goals and definition of such concept has become more comprehensive and diverse.UN established Sustainable development goals(SDGs)in 2015 has further unfolded an inclusive research framework for sustainable development and sustainability.Within such inclusive framework,quantitative measurement of sustainability of a society has become the core and pitfalls of sustainable development research.Inclusive sustainable development goals have raised novel requirement for measurement mechanism,hence developed diverse systems of methodology.Wealth,as an important indicator for the status and future tendency of socio-economic development,was also an efficient indicator for social sustainability,whose concept,connotation and methodology were expanded and deepened along with sustainable development theories.The inclusive connotation of wealth was a critical reconstruction of concepts,domains and theories of value within the framework of sustainable development.With critique and introspect of“economic imperialism” of neoclassic economics,ecological economists have developed ecological capital as a new capital format,which representing a critical analysis of the complicated relationships between ecological and economic systems.However,mainstream wealth accounting systems which featured maximization of utility and flow accounting such as SNA and SEEA,failed to incorporate ecological capital and were unable to depict the crucial effects of ecological capital upon economic development and therefore isolated and confined researches on measurement of ecological capital.Incorporating the measurement of ecological capital into national wealth accounting system was the requirement of the paradigm of strong sustainability,and also the key area of practicing inclusive sustainable development goals.,The traditional growth mode has attempted to extricate itself from the plight of absolute resource scarcity through technology development and unlimited substitutability within different categories of capital.Ecological economics has proved the absurdity of such logic.On one hand,the goal of“maximization of utility” of growth modes did not conform to the non-decreasing trajectory of intergenerational welfare.One the other hand,ecosystems has exerted multiple constrictions upon socio-economic system,which determined that the society should and could only developed within the threshold defined by ecosystem which it situated in and relied upon.Technology development and limited substitution within capital could merely reduce the exhaustion rate of resources,but were unable to exceed the rigid boundary of ecosystem.Hence,the paradigm of strong sustainability not only required non-decreasing of total capital of society but also non-decreasing of key ecological capital.The measurement of ecological capital in fact defined the effective boundary and scale for socio-economic system.Once the development trajectory hasexceeded such boundary,its side-effect would jeopardize intergenerational welfare and achievement of sustainable development goals.Capitalization of ecosystem represented the inclusive development of the concept of “capital” that it deepened and expanded the scopes,forms of proprietorship and value attribute of “capital”.The value of ecological capital was measured by the benefits produced by products and flows of ecosystem services.Ecological capital depicted the multiple interrelations between human socio-economic system and ecological system,as well as the effects of such interrelations posed upon human welfare.The value of ecological capital not only represented the factors,structure,processes and other biophysical attributes of ecosystem,but also value assessment of the benefits produced by ecosystem services within certain social context,economic status,and political ideology.Ecological wealth was the discounted sum of the value of ecological capital.As a key constitute of the productive base of society,it was the critical indicators for intergenerational welfare.Research results presented that burgeoning industrialization and urbanization has caused critical decline of ecological wealth.Land use change brought by construction and urban development,as well as environmental pollution,has invaded and destructed many key ecosystems that has caused habitat fragmentation and degradation of ecosystem functions.The decline of ecological wealth would eventually injure social sustainability and jeopardize human welfare.Ecological investment has positive effects on ecosystem.Through mitigation of ecosystem degradation,control and abatement of environmental pollution,restoration of ecosystem and other ecological investment exercises,the declining of ecological wealth could be impeded and its value could increase.Though increasing knowledge,enhancing cognitive development,expanding employment,improving productivity and other benefits,ecological investment could achievement integrated improvement of socio-economic-ecological system.