Study On Water Ecological Balance Sheet

Water ecosystems are the most fundamental and critical component of ecosystems,supporting the economic and social development of mankind.However,with the rapid economic and social development and the increasing ability of human to transform the natural environment,while humans are pursuing maximization of economic benefits,activities such as over-exploitation of water resources,excessive fishing of aquatic products and excessive discharge of water pollutants have negative effects on the self-repairing and maintenance of water ecosystems.As the impacts of degradation of water ecosystems on human welfare and economic development becomes more and more intense,a simple national economic statistics system based on GDP gradually loses its ability to fully reflect the real benefits of human economic and social activities.It is imperative to incorporate resource consumption,environmental damages and ecological benefits into evaluation systems of economic and social development.Water ecological asset accounting is the basis of water ecological benefit assessment and enables integration of water ecological benefits into the economic and social development evaluation system as well as improvement of evaluation systems for development achievements and political performance.This paper explored the preparation of balance sheets for water ecological assets accounting and summarized the basic theories and methods involved in the preparation process.The following studies were accomplished:(1)Through the systematic analysis of the concepts of assets,natural resource assets and ecological assets,the common attributes of the different types of assets were summarized as"ownership" and "profitability".On the basis of these,water ecological assets were defined as the values of the water ecological services obtained by the owners by owning and controlling biotic and abiotic components and their environment.In line with the types of water ecosystem services,water ecological assets were divided into three categories:supply services,regulation services and cultural services,and 15 sub-categories,laying the foundation for further research on water ecological assets.(2)The environment was introduced into the accounting of water ecological asset as a virtual entity alongside the economy entity.The debit/credit relationship between the economy and the environment was constructed,which reflects an essential attribute in which liability must include the creditor and the debtor.Through a detailed description of the pressure-state-service inter-relationship of water ecosystems,the water ecological liabilities were defined as the displacement of the state of a water ecosystem in the direction opposite to the original equilibrium state caused by over-exploitation of the water ecosystem.The water ecological liabilities in turn caused a decrease in the quality of water ecosystem services.Further,based on the detailed description of the mechanism for forming water ecological liabilities,the over-exploitation and utilization of water ecosystems by human societies and economies were set as the identification criteria for the presence of water ecological liabilities.(3)In-depth discussion was made on the accounting method for functional and economic values of assets and liabilities in the water ecological balance sheet.The accounting body for the ecosystem services was expanded from a single item to the entire ecosystem versus the human economy,including both the economy and the environment.The main accounting body for water ecological assets was divided into the economy and the environment.However,liabilities were accounted only for the economy and not for the environment.The accounting of economic values was based on that of functional values.With an ecosystem service valuation method,functional values were converted into economic values.(4)Similarities and differences in the accounting principles of the national balance sheet,the water resource balance sheet and the environmental economic accounting(SEEA)were analysed.On the basis of these,it was determined that the water ecological balance sheet should follow identical equations,accounting rules and accrual basis and a water ecological balance sheet was built.(5)Taking Handan City of Hebei Province as an example,the water ecological balance sheet for Handan City from 2014 to 2015 was created.The water ecological assets include supply services,regulation services and cultural services.The supply services are subdivided into three types of services:water supply,hydroelectric power,and freshwater products.The regulatory services are divided into water conservation,carbon fixation and oxygen release,flood regulation,water purification,climate regulation,maintenance of habitats,six types of services;cultural services contain only tourism services.Water ecological liabilities include four categories,including overdraw water,over-emission of pollutants,over-fishing,and conversion of water surface into land,and set corresponding thresholds.The results showed that the total value of water ecological assets in Handan in 2015 was 25.676 billion yuan,which was 10.36%lower than the 28.636 billion yuan in 2014;the water asset-liability ratios in Handan in 2014 and 2015 were 4.5%and 3.8%respectively.In 2015,the amount of liabilities was 296 million yuan,down by 25.67%from 1.297 billion yuan in 2014.In 2015,the net assets of water ecological assets in Handan City was 24.711 billion yuan,which was 9.6%lower than the value of 27,345 million yuan in 2014.The study on the compilation of the water ecological balance sheet is an important part in the water ecological asset accounting.The balance sheet not only longitudinally reflects the changes of water ecological assets in different accounting periods during the use and consumption of the water ecological assets by human economies,but also reflects horizontally the degree of human irrational utilization of water ecosystems during the accounting period.The water ecological balance sheet as an accounting tool,can more timely and accurately locate the improper use of various types of services provided by water ecosystem,and provide the action direction for water ecological protection and sustainable utilization.The integration of unreasonable exploitation and utilization of water resources by humans into the accounting system enables a comprehensive,complete and rational accounting of water ecosystems,to evaluate the relationship between human activities and water ecosystems,and to provide the basis for grasping and adjusting the direction of economic and social development.The results can provide reference for the compilation of national natural resources balance sheet.