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Data Release for Testing ecosystem accounting in the United States: A case study for the Southeast - 2022 Updates (version 2.0, February 2023)

Metadata Updated: October 30, 2025

Ecosystems benefit people in many ways, but these contributions do not appear in traditional national or corporate accounts so are often left out of policy- and decision-making. Ecosystem accounts, as formalized by the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting Experimental Ecosystem Accounts (SEEA EEA), track the extent and condition of ecosystem assets and the flows of ecosystem services they provide to people and the economy. While ecosystem accounts have been compiled in a number of countries, there have been few attempts to develop them for the United States. We explore the potential for ecosystem accounting in the United States by compiling ecosystem condition and ecosystem services supply and use accounts for a ten-state region in the Southeast. The pilot accounts include information related to air quality, water quality, biodiversity, carbon storage, recreation, and pollination for selected years from 2001 to 2015. Results from our pilot accounts illustrate how ecosystem accounts information can contribute to policy and decision-making. Using an example for Atlanta, we also show how ecosystem accounts can be considered alongside other SEEA accounts, such as land and water accounts, to give a more complete picture of a local area’s environmental-economic status. The process by which we determined where to place metrics within the accounting framework, which was strongly informed by the National Ecosystem Services Classification System (NESCS), can provide practical guidance for future ecosystem accounts in the U.S. and other countries, and for expanding the scope of U.S. ecosystem accounts. Finally, we identify knowledge and data gaps that limit the inclusion of certain ecosystem services in the accounts and suggest future research and data collection that can close these gaps and improve future ecosystem accounts in the U.S.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 30, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-63891a28d34ed907bf78e9fa
Data Last Modified 2023-02-17T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 3584394f-748d-4f89-bf03-a583a2ea5497
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -95.8887, 23.7250, -74.6191, 40.8471
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash bb584b0adb1d4d0ee74e2db9b30f4f72a2956efe50def2081221aac61ffc21a0
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -95.8887, 23.7250, -95.8887, 40.8471, -74.6191, 40.8471, -74.6191, 23.7250, -95.8887, 23.7250}

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