The first release of experimental National Ecosystem Accounts released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimate that in 2020-21, climate regulation through carbon storage was the most valuable service provided by select Australian ecosystems.
This is the first release of the Australian experimental National Ecosystem Accounts, which provides insights across four account types. The accounts align to the international System of Environmental and Economic Accounts. Ecosystems are difficult to measure and over time, modifications will be made to the methods. This initiative has been made possible via an ABS and Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) partnership.
Jonathon Khoo, ABS head of environment statistics said: 'Over 34.5 million kilotonnes of carbon was stored by ecosystems, with a combined monetary value of $43.2 billion'.
'The ecosystem which contributed the most to carbon storage was grasslands, with $18.1 billion. This was followed by native forests which contributed $17.8 billion, and savannas which contributed $7.1 billion.'
Climate regulation is one of many ecosystem services measured in this release. Other services include grazed biomass ($40.4 billion), water provisioning ($1.4 billion), and wild fish provisioning ($39.2 million).
'Grazed biomass is the amount of feed naturally produced by the environment for sheep and cattle. The $40.4 billion is the estimated amount of money farmers saved by feeding their livestock things like grass and vegetation growing on their land,' Mr Khoo said.
'Water provisioning is the naturally occurring surface water taken from our ecosystems. This water is used for drinking water, energy production, and things like cooling, irrigation and manufacturing.
'Wild fish provisioning is growing fish in the wild to then be caught by fishers and sold for us to eat.'
The new experimental estimates also reveal how much our natural landscapes protect our coastlines. Ecosystems like coral reefs, sandbanks, dunes and mangroves act as a buffer against tidal and storm surges.
'We estimate that mangroves protected 4,006 dwellings and 7,653 people around Australian coastlines. These mangroves prevented more than an estimated $57 million worth of damages to these dwellings,' Mr Khoo said.
'We also measured the size of these ecosystems. In 2021, mangroves covered an estimated 1.1 million hectares of Australia's coastal areas. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory were home to 97 per cent of mangroves in Australia.
'In comparison, desert ecosystems cover 383.8 million hectares, or 50 per cent of Australia's terrestrial landscape.'
We would like to thank all organisations and individuals who contributed to the first release of National Ecosystem Accounts.
