Section 3Sec./Art. 3

Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act:

(a) Adjusted net savings refers to the sum of the net national savings and education expenditure, and deduct natural resources such as energy, minerals, forest, water, soil, inland wetlands, coastal and marine areas, and fisheries, depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions and pollution damage;

(b) Ecosystem refers to all living things in a given area, as well as their interactions with each other, and with their non-living environments (such as Weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere, water);

(c) Ecosystem accounting refers to a coherent framework for integrating measures of ecosystems and flows of services from them with measures of economic and other human activity;

(d) Ecosystem services refer to the benefits supplied by the functions of ecosystems and received by humanity and all elements of living systems, which support life systems on the planet. Ecosystem services consist of provisioning services, regulating and maintenance services, and cultural services;

(e) Environmental indicators are environment statistics that have been selected for their ability to depict important phenomena or dynamics. Environmental indicators are used to synthesize and present complex environment and other statistics in a simple, direct, clear and relevant way;

(f) Natural capital refers to the stock of renewable and non-renewable resources, including plants, animals, air, water, soils, ores, and minerals, that provide a flow of benefits to people and living things. Natural capital includes, but is not limited to, ecosystem services such as air and water filtration, flood protection, carbon sequestration, pollination of crops, and habitats for wildlife;

(g) Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) refers to an accounting framework that provides a systematic way of measuring and reporting on stocks and flows of natural capital. NCA covers accounting for individual environmental assets or natural resources, both biotic and abiotic such as water, ores, minerals, energy, timber, and fish, as well as accounting for ecosystem assets, biodiversity, and ecosystem services;

(h) System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) refers to a framework that integrates both economic and environmental data to provide a more comprehensive and multipurpose view of the interrelationships among the economy, the environmental and ecosystems, and the stocks and changes in stocks of natural assets, as they bring benefits to humanity; and

(i) Valuation refers to determining the value or worth, in both physical and economic terms, of natural capital and the service it provides at national and subnational levels.