Methodological Provisions for the Formation of the Environmental-Economic Accounting for Forest Resources in the Republic of Belarus

Abstract

The article defines possible boundaries for forest accounts under the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus. Under the designated boundaries and in line with the recommendations of the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and others in the field of Environmental-Economic Accounting, a list of possible SEEA accounts for forest resources is proposed: asset account for forests and other wooded lands, asset account for timber resources, flow accounts for timber resources as well as ecosystem accounts for carbon and forest services.

The proposed standard SEEA accounts characterizing forest resources are adapted by the author in accordance with the legislation in force in Belarus and the accounting methodology, as a result of which the author has proposed the following layouts of forest resources accounts: asset account for forest land, asset account for timber resources for forest stands, flow account for marketable timber resources. For each of the accounts, a comparative characteristic of national and international terminology is presented; in some cases, the authors name the phenomena and processes.

In the case of ecosystem accounts, in view of the methodological gaps and difficulties of accounting at the national level, the author proposed creating tables of key indicators of ecosystem assets and ecosystem services for forest resources.

The article concludes with the structural-logical model “SEEA-Forest Resources” through which the relationships between the generated accounts are described.