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Computational Ecology and Software, 2027, 17(1): 1-29
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Article

Standardized construction of ecosystem service accounting and its embedding into national accounting: From fuzzy valuation to precision measurement

WenJun Zhang
School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China

Received 19 May 2026;Accepted 20 June 2026;Published online 10 July 2026;Published 1 March 2027
IAEES

Abstract
Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) accounting is increasingly mandated for carbon trading, watershed eco-compensation and performance audits of natural resource management, however reported values for the same region often diverge by several orders of magnitude, eroding policy credibility. This discrepancy originates in a chain of measurement discontinuities that separate ecological processes from final monetary estimates. The present study argues that the core challenge is not data scarcity but the absence of a measurability-oriented accounting paradigm. I propose a standardized construction that organizes the accounting pipeline into a sequence of process modelling, data assimilation, physically verifiable service flows and stepwise calibration. The framework introduces a formal hierarchy of measurability for ecosystem services, modular accounting protocols with built-in uncertainty propagation, and bridging rules that connect GEP satellite accounts with the System of National Accounts. The standardized protocol will reduce inter-operator variance to within a policy-tolerable range while producing defendable interval estimates validated against gauge observations. The results provide a route toward converting GEP from a fuzzy negotiation token into a measured, auditable quantity suitable for carbon neutrality accounting and ecological compensation.

Keywords Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP);measurability;standardized accounting;uncertainty analysis;national accounting;ecological compensation.


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