Soil

SEEA EA

Name Used: Soil Quality Regulation Services

Service Category: Regulating and maintenance services

Definition: Ecosystem contributions to the decomposition of organic and inorganic materials and to the fertility and characteristics of soils, often for input to biomass production. This is most commonly recorded as an intermediate service.

See Valuation Methods Appendix for Economic Value, Valuation Methods, and Metrics.

Name Used: Soil and Sediment Retention Services

Service Category: Regulating and maintenance services

Definition: by sub-category

See Valuation Methods Appendix for Economic Value, Valuation Methods, and Metrics.

Name Used: Soil Erosion Control Services

Definition: The ecosystem contributions, particularly the stabilizing effects of vegetation, that reduce the loss of soil and sediment and support the use of the environment such as agricultural activity and water supply. This may be recorded as a final or intermediate service.

Name Used: Landslide Mitigation Services

Definition: The ecosystem contributions, particularly the stabilizing effects of vegetation, that mitigate or prevent potential damage to human health and safety and damaging effects to buildings and infrastructure that arise from the mass movement (wasting) of soil, rock, and snow. This is a final ecosystem service.

CICES

Name Used: Regulation of Soil Quality

Service Category: Regulation and Maintenance

Definition: Regulation of Soil Quality encompasses two primary ecological functions: weathering processes that affect soil composition and decomposition and fixing processes that contribute to soil health. Both categories are measured by the amount or concentration of substances involved and their respective sources. These processes work in tandem to maintain or enhance soil quality, thereby ensuring its suitability for various ecological and agricultural functions.

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods: n/a

Metrics: included in definition

ESVD 2020

Name Used: Maintenance of soil fertility

Service Category: Regulating

Definition: Soil as categorized by TEEB in ESVD include maintenance of soil structure, deposition of nutrients, soil formation, nutrient cycling..

Economic Value Calculated: Yes

Valuation Methods: The ESVD 2020 report offers a total of 4,042 value estimates, with 47 specific to soil. See the Valuation Methods Appendix.

Metrics: $/ha/yr; ESVD is working on other qualitative and quantitative metrics.

FEMA ESV 2022

Name Used: Soil Formation; Soil Quality

Service Category: Regulating

Definition: Accumulating soils (e.g., via plant matter decomposition or sediment deposition in riparian/coastal systems) for

agricultural and ecosystem integrity; Maintaining soil fertility and capacity to process waste inputs (bioremediation)

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods: n/a

Metrics: n/a

FEMA mentions soil service in Water Filtration: Removing water pollutants via soil filtration and transformation by vegetation and microbial communities

IPBES NCP

Name Used: Formation, protection and decontamination of soils and sediments

Service Category: Regulating NCP (Regulation Of Environmental Processes)

Definition: Formation, protection against erosion or salinization, stabilization, structure improvement and decontamination, by ecosystems, of soils and sediments. These actions determine their suitability for human infrastructure and for plant growth, affecting both cultivated and non-cultivated plants of importance to humans.

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods: n/a

Metrics: Soil erosion rate, Soil organic carbon stocks

ENCORE

Name Used: Soil quality

Service Category: Regulation & Maintenance

Definition: Soil quality is provided through weathering processes, which maintain bio-geochemical conditions of soils, including fertility and soil structure, and decomposition and fixing processes, which enable nitrogen fixing, nitrification, and mineralization of dead organic material.

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods:

Metrics: Food production, water quality, and reduction of damages

Name Used: Bio-remediation

Service Category: Regulation & Maintenance

Definition: A natural process whereby living organisms such as micro-organisms, plants, algae, and some animals degrade, reduce, and/or detoxify contaminants.

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods:

Metrics: Clean air, clean water

TNFD Environmental Assets & Ecosystem Services

Uses SEEA EA

InVEST

Name Used: Carbon Storage and Sequestration Model

Service Category: Carbon Storage and Sequestration

Definition: Estimates the amount of carbon currently stored and potentially sequestered over time in a given landscape based on land use/land cover maps.

Economic Value Calculated: Yes

Valuation Methods: Market value or social cost of carbon, annual rate of change, and a discount rate.

Metrics: Amount of carbon stored in four pools (aboveground living biomass, belowground living biomass, soil, dead organic matter), changes in carbon stocks over time.

Swiss Re BES Index

Name Used: Soil Fertility

Service Category: Regulating Service

Definition: The role of nature in improving soil biodiversity and health through enhancing Soil Organic Carbon (SOC).

Economic Value Calculated: No

Valuation Methods: n/a

Metrics: Soil Organic Carbon Stocks tn/ha as an indicator. Sum of the soil organic carbon stocks for the first 100cm of soil.

Other

We have noted the NRCS Soils Classification