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An intact, species-rich natural environment forms the basis for human life. It provides clean water, nourishment and sufficient space for a wide variety of activities and experiences. However, while the services provided by functioning ecosystems are recognised in environmental reports, the factor of natural capital has to date hardly played any role in economic calculations and company balance sheets.It is vital that public and corporate reporting systems take account of natural assets and ecosystem services because this is the only way to ensure that they are given sufficient consideration in political and economic decision-making processes. The introduction of this new and transparent form of economic reporting is also being called for and supported internationally by the United Nations, the World Bank and the European Commission.Against this background, our article looks at the question of how biodiversity and ecosystem services can be incorporated into economic reporting at governmental and corporate level. It was written as part of the project “Appreciating biodiversity – modernising economic accounting in Germany” (Bio-Mo-D), whose aim is to provide a range of actors from business, politics and society at large with information to enable them to make integrated, ecologically sustainable decisions – and thus to demand and support a greater appreciation of nature, measurable via key indicators on biological diversity and ecosystem services.In the following, we first provide an overview of information sources and data products for ecosystem accounts available at national level in Germany. We focus on Germany, but in an EU and global context. The results of these accounting systems, which can be integrated into political and economic decision-making, should be easily understood by the general public and provide a basis for scientific analyses. As “flow” variables, information on ecosystem services contributes to societal well-being by improving decision-making pr

Die wichtigsten Begriffe im Politikfeld „Modernisierung der Wirtschaftsberichterstattung“ werden im Folgenden alphabetisch aufgeführt und erklärt.

Humans are significantly impacting ecosystems worldwide. Scientists of the IPBES Global Assessment are therefore calling for a transformative change that includes all aspects of society in order to address drivers of biodiversity loss. However, these calls are rather abstract, and thus it remains unclear how this goal can be achieved.    With this conceptual contribution, we present an analytical framework for evaluating existing processes of societal change which are enhancing biodiversity, and we illustrate its application using three case studies in Germany. We argue that an empirical analysis provides insights into the causal mechanisms that initiate or promote change processes. In doing so, we can draw recommendations for future transformative change processes with regard to biodiversity conservation. In our analysis, we are dealing with questions concerning the following three areas: the drivers and context of societal change processes, the change processes themselves and finally their impacts.    Subsequently, we generate recommendations on how to enhance and support the process of future societal transformation that aims at biodiversity conservation: (a) Retaining co-benefits for biodiversity with goals that are primarily focussing on other objectives; (b) harmonising biodiversity use and conservation by turning conflicts into drivers of transformation; (c) prioritising biodiversity conservation by taking advantage of windows of opportunity.    With our conceptual framework, we provide an analytical tool to learn from existing processes of societal change how to support future transformative change. This is an important step that contributes to the generation of relevant knowledge of promoting transformative change for nature and people.

Der wirtschaftliche und soziale Wohlstand eines Landes hängt entscheidend von einer intakten, artenreichen Natur ab. Doch der wahre Wert des Naturvermögens und funktionierender Ökosysteme wird noch zu häufig unterschätzt – im Bewusstsein vieler Menschen ebenso wie in volkswirtschaftlichen Berichtssystemen und Unternehmensbilanzen. Aber es zeichnen sich Fortschritte ab. Aktuelle wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse und geplante sowie bereits beschlossene Regulierungen auf internationaler Ebene bringen eine neue Dynamik in die ökologische Erweiterung staatlicher und privater Bilanzierungen.

Umweltökonomische Gesamtrechnungen für Volkswirtschaften und Unternehmen, die Ökosysteme und deren Leistungen einschließlich Kennziffern der biologischen Vielfalt einbeziehen und eine ökonomisch-ökologische Berichterstattung ermöglichen, könnten eine wichtige Basis für politische Entscheidungen und die Unternehmenssteuerung bieten und wichtige positive Rückkopplungen auf den gesellschaftlichen Diskurs darstellen, um die Natur besser zu schützen. Ein solches Berichtswesen ist inzwischen verpflichtend, aber die praktische Ausgestaltung und Anwendung sind teils noch offen.

Dieses Open Access-Buch zeigt, wie der Wert von Ökosystemleistungen und biologischer Vielfalt im Sinne einer ehrlichen Rechnung besser in nationale Berichte und Unternehmensbilanzen integriert werden kann. Wirtschaftlicher und sozialer Wohlstand hängen entscheidend von einer intakten, artenreichen Natur ab. Der wahre Wert des Naturvermögens und funktionierender Ökosysteme wird häufig unterschätzt – sowohl in seiner Bedeutung für den Einzelnen, wie auch in volkswirtschaftlichen Berechnungen und Unternehmensbilanzen.

Politikinstrumente für den Biodiversitätsschutz und die nachhaltige Bereitstellung von ÖSL werden herausgearbeitet und in ihrer Leistungsfähigkeit bewertet. Im Politikmix wird insbesondere auf den Ausgleich von Opportunitäts- und Managementkosten gesetzt. An den Beispielen Zahlungen für ÖSL und ökologischer Finanzausgleich wird erklärt, wie der Einsatz ökonomischer Instrumente naturbelastendes Wirtschaften und Konsumieren teurer, andererseits Leistungen von Landnutzern und öffentlichen Akteuren für den Biodiversitätsschutz und die Erhaltung von ÖSL attraktiver machen. Planungserfordernisse betreffen raumrelevante Gestaltungsziele sowie Nutzungs-, Schutz- und Revitalisierungsentscheidungen. In diesem Kontext wird dargelegt, wie das im ÖSL-Konzept angelegte Indikatorensystem umweltbezogene Zielzustände der räumlichen Planung messbar und evaluierbar machen und damit den Weg in einen dynamischen Planungsprozess eröffnen kann. Schließlich geht es um Wissenstransfer durch Kommunikation über ÖSL-Werte.

PURPOSE: ConquerFear is an efficacious intervention for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) that demonstrated greater improvements than an attention control (relaxation training) in a randomized controlled trial. This study aimed to determine mediators and moderators of the relative treatment efficacy of ConquerFear versus relaxation. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-two cancer survivors completed 5 therapy sessions and outcome measures before and after intervention and at 6 months' follow-up. We examined theoretically relevant variables as potential mediators and moderators of treatment outcome. We hypothesized that metacognitions and intrusions would moderate and mediate the relationship between treatment group and FCR level at follow-up. RESULTS: Only total FCR score at baseline moderated treatment outcome. Participants with higher levels of FCR benefited more from ConquerFear relative to relaxation on the primary outcome. Changes in metacognitions and intrusive thoughts about cancer during treatment partially mediated the relationship between treatment group and FCR. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that ConquerFear is relatively more effective than relaxation for those with overall higher levels of FCR. The mediation analyses confirmed that the most likely mechanism of treatment efficacy was the reduction in unhelpful metacognitions and intrusive thoughts during treatment, consistent with the theoretical framework underpinning ConquerFear. IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: ConquerFear is a brief, effective treatment for FCR in cancer survivors with early-stage disease. The treatment works by reducing intrusive thoughts about cancer and changing beliefs about worry and is particularly helpful for people with moderate to severe FCR.

Decision makers are increasingly interested in information from ecosystem services (ES) assessments. Scientists have for long recognised the importance of selecting appropriate indicators. Yet, while the amount and variety of indicators developed by scientists seems to increase continuously, the extent to which the indicators truly inform decision makers is often unknown and questioned. In this viewpoint paper, we reflect and provide guidance on how to develop appropriate ES indicators for informing decision making, building on scientific literature and practical experience collected from researchers involved in seven case studies. We synthesized 16 criteria for ES indicator selection and organized them according to the widely used categories of credibility, salience, legitimacy (CSL). We propose to consider additional criteria related to feasibility (F), as CSL criteria alone often seem to produce indicators which are unachievable in practice. Considering CSLF together requires a combination of scientific knowledge, communication skills, policy and governance insights and on-field experience. In conclusion, we present a checklist to evaluate CSLF of your ES indicators. This checklist helps to detect and mitigate critical shortcomings in an early phase of the development process, and aids the development of effective indicators to inform actual policy decisions.