“State” is generally understood as the quantity and quality of environmental assets, or the extent and condition of ecosystem assets. The TNFD (2023, p. 140) defines “State of nature” as “The condition and extent of ecosystems, and species population size and extinction risk, including positive or negative changes.” Bradley and Yee (2015) define “State” in the context of the “Driving Forces – Pressures – State – Impacts – Responses” (DPSIR) framework” as “the quantity and quality of physical, chemical, and biological components… of the natural and built environment.” Governments produce “State of the Environment” reports which describe the current quantity/extent and quality/condition of various aspects of the environment, and the observed trends in state of the environment over time. In the NCMC, the term “state” is used to describe a type of impact or dependency metric that measures the quantity and quality of environmental assets, or the extent and condition of ecosystem assets.
Source/reference: TNFD (2023, p. 140). Bradly and Yee (2015), pp. 12-13.