The development of ecosystem accounting systems at national levels to complete current wealth indicators with robust information on ecosystem degradation or enhancement is a crucial challenge, recognized in international strategies. However, the methodologies remain under development building, at the global level, on an experimental ecosystem accounting framework (the SEEA-EEA). Building on this framework and current academic discussions, this article aims at proposing a methodological advance for aligning the SEEA-EEA with the needs of ecosystem management and the principles of strong sustainability. It consists in structuring ecosystem condition measurement into a parsimonious and inclusive set of characteristics, indicators and reference levels with an explicit and inclusive value basis. This sets the grounds for the development of sound and policy-relevant ecosystem monitoring systems and the production of meaningful macro-aggregate indicators of ecosystem degradation at national levels.