Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
For example, a forest constitutes a stock that generates a flow
of timber, carbon sequestration, water quality, biodiversity,
serenity, and other benefits, depending upon how it is man-
aged. (Fossil fuels and other minerals constitute nonliving
natural capital, which is generally nonrenewable on time
scales of interest to society.)
Definition
Ecosystem services are essential to sustaining and fulfilling human life, and yet their
supply is seriously threatened by the intensification of human impacts on the envi-
ronment. Over the past decade, efforts to value and protect ecosystem services have
been promoted by many as the last best hope for making conservation mainstream -
attractive and commonplace worldwide. In theory, if institutions recognize the values
of nature, then we can greatly enhance investments in conservation and foster human
well-being at the same time. In practice, scientific and policy communities have not
yet developed the scientific basis or the policy and finance mechanisms for
integrating natural capital into resource and land-use decisions on a large scale.
Introduction
This entry provides an overview of issues concerning the identification, biophysical
and economic characterization, and safeguarding of ecosystem services. The concept
of ecosystem services has a long written history, reaching back at least as far as Plato.
We review this history, including a focus on recent advances such as the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, and advances in spatial modeling, economic valuation, and
policy implementation. We provide examples of novel finance and policy
mechanisms, including water funds, marine spatial planning, land-use planning and
human development, and global policy efforts. We conclude with a discussion of the
largest research and implementation challenges in this field, identifying the issues
that will frame the future growth of the concept of ecosystem services.
What are Ecosystem Services?
Definition and Classification
Ecosystem services are defined simply as the benefits that people obtain from
ecosystems [ 38 ]. They sustain and fulfill human life and flow from many conditions
and processes of ecosystems, and the species making them up [ 14 ]. The processes
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