Valuing ecosystem services: what’s the value?

Valuing environmental benefits and costs has been a major part of environmental and ecological economics for several decades, but, catalyzed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) published in 2005, such valuation has been increasingly framed in terms of valuing ecosystem services (ES). There is no universal definition of ES; many studies have followed the MA in equating them with the benefits provided by ecosystems, but increasingly ES are considered the intermediate and final processes within ecosystems that provide benefits to human well-being. The aims of this book, according to its cover, are to provide state-of-the-art examples of the latest valuation research on a cross-section of ecosystems and services to academics, policy makers and professionals, and to provide a blueprint for moving valuation science and practice forward.