Valuing Ecological Systems and Services

Authors

Robert Costanza, Portland State University
Ida Kubiszewski, Portland State University
David E. Ervin, Portland State UniversityFollow
Randall Bluffstone, Portland State UniversityFollow
Darrell Brown, Portland State UniversityFollow
Heejun Chang, Portland State UniversityFollow
Veronica Dujon, Portland State UniversityFollow
Elise F. Granek, Portland State UniversityFollow
Stephen Polasky, University of MinnesotaFollow
Vivek Shandas, Portland State UniversityFollow
J. Alan Yeakley, Portland State UniversityFollow
James Boyd, Resources for the FutureFollow

Published In

F1000 Biology Reports

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2011

Subjects

Environmental protection, Ecosystem services

Abstract

Making trade-offs between ecological services and other contributors to human well-being is a difficult but critical process that requires valuation. This allows both better recognition of the ecological, social, and economic trade-offs and also allows us to bill those who use up or destroy ecological services and reward those that produce or enhance them. It also aids improved ecosystems policy. In this paper we clarify some of the controversies in defining the contributions to human well-being from functioning ecosystems, many of which people are not even aware of.We go on to describe the applicability of the various valuation methods that can be used in estimating the benefits of ecosystem services. Finally, we describe some recent case studies and lay out the research agenda for ecosystem services analysis, modeling, and valuation going forward.

Description

This is the publisher's final PDF

DOI

10.3410/B3-14

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8348

Citation Details

Costanza, R., Kubiszewski, I., Ervin, D., Bluffstone, R., Boyd, J., Brown, D., & ... Yeakley, A. (2011). Valuing ecological systems and services. F1000 Biology Reports, 3,14.