title: Ecosystem services and economic theory: integration for policy-relevant research.
abstract: It has become essential in policy and decision-making circles to think about the economic benefits (in addition to moral and scientific motivations) humans derive from well-functioning ecosystems. The concept of ecosystem services has been developed to address this link between ecosystems and human welfare. Since policy decisions are often evaluated through cost-benefit assessments, an economic analysis can help make ecosystem service research operational. In this paper we provide some simple economic analyses to discuss key concepts involved in formalizing ecosystem service research. These include the distinction between services and benefits, understanding the importance of marginal ecosystem changes, formalizing the idea of a safe minimum standard for ecosystem service provision, and discussing how to capture the public benefits of ecosystem services. We discuss how the integration of economic concepts and ecosystem services can provide policy and decision makers with a fuller spectrum of information for making conservation-conversion trade-offs. We include the results from a survey of the literature and a questionnaire of researchers regarding how ecosystem service research can be integrated into the policy process. We feel this discussion of economic concepts will be a practical aid for ecosystem service research to become more immediately policy relevant.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom. brendan.fisher@uea.ac.uk
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zylstra
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brouwer
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Groot
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farber
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.forename: Rhys
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hadley
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harlow
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jefferiss
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirkby
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Morling
authors.forename: Shaun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mowatt
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Naidoo
authors.forename: Jouni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paavola
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Strassburg
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balmford
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003657:Decision Making; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D011050:Policy Making; D012106:Research / Q000191:economics*