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.

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Ecosystem services and economic theory: integration for policy-relevant research.

Ecotourism: A panacea or a predicament?

Valuing forest ecosystem services: What we know and what we don't

I begin not with the need for business ethics, but at the other end—the idea many people have that there is no need for such ethics. That conviction is quite widespread among practitioners of economics, though it is more often taken for granted implicitly rather than asserted explicitly. We must understand better what the conviction rests on and why it may be mistaken.

Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense

We assessed the economic values of the selective ecosystem services of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, using a combination of market-based and value transfer methods. The results showed that economic benefit generated from the reserve was worth USD 16 million per year, equivalent to USD 982 per household. The economic benefit generated from provisioning services accounted for about 85%. Although non-use values and some components of regulatory services were not considered in the study, our findings clearly highlight the vital importance of the economic benefit generated from the reserve for wellbeing of the local people. This has significant policy implications for balancing development and conservation efforts. Given the high levels of poverty in the buffer zone communities and the limited alternative livelihood options, pressure on the reserve is increasing and the management investment is insufficient, which has accelerated the degradation of vital services thereby imposing further constraints on conservation goals. We recommend that the ecosystem services provided by the reserve should be recognized as an integral part of a strategy and ensure sound policy and institutional mechanisms exist to empower and provide local communities to act on the options for minimizing trade-offs and promoting synergies using a holistic approach.

The economic value of wetland ecosystem services: evidence from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal.

An assessment of ecosystem services of Corbett Tiger Reserve, India

Tiger conservation often requires local-level support to avoid facing serious political challenges. In order to address the political challenges, the social capital of communities can be utilized to create community action and to help understand local dynamics. We studied the social capital in two villages bordering Corbett Tiger Reserve, India. Our results indicate that social capital of local communities is a significant determinant of potential for community action to support or oppose tiger conservation outcomes. Our results also indicate that specific components of social capital (solidarity, reciprocity and cooperation, networks, and mutual support) were critical in this potential community action. Further, the data suggest that the decline of social capital was led by the financial disparities created by unplanned growth of tourism outside the reserve boundaries. We suggest that policy and management interventions should consider social capital of local communities and ways in which it may support ...

Community Action and Tiger Conservation: Assessing the Role of Social Capital

Disparate attempts exist to identify the key components that make an ethics pedagogy more effective and efficient. To integrate these attempts, a review of 408 articles published in leading journals is conducted. The key foci of extant literature are categorized into three domains labeled as approach (A), content (C), and delivery (D), and a comprehensive framework (ACD) for ethics pedagogy developed. Within each of these domains, binaries that reflect two alternatives are identified. Approach, the philosophical standpoint, can be theory-laden or real-world connected. Content, the constituencies addressed, can have a focus on breadth or depth. Delivery, the execution of the adopted pedagogy, can be traditional or innovative. The review of articles also identifies the lack of pedagogies that comprehensively focus on all the binaries across domains. The other substantive contribution of this article addresses this gap by developing a generic pedagogy—Integrative Live Case—based on the ACD framework. Based on an incident that is currently unfolding, this pedagogy allows integration of binaries across the three domains. It also allows for a modular course plan that can accommodate varied pedagogical preferences. Volkswagen Dieselgate is presented as a stylized example to showcase the significant advantages of using this pedagogy.

Sneha Thapliyal

Papers

An assessment of ecosystem services of Corbett Tiger Reserve, India

Community Action and Tiger Conservation: Assessing the Role of Social Capital

Integrative Live Case: A Contemporary Business Ethics Pedagogy

Economic inequality and loss of commons: Evidence from India

Assessment of recreational services of natural landscapes in third world tropics using travel cost method