Journal ArticleDOI
The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital
Robert Costanza,Rudolf de Groot,Stephen Farberk,Monica Grasso,Bruce Hannon,Karin E. Limburg,Shahid Naeem,José M. Paruelo,Robert Raskin,Paul Suttonkk,Marjan van den Belt +10 more
TLDR
In this paper, the authors have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations, for the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (10^(12)) per year, with an average of US $33 trillion per year.Abstract:
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth's life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (10^(12)) per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, this must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Impact of production intensity on the ability of the agricultural landscape to generate ecosystem services: an example from Sweden
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a number of essential ecosystem services, and estimate their generation by the Swedish agricultural landscape under different production intensities, showing that the landscape mosaics have been substantially altered, which resulted in a decreased ability of agricultural landscapes to support natural ecosystem components and processes.
Cooling our Communities. A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surfacing - eScholarship
TL;DR: A Guidebook on Tree Planting and Light-Colored Surface Surfacing as mentioned in this paper was published by the United States Environmental Protection Policy, Planning and Evaluation (PM-221) 22P.
Journal ArticleDOI
Benthic recovery following cessation of fish farming: a series of successes and catastrophes
TL;DR: It is concluded that the recovery process of heavily enriched benthos in a dynamic coastal environment is subject to the influence of different factors, resulting in progress and regression, and therefore the succession model proposed by Pearson & Rosenberg (1978) may not be applicable in the early stages of succession.
Book ChapterDOI
Multifunctional land use: meeting future demands for landscape goods and services
TL;DR: In this article, Wiggering et al. show that cultural landscapes are multifunctional through their simultaneous support of habitat, productivity, regulatory, social, and economic functions (de Groot 1987; Bastian and Schreiber 1999).
Journal ArticleDOI
The potential ecological costs and cobenefits of REDD: a critical review and case study from the Amazon region
C. Stickler,C. Stickler,Daniel C. Nepstad,Michael T. Coe,David G. McGrath,Hermann Rodrigues,Wayne S. Walker,Britaldo Soares-Filho,Britaldo Soares-Filho,Eric A. Davidson +9 more
TL;DR: The United Nations climate treaty may soon include a mechanism for compensating tropical nations that succeed in reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, source of nearly one fifth of global carbon emissions.
References
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Book
Using surveys to value public goods : the contingent valuation method
TL;DR: Mitchell and Carson as discussed by the authors argue that at this time the contingent valuation (CV) method offers the most promising approach for determining public willingness to pay for many public goods, an approach likely to succeed, if used carefully, where other methods may fail.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nature's services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems.
TL;DR: Nature's Services brings together world-renowned scientists from a variety of disciplines to examine the character and value of ecosystem services, the damage that has been done to them, and the consequent implications for human society.
Book
For The Common Good: Redirecting The Economy Towards Community, The Environment And A Sustainable Future
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the scale of human activity in the biosphere has grown too large and that change is needed in the approach to economic activity: "correction and expansion a more empirical and historical attitude less pretense on being science and willingness to subordinate the market to purposes that it is not geared to determine."
Journal ArticleDOI
Primary production required to sustain global fisheries
Daniel Pauly,Villy Christensen +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the mean of reported annual world fisheries catches for 1988-1991 (94.3 million t) was split into 39 species groups, to which fractional trophic levels, ranging from 1.0 (edible algae) to 4.2 (tunas), were assigned, based on 48 published Trophic models, providing a global coverage of six major aquatic ecosystem types.
Journal ArticleDOI
Natural Capital and Sustainable Development
Robert Costanza,Herman E. Daly +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, a minimum necessary condition for sustainability is the maintenance of the total natural capital stock at or above the current level, to be relaxed only when solid evidence can be offered that it is safe to do so.