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
Rapid Progression of Ocean Acidification in the California Current System
Nicolas Gruber,Claudine Hauri,Zouhair Lachkar,Damian Loher,Thomas L. Frölicher,Gian-Kasper Plattner +5 more
TL;DR: A regional ocean model was used to project how the saturation state of aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate that is produced by many marine organisms, will change in the California Current System through the year 2050, finding that much of the nearshore region will develop summer-long undersaturation in the top 60 meters within the next 30 years.
Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of past, present, and future ocean carbon dioxide concentrations on the growth and survival of larval shellfish.
TL;DR: The results suggest that the ocean acidification that has occurred during the past two centuries may be inhibiting the development and survival of larval shellfish and contributing to global declines of some bivalve populations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Predator control of ecosystem nutrient dynamics
TL;DR: Because predator species are disproportionately vulnerable to elimination from ecosystems, the authors stand to lose much more from their disappearance than their simple charismatic attractiveness, and new research is beginning to show that predator effects on nutrient cycling are ubiquitous.
Journal ArticleDOI
A multi-criteria approach for an integrated land-cover-based assessment of ecosystem services provision to support landscape planning
TL;DR: The results of the study show that the combination of selected services and land cover data can contribute to regional planning by communicating the effect of land cover change on ecosystem services groups, especially when applied as an evaluation basis in the tool Pimp Your Landscape (PYL).
Journal ArticleDOI
Ecosystem services response to urbanization in metropolitan areas: Thresholds identification
TL;DR: According to the detected relationships between urbanization and TES, the economic and population urbanization should be strengthened accompanied by slowing or even reducing land urbanization, so as to achieve urban ecological sustainability with less ecosystem services degradation.
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.