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
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Journal ArticleDOI
Linking Ecosystem Services with Cultural Landscape Research
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare the objectives, approaches, and methodologies adopted by eco system services research and cultural landscape research through a bibliographic research, and propose a closer link between the two research communities would enrich and possibly sharpen both approaches.
Journal ArticleDOI
Economic Value of Biological Control in Integrated Pest Management of Managed Plant Systems
TL;DR: Interaction among diverse scientists and stakeholders will be required to measure the direct and indirect costs and benefits of biological control that will allow farmers and others to internalize the benefits that incentive and accelerate adoption for private and public good.
Journal ArticleDOI
Identifying knowledge gaps hampering application of intertidal habitats in coastal protection: Opportunities & steps to take
Tjeerd J. Bouma,J. van Belzen,Thorsten Balke,Zhenchang Zhu,Laura Airoldi,Andrew J. Blight,Andrew J. Blight,Andrew J. Davies,Cristina Galván,Stephen J. Hawkins,Simon P. G. Hoggart,Javier L. Lara,Inigo J. Losada,Maria Maza,Bárbara Ondiviela,Martin W. Skov,Elisabeth M. A. Strain,Richard C. Thompson,Shilun Yang,Barbara Zanuttigh,Liquan Zhang,Peter M. J. Herman +21 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide insight in the conditions under which ecosystems may be valuable for coastal protection, discuss which might be the most promising intertidal ecosystems for this task and identify knowledge gaps that currently hamper application and hence need attention from the scientific community.
Journal ArticleDOI
The contradictory logic of global ecosystem services markets.
TL;DR: It is argued that the contradiction between development and conservation observed in PES is inevitable in projects framed by the asocial logic of neoclassical economics and will entail a net upward redistribution of wealth in the global North.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Cerrado into-pieces: habitat fragmentation as a function of landscape use in the savannas of central Brazil.
TL;DR: In this paper, the landscape structure of the Cerrado in Goias State, Central Brazil, was quantified by the use of fragmentation indices, analyzed at the class level, to assess if land use for crop production or for pasture produces different fragmentation patterns, which can result in different pressures for the conservation of biodiversity.
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.