Ecosystem services: Just another catch phrase?

Abstract

The "ecosystem services" concept has emerged as a popular area of discussion among policy makers and conservation advocates. Ecosystem services are the benefits people derive from nature and include the provision of water, food, wood, and fiber; regulation of climate, flood, drought, and disease; maintenance of biodiversity; and recreational, aesthetic, spiritual, and cultural values. Ecosystem services brings together traditionally disparate fields of ecology, economics, and geography to address how the services are generated, how they flow across the landscape, who benefits from them, and by how much.

Citation

Weidner, Emily. 2011. Ecosystem services: Just another catch phrase? International Journal of Wilderness. 17(2): 32-33.