Valuing Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services can be divided among those that are provisioning; those that produce market goods that are consumed by human beings; those that regulate the provision of other services by providing stability and resilience in the natural environment; and those that provide cultural services. Underlying all of these services are supporting services that depend on the sufficiency of stocks, like soil, in nature. These services affect the long-term well-being of society; as one analysis indicates, we should ensure that those currently existing and those in the future are equally well taken care of (the definition of "sustainability"). The extent to which these ecosystem values should be monetized is called the “monetization frontier” by Martin O’Connor, because at some point ethical and cultural values regarding the non-use of nature are going to make valuation in monetary terms mean nothing.

This video is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.