The Nature and Value of Australia’s Ecosystem Services: A Framework for Sustainable Environmental Solutions

A major reason for seeking sustainable environmental solutions is to maintain the benefits that come to humans from nature and its components. The term “Ecosystem Services” has been coined to describe these benefits. Ecosystem services include provision of clean air and water, natural fertilisation and nutrient cycling in soils, mitigation of climate, pollination of plants including crops, control of pests, provision of genetic resources, production of goods like food, fuel and fibre, maintenance of cultural and social values, and others. Most ecosystem services are not adequately considered in decision making and policy development because there is insufficient knowledge about the processes that deliver the services and because there are not adequate methods for assessing impacts on them in terms that can be compared with other policy or decision options. The Myer Foundation, as part of the Sidney Myer Centenary Celebration 1899-1999, has provided seed funding for a project involving CSIRO and a wide range of land managers, community groups, land management agencies, scientists and economists. The project aims to provide a detailed assessment of the goods and services coming from a range of Australian ecosystems, an assessment of the consumers and consumption of these services, and an evaluation of the economic costs and benefits of the services under future management scenarios. This paper outlines the concept of ecosystem services and its role as a conceptual framework for environmental decisions, discusses approaches to assessing the nature and value of ecosystem services, and describes the project itself.