Ecosystem Services and the Economics of Biodiversity Conservation

The concept of ecosystems services provides a robust and complementary rationale for biodiversity conservation to the traditional arguments based on intrinsic value. In principle, it also provides a mechanism for optimizing investments in biodiversity conservation and directing them to where they are most useful. This requires the valuation of ecosystem services, and in particular, the contribution that biodiversity (in its strict sense) makes to that value. The paper describes a number of key issues in ecosystem and biodiversity valuation.