Life itself as well as the entire human economy depends on goods and services provided by earth's natural systems. The processes of cleansing, recycling, and renewal, along with goods such as seafood, forage, and timber, are worth many trillions of dollars annually, and nothing could live without them. Yet growing human impacts on the environment are profoundly disrupting the functioning of natural systems and imperiling the delivery of these services.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. Contributors including Paul R. Ehrlich, Donald Kennedy, Pamela A. Matson, Robert Costanza, Gary Paul Nabhan, Jane Lubchenco, Sandra Postel, and Norman Myers present a detailed synthesis of our current understanding of a suite of ecosystem services and a preliminary assessment of their economic value. Chapters consider: major services including climate regulation, soil fertility, pollination, and pest control philosophical and economic issues of valuation case studies of specific ecosystems and services implication of recent findings and steps that must be taken to address the most pressing concerns Nature's Services represents one of the first efforts by scientists to provide an overview of the many benefits and services that nature offers to people and the extent to which we are all vitally dependent on those services. The book enhances our understanding of the value of the natural systems that surround us and can play an essential role in encouraging greater efforts to protect the earth's basic life-support systems before it is too late.
Preface
Chapter 1. Perspectives on Nature's Services Chapter 2. Ecosystem Services: A Fragmentary History -Conclusion -References
PART I. Economic Issues of Valuation Chapter 3. Valuing Ecosystem Services: Philosophical Bases and Empirical Methods Chapter 4. Valuing Ecosystem Services With Efficiency, Fairness, and Sustainability as Goals
PART II. Overarching Services Chapter 5. The Interaction of Climate And Life Chapter 6. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning Chapter 7. Ecosystem Services Supplied by Soil Chapter 8. Services Provided by Pollinators Chapter 9. Natural Pest Control Services and Agriculture
PART III. Services Supplied by Major Biomes Chapter 10. Marine Ecosystem Services Chapter 11. Freshwater Ecosystem Services Chapter 12. The World's Forests and Their Ecosystem Services Chapter 13. Ecosystem Services in Grasslands
PART IV. Case Studies Chapter 14. Biodiversity's Genetic Library Chapter 15. Impacts of Marine Resource Extraction on Ecosystem Services and Sustainability Chapter 16. Ecosystem Services in Subsistence Economies and Conservation of Biodiversity Chapter 17. Ecosystem Services in a Modern Economy: Gunnison County, Colorado Chapter 18. Water Quality Improvement by Wetlands Chapter 19. Services Supplied by South African Fynbos Ecosystems
PART V. Conclusion Chapter 20. Valuing and Safeguarding Earth's Life-Support Systems
Index
"...the authors define ecosystem services, summarize historical perspectives, offer means of monetary valuation, and present some specific categories of damage.... [This] volume performs a highly valuable service, alerting readers in economic terms of the ultimately genocidal shortsightedness of abusing global biosphere."
