This book highlights the latest advances in the science and practice of using ecosystem services to inform decisions for economic development in the context of the developing countries. The development of the ecosystem services paradigm has enhanced our understanding of natural capital as an indispensable form of capital asset along with produced and human capital. This book addresses what could be the possible pathways to mainstream natural capital assets into development policies and what is currently known about the economic values of ecosystem services. A series of innovative tools to help policy makers and planners account for natural capital and ecosystem services in sectoral and macroeconomic policies have been explored and their application at the national and regional scale has been demonstrated. Several detailed case studies are presented in which the understanding of ecosystem services values has successfully informed decisions, including examples from Chile, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and the Aral Sea in Central Asia. These provide the critically important insights, lessons learned and means and mechanisms for policy makers to incentivize protection and discourage degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide. Mainstreaming Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services into Development Policy is designed to help decision makers at all levels, including governments, businesses, multilevel development banks and individuals to integrate ecosystems and their services into their decision making.

By providing the real-world examples and lessons, the book will guide policy-makers and experts in their efforts in exploring and applying these pathways and tools in the larger context of development policies of nations and the pursuit of a sustainable century.' - From the foreword by Achim Steiner United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, United Nations Environment ProgrammeUsing a selection of authoritative and original contributions, this timely book explores the uncertainty surrounding the impact of decisions undertaken to manage ecosystem services worldwide. Invariably, the policies designed and implemented to manage forests, wetlands, and marine and coastal environments often involve conflicts of interest between various stakeholders. This has added an additional layer of complexity in the context of developing countries where institutions and governance are weak or absent. Economic valuation and the subsequent design of innovative response tools such as payment for ecosystem services (PES) have the potential to offer far greater transparency. In the case of LDCs, the identification of suitable institutions for executing these tools is also of vital importance. With a strong policy focus, the contributors synthesize the scientific approaches to PES, valuation, trade-offs, equity and the institutional requirements to operationalize a credible concept of economic value. The book also addresses the behavioral foundations of creating the incentive design and response policies for ecosystem management. This book will prove helpful to ecosystems management researchers and postgraduate students of conservation and development. Conservation managers, decision makers and development practitioners will also find this resource both interesting and beneficial to their work. Contributors: R. Arriagada, I. Bateman, J. Blignaut, A.G. Drucker, A.K. Duraiappah, T. Elmqvist, B. Fisher, J.M. Gowdy, K. Hylander, J. Krishnaswamy, P. Kumar, R. Muradian, U. Narloch, I. Parker, U. Pascual, N. Pazmino, C. Perrings, L.C. Rodriguez, A. Salman, I. Thiaw, R.K. Turner, M. Tuvendal, S. Whitten

The Inclusive Wealth Index provides important insights into long-term economic growth and human well-being. The Index measures the wealth of nations through a comprehensive analysis of a country's productive base and the country's wealth in terms of progress, well-being and long-term sustainability. It measures all assets which human well-being is based upon, in particular, produced, human and natural capital to create and maintain human well-being over time. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351002080, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Policy and management decisions are often made on financial grounds. However, the economic value of the benefits that people derive from ecosystems, that is, ecosystem services, may not be fully recognised and hence ecosystem considerations may not be incorporated adequately into decision-making processes. This is particularly true for regulating services, the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, the valuation of which requires an interdisciplinary approach. In essence, valuation is a problem solving strategy and a problem is a problem, it does not respect the boundary of any particular discipline.

The valuation of regulating services is an evolving field of ecological economics. In this book, Dr. Pushpam Kumar and Dr. Michael D. Wood have invited some of the foremost international experts in the field of ecosystem services valuation to contribute chapters on the valuation of regulating services and highlight some of the main obstacles to the implementation and acceptance of these methodologies in the context of decision-making. The contributors explore the theoretical underpinning of valuation of ecosystem services and demonstrate ways in which these theories can be applied to case-specific problems in order to inform decision-making processes.

This collection clarifies some of the doubt and uncertainty regarding the valuation of regulating services. Innovative methodologies in this field have started to emerge and in coming years there may be much further discussion on this topic as methodologies and understanding continue to evolve. This is a highly active area of interdisciplinary research with far reaching social and environmental implications, and this book should be of interest to those who are new to the field, as well as established experts, in moving both theory and practice forward.

Policy and management decisions are often made on financial grounds. However, the economic value of the benefits that people derive from ecosystems, that is, ecosystem services, may not be fully recognised and hence ecosystem considerations may not be incorporated adequately into decision-making processes. This is particularly true for regulating services, the benefits obtained from the regulation of ecosystem processes, the valuation of which requires an interdisciplinary approach. In essence, valuation is a problem solving strategy and a problem is a problem, it does not respect the boundary of any particular discipline.

The valuation of regulating services is an evolving field of ecological economics. In this book, Dr. Pushpam Kumar and Dr. Michael D. Wood have invited some of the foremost international experts in the field of ecosystem services valuation to contribute chapters on the valuation of regulating services and highlight some of the main obstacles to the implementation and acceptance of these methodologies in the context of decision-making. The contributors explore the theoretical underpinning of valuation of ecosystem services and demonstrate ways in which these theories can be applied to case-specific problems in order to inform decision-making processes.

This collection clarifies some of the doubt and uncertainty regarding the valuation of regulating services. Innovative methodologies in this field have started to emerge and in coming years there may be much further discussion on this topic as methodologies and understanding continue to evolve. This is a highly active area of interdisciplinary research with far reaching social and environmental implications, and this book should be of interest to those who are new to the field, as well as established experts, in moving both theory and practice forward.

The Inclusive Wealth Index provides important insights into long-term economic growth and human well-being. The Index measures the wealth of nations through a comprehensive analysis of a country's productive base and the country's wealth in terms of progress, well-being and long-term sustainability. It measures all assets which human well-being is based upon, in particular, produced, human and natural capital to create and maintain human well-being over time.

In recent years, there has been a marked proliferation in the literature on economic approaches to ecosystem management, which has created a subsequent need for real understanding of the scope and the limits of the economic approaches to ecosystems and biodiversity. Within this Handbook, carefully commissioned original contributions from acknowledged experts in the field address the new concepts and their applications, identify knowledge gaps and provide authoritative recommendations.The Handbook offers a wealth of case studies and further: - identifies the conceptual underpinnings of the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity - demonstrates new research methodologies and their applications - provides authoritative assessment of the recent results and findings in ecosystems services and biodiversity valuation and accounting - provides the reader with the state of the art of the research on the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity - provides spatial explicit tools for mapping ecosystem services values for land-use planning, including in the context of business and industry. This authoritative assessment will appeal to researchers and academics at both the advanced undergraduate and post-graduate levels of environmental economics and ecological economics. Policy-makers in government, business and conservation sectors will find much to engage them as the work will prove essential for implementing effective response policies for the management of ecosystems and biodiversity. Contributors: P. Ala-aho, I. Anastasiou, J.Angulo-Valdes, V. Babalos, T. Badura, K.J. Bagstad, H.E. Balbach, E.B. Barbier, A.A. Batabyal, A. Bien, L.M. Brander, A. Catzim-Sanchez, H. Chen, W.W.L. Cheung, J.C. Cooper, J. Coria, G. Cucuzza, A.T. de Blaeij, T. Dedeurwaerdere, M. De Salvo, S. Di Falco, S.T.M. Dissanayake, A.K. Duraiappah, W.H Durham, R. Eskelinen, T. Figueredo Martin, P. Fong, M. Gemma, J.M. Gowdy, M. Honey, G.W. Johnson, T. Karjalainen, M. Kettunen, B. Kloeve, E. Kougea, P. Koundouri, P. Kumar, V.W.Y. Lam, G.-M. Lange, V. Linderhof, A. Markandya, J. Mate, L. Mazza, C. Mena, Y. Mitani, E. Naikal, D. Narita, S. Navrud, P. Nijkamp, P.A.L.D. Nunes, H. OEnal, R.R. Palatnik, C. Palmer, S. Parks, M. Pascual, M. Perez-Soba, F.Pina-Amargos, N.B.P. Polman, L. Pratt, M. Pulido-Velazquez, M.J. Punt, D. Quiroga, K. Rehdanz, S. Reinhard, K. Reinikainen, E. Robinson, P.M. Rossi, G. Samonte, A. Seidl, D. Semmens, M. Shechter, B. Shitovitz, G. Signorello, R.D. Simpson, G. Slean, H.G. Smith, R.B.W. Smith, T. Sterner, M. Stithou, U.R. Sumaila, D. Suman, R.T. Tawfik, P. ten Brink, R.S.J. Tol, R.K. Turner, M. van der Heide, E.C. van Ierland, P. Verweij, F. Villa, S. Waage, X. Wang, H.-P. Weikard, J.D. Westervelt, M. Winograd, S. Withana, S. Zemah-Shamir

This book highlights the latest advances in the science and practice of using ecosystem services to inform decisions for economic development in the context of the developing countries. The development of the ecosystem services paradigm has enhanced our understanding of natural capital as an indispensable form of capital asset along with produced and human capital. This book addresses what could be the possible pathways to mainstream natural capital assets into development policies and what is currently known about the economic values of ecosystem services. A series of innovative tools to help policy makers and planners account for natural capital and ecosystem services in sectoral and macroeconomic policies have been explored and their application at the national and regional scale has been demonstrated. Several detailed case studies are presented in which the understanding of ecosystem services values has successfully informed decisions, including examples from Chile, South Africa, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam and the Aral Sea in Central Asia. These provide the critically important insights, lessons learned and means and mechanisms for policy makers to incentivize protection and discourage degradation of ecosystems and the services they provide. Mainstreaming Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services into Development Policy is designed to help decision makers at all levels, including governments, businesses, multilevel development banks and individuals to integrate ecosystems and their services into their decision making.

Human well-being relies critically on ecosystem services provided by nature. Examples include water and air quality regulation, nutrient cycling and decomposition, plant pollination and flood control, all of which are dependent on biodiversity. They are predominantly public goods with limited or no markets and do not command any price in the conventional economic system, so their loss is often not detected and continues unaddressed and unabated. This in turn not only impacts human well-being, but also seriously undermines the sustainability of the economic system. It is against this background that TEEB: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project was set up in 2007 and led by the United Nations Environment Programme to provide a comprehensive global assessment of economic aspects of these issues. This book, written by a team of international experts, represents the scientific state of the art, providing a comprehensive assessment of the fundamental ecological and economic principles of measuring and valuing ecosystem services and biodiversity, and showing how these can be mainstreamed into public policies. This volume and subsequent TEEB outputs will provide the authoritative knowledge and guidance to drive forward the biodiversity conservation agenda for the next decade.

Human well-being relies critically on ecosystem services provided by nature. Examples include water and air quality regulation, nutrient cycling and decomposition, plant pollination and flood control, all of which are dependent on biodiversity. They are predominantly public goods with limited or no markets and do not command any price in the conventional economic system, so their loss is often not detected and continues unaddressed and unabated. This in turn not only impacts human well-being, but also seriously undermines the sustainability of the economic system. It is against this background that TEEB: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity project was set up in 2007 and led by the United Nations Environment Programme to provide a comprehensive global assessment of economic aspects of these issues. This book, written by a team of international experts, represents the scientific state of the art, providing a comprehensive assessment of the fundamental ecological and economic principles of measuring and valuing ecosystem services and biodiversity, and showing how these can be mainstreamed into public policies. This volume and subsequent TEEB outputs will provide the authoritative knowledge and guidance to drive forward the biodiversity conservation agenda for the next decade.