Books in the Routledge Studies in Ecosystem Services series

Ecosystem services can be broadly defined as the aspects of ecosystems that provide benefits to people. This book provides guidance on the valuation of ecosystem services, using the case of multifunctional wetlands to illustrate and make recommendations regarding the methods and techniques that can be applied to appraise management options.

This book provides a state-of-the-art review of the links between ecosystem services and poverty alleviation, and in rt it showcases the key findings of the ESPA programme

Payments for ecosystem services are hoped to encourage and promote sustainable practices in agricultural systems via financial incentives. Through methodological analysis and case studies, this book provides several examples of successful programs and aims to transfer them to other regions of the world.

Agricultural systems are no longer evaluated solely on the basis of the food they provide, but also on their capacity to limit impacts on the environment such as soil conservation, water quality and biodiversity conservation. The authors show that while the principle is straightforward, the practice is much more complicated.

The implications for justice and injustice have rarely been explored in reference to ecosystem services. This book argues that environmental management can neither be separated from justice concerns, as conservationists like to believe, nor is it in fundamental opposition to justice, as critics like to put it.

Humankind benefits from a multitude of resources and processes that are supplied by ecosystems, and collectively these benefits are known as ecosystem services. Interest in this topic has grown exponentially over the last decade, as biologists and economists have tried to quantify these benefits to justify management interventions. Yet, as this book demonstrates, the implications for justice and injustice have rarely been explored and works on environmental justice are only now addressing the importance of ecosystem services. The authors establish important new middle ground in arguments between conservationists and critics of market-based interventions such as Payment for Ecosystem Services. Neither can environmental management be separated from justice concerns, as some conservationists like to believe, nor is it in fundamental opposition to justice, as critics like to put it. The book develops this novel interpretation of justice in environmental management through analyses of prominent governance interventions and the conceptual underpinnings of the ecosystem services framework. Key examples described are revenue-sharing around protected areas and REDD+ for forest ecosystems. The analyses demonstrate that interventions create opportunities for enhancing social justice, yet also reveal critical design features that cause ostensibly technical interventions to generate injustices.

This handbook provides a comprehensive reference text on ecosystem services, integrating natural and social science (including economics). Collectively the chapters, written by the world's leading authorities, demonstrate the importance of biodiversity for people, policy and practice.

This book provides a state-of-the-art review of the links between ecosystem services and poverty alleviation, and in rt it showcases the key findings of the ESPA programme