US EPA

3296879 

Journal Article 

Ecosystem services: Exploring a geographical perspective 

Potschin, MB; Haines-Young, RoyH 

2011 

1 

Progress in Physical Geography
ISSN: 0309-1333
EISSN: 1477-0296 

35 

5 

575-594 

10.1177/0309133311423172 

WOS:000295639400002 

The 'ecosystem service' debate has taken on many features
of a classic Kuhnian paradigm. It challenges conventional wisdoms about conservation and the
value of nature, and is driven as much by political agendas as scientific ones. In this paper we
review some current and emerging issues arising in relation to the analysis and assessment of
ecosystem services, and in particular emphasize the need for physical geographers to find new
ways of characterizing the structure and dynamics of service providing units. If robust and
relevant valuations are to be made of the contribution that natural capital makes to human well-
being, then we need a deeper understanding of the way in which the drivers of change impact on
the marginal outputs of ecosystem services. A better understanding of the trade-offs that need to
be considered when dealing with multifunctional ecosystems is also required. Future developments
must include methods for describing and tracking the stocks and flows that characterize natural
capital. This will support valuation of the benefits estimation of the level of reinvestment that
society must make in this natural capital base if it is to be sustained. We argue that if the
ecosystem service concept is to be used seriously as a framework for policy and management then
the biophysical sciences generally, and physical geography in particular, must go beyond the
uncritical 'puzzle solving' that characterizes recent work. A geographical perspective can
provide important new, critical insights into the place-based approaches to ecosystem assessment
that are now emerging. 

ecosystem services; natural capital stocks; service providing units; social-ecological systems; valuation of ecosystem services