The DOI matches its Crossref record; 107 of the 108 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Natural capital and ecosystem services informing decisions: From promise to practice
Open accessAbstract
The central challenge of the 21st century is to develop economic, social, and governance systems capable of ending poverty and achieving sustainable levels of population and consumption while securing the life-support systems underpinning current and future human well-being. Essential to meeting this challenge is the incorporation of natural capital and the ecosystem services it provides into decision-making. We explore progress and crucial gaps at this frontier, reflecting upon the 10 y since the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. We focus on three key dimensions of progress and ongoing challenges: raising awareness of the interdependence of ecosystems and human well-being, advancing the fundamental interdisciplinary science of ecosystem services, and implementing this science in decisions to restore natural capital and use it sustainably. Awareness of human dependence on nature is at an all-time high, the science of ecosystem services is rapidly advancing, and talk of natural capital is now common from governments to corporate boardrooms. However, successful implementation is still in early stages. We explore why ecosystem service information has yet to fundamentally change decision-making and suggest a path forward that emphasizes: ( i ) developing solid evidence linking decisions to impacts on natural capital and ecosystem services, and then to human well-being; ( ii ) working closely with leaders in government, business, and civil society to develop the knowledge, tools, and practices necessary to integrate natural capital and ecosystem services into everyday decision-making; and ( iii ) reforming institutions to change policy and practices to better align private short-term goals with societal long-term goals.
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“These various contributions are now widely recognized in the scientific literature, but governmental policies and market transactions typically do not reflect their full value ( 7 ).”
From Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change (2019) · cites this paper as [7]
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Pervasive human-driven decline of life on Earth points to the need for transformative change
Díaz, S., Settele, J., Brondízio, E. S., Ngo, H. T., Agard, J., Arneth, A., Balvanera, P., Brauman, K. A., Butchart, S. H. M., Chan, K. M. A., et al. (2019) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aax3100 · Cited by 2,926
Self-citationNature and mental health: An ecosystem service perspective
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Self-citationSocial-ecological resilience and biosphere-based sustainability science
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Folke, C. (2016) · Ecology and Society · doi:10.5751/es-09088-210444 · Cited by 982
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Metadata
- Authors
- Guerry, A. D., Polasky, S., Lubchenco, J., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Daily, G. C., Griffin, R., Ruckelshaus, M., Bateman, I. J., Duraiappah, A., Elmqvist, T., Feldman, M. W., Folke, C., Hoekstra, J., Kareiva, P. M., Keeler, B. L., Li, S., McKenzie, E., Ouyang, Z., Reyers, B., Ricketts, T. H., Rockström, J., Tallis, H., & Vira, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Oregon State University (US)
- Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305;
- Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (SE)
- Stanford University (US)
- University of East Anglia (GB)
- Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, New Delhi 110 029, India;
- Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE)
- World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC 20037;
- The Nature Conservancy (US)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- World Wildlife Fund (US)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (ZA)
- University of Vermont (US)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2015-06-15
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 24
- Pages
- 7348-7355
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC4475956
- OpenAlex
- W1540250989
- Cited by
- 1,017
- References
- 108
- Citations by year
- 2026: 66 · 2025: 75 · 2024: 88 · 2023: 98 · 2022: 107 · 2021: 110 · 2020: 126 · 2019: 91 · 2018: 95 · 2017: 87 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 16
- FWCI
- 69.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences OpenIR (Chinese Academy of Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Sustainable Development and Environmental Policy
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
- Keywords
- natural capital, ecosystem services, decision-making, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, human well-being, sustainability, ecological restoration, policy reform, interdisciplinary research, evidence-based policy, institutional change, poverty reduction
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Conservation of Natural Resources, Decision Making, Ecology, Humans, Public Policy, Ecosystem
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