The conceptualization of ecosystems as natural capital that provides services to society, to some extent emerges as a strategic or pragmatic attempt to put in value the role that nature plays in human well-being. Several classifications of the benefits that society receives from ecosystems have been developed in the scientific literature, both in terms of services and in terms of functions or u...

tion-oriented management activities; and purchasing development rights, conservation easements, and land in fee simple (e.g., Bengston et al. 2004). Current enthusiasm for ecosystem services markets arises in part from an interest in providing still another way to fund landowner incentives. Through markets, landowners could be compensated for ecosystem services their lands produce with funding ...

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) estimated that two thirds of ecosystem services on the earth have degraded or are in decline due to the unprecedented scale of human activities during recent decades. These changes will have tremendous consequences for human well-being, and offer both risks and opportunities for a wide range of stakeholders. Yet these risks and opportunities have not bee...

Rivers are complex systems that involve various interacting hydrological, geo-morphological and ecological processes resulting in the provisioning of riverine ecosystem services. The latter are flows of goods and services from ecosystems to society, such as food, timber and drinking water. Quantification of ecosystem services can support environmental impact assessments or scenario analyses for...

Wetland paddy agro-ecosystems are recognized as important human-made wetland systems. Realizing that lands ecological systems, the state of Kerala in southern India passed an act 2008 preventing their conversion to other uses. The provides subsidies and production bonuses encourage farmers imposes penalties for non-compliance. However, economic benefits associated with considerably higher than ...

Agroforestry, land use at the agriculture-forestry interface that implies presence of trees on farms and/or farmers in forests, has a history may be as old agriculture, but an overarching label and topic formal scientific analysis, it is its fifth decade [...]