Ecosystem Service Valuation, Its Measurement and Uses

Dear Colleague,

Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods and services to human populations, including many of the resources that form the building blocks of local and regional economic activity. As such, an understanding of both the market and non-market values of ecosystem-based resources is critical for planning and management. Unfortunately, the economic values of specific ecosystem-based resources are notoriously difficult to measure, in part because of the complexity involved in identifying the characteristics being measured and because of the way in which these characteristics tend to vary over geographic and temporal dimensions. In addition, attempts to value ecosystem-based resources have tended to focus on either market or non-market measures without making any real attempt to integrate the two sets of measures, even though this integrated value is important to decision making in the policy development process. This special issue of Resources will focus on recent attempts to bridge these gaps in our understanding of ecosystem service valuation, its measurement, and how the resulting values are used in resource management. Submissions that focus on market, non-market, and integrated valuation of ecosystem-based resources are welcome, particularly those that address how these values might vary across geographic, cultural, and temporal scales. Submissions that examine the use of these values in local, regional, national, and international management and policy processes are also encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Richard F. Kazmierczak, Jr.
Prof. Dr. Rex H. Caffey
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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