The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital
Abstract
The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth's life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (10^(12)) per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, this must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.
Additional Information
© 1997 Nature Publishing Group. Received 23 January: accepted 2 April 1997. S. Carpenter was instrumental in encouraging the project. M. Grasso did the initial identification and collection of literature sources. We thank S. Carpenter, G. Daily, H. Daly, A. M. Freeman, N. Myers, C. Perrin gs, D. Pimentel, S. Pimm and S. Postel for helpful comments on earlier drafts. This project was sponsored by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), an NSF-funded Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The authors met during the week of June 17-2 l, 1996 to do the major parts of the synthesis activities. The idea for the study emerged at a meeting of the Pew Scholars in New Hampshire in October 1995.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 58322
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20150617-112720682
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
- NSF
- Created
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2015-06-17Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field