Ethical Considerations in On-Ground Applications of the Ecosystem Services Concept

TLDR

The ecosystem services concept is a key way to convey society’s dependence on natural ecosystems, and its on‑ground applications are now widespread—including communication, policy guidance, priority setting, and economic instruments for conservation—each of which raises ethical considerations beyond traditional monetary valuation controversies. The authors review ethical considerations across major on‑ground applications of the ecosystem services concept and categorize them into anthropocentric framing, economic metaphor, monetary valuation, commodification, sociocultural impact, changes in motivations, and equity implications. They propose methods to address the most relevant ethical issues for each application. They conclude that the ecosystem services concept should be considered only among various alternative approaches to valuing nature, and that reliance on economic metaphors can exclude other motivations for protecting ecosystems.

Abstract

The ecosystem services (ES) concept is one of the main avenues for conveying society's dependence on natural ecosystems. On-ground applications of the concept are now widespread and diverse and include its use as a communication tool, for policy guidance and priority setting, and for designing economic instruments for conservation. Each application raises ethical considerations beyond traditional controversies related to the monetary valuation of nature. We review ethical considerations across major on-ground applications and group them into the following categories: anthropocentric framing, economic metaphor, monetary valuation, commodification, sociocultural impact, changes in motivations, and equity implications. Different applications of the ES concept raise different suites of ethical issues, and we propose methods to address the issues most relevant to each application. We conclude that the ES concept should be considered as only one among various alternative approaches to valuing nature and that reliance on economic metaphors can exclude other motivations for protecting ecosystems.