This report presents the results of a broad review of the literature that has investigated the economic and other values of ecosystem goods and services. The review was commissioned by DEFRA (UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to examine the role of ecosystem goods and services in communicating the benefits of biodiversity.

 

The report considers the contribution of such goods and services from socio-economic and ecological perspectives drawing upon mostly international examples, and focusing on wetlands, forests and agro-ecosytems. Two case studies are presented in Annex 1 to demonstrate how ecosystem goods and services can be defined and their value quantified. Annex 2 contains a technical report that presents the scope of the study and further details on the issues discussed in the main report.