The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy and Management

Book excerpt: Human well-being is dependent upon 'ecosystem services' provided by nature for free, such as water and air purification, fisheries, timber and nutrient cycling. These are predominantly public goods with no markets and no prices, so their loss is often not detected by our current economic incentive system and therefore continues unabated. A variety of pressures resulting from population growth, changing diets, urbanisation, climate change and many other factors is causing biodiversity to decline and ecosystems to be degraded. The world's.