ABSTRACT
Healthy ecosystems provide many environmental services (ES) that are indispensable for the well-being of humans. 1 These services include climate regulation, water regulation, nutrient cycling, soil formation, pollination and scenic beauty. 2 In the past, ES have been undervalued, 3 since it has often been assumed they are public goods everyone should be able to enjoy free of charge. 4 Moreover, private landowners have very few economic incentives to protect the service-generating capacity of the ecosystems on their property. To make matters worse, less materially well-off landowners often have economic reasons to disrupt these ecosystems. 5 For example, the people who benefit from a forest’s scenic beauty rarely compensate the forest owner for ensuring this service. In the absence of these payments, forest owners may be pressured to clear trees in order to make a profit from their land, resulting in deforestation and land conversion.
