ABSTRACT
The ecosystem services (ES) framework is one of the most successful conceptual innovations in sustainability science, probably only comparable with the concept of sustainable development in terms of widespread adoption and rapid dissemination. This chapter aims to recapitulate the contributions of the ES framework and to assess to what extent the particular way of looking at human–nature relations provides appropriate analytical tools that can indeed advance our understanding of the drivers of socio-environmental transformations. It discusses the rise of the ES paradigm, its analytical background and contributions, as well as its main limitations. The chapter argues that the ES framework suffers from significant inconsistencies, which call into question its analytical contribution and presents three categories of inconsistencies: relational, scope and ontological. It also discusses an alternative foundation for understanding human–nature relations in a more comprehensive way, aiming to address some of the limitations of the ES framework.
