ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the concepts of natural capital, ecosystem services (ES), the resilience and complexity issues that surround their management, as well as the role natural capital and ES can play in the resource nexus. Natural capital, when not depleted – through overexploitation – also acts as a buffer that can mediate the nexus links, for example by storing, moving, cleaning and buffering flows of water, making drought and floods less severe as well as food and energy production more reliable (MEA, 2005). Payments for ecosystem services (PES) will potentially take many forms and involve a combination of positive incentives, policy programs, and various sub-national activities including private-led conservation projects. The chapter focuses on one of the most well-known examples of PES, namely reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+), and looks at its ability to meet some of these objectives. The resource nexus can and 'should' play a key role in maintaining natural capital.
