ABSTRACT
Heightened concern for biodiversity loss on a global scale is a fairly recent phenomenon.This problem is becoming increasingly evident as the appropriation of the products of photosynthesis by humans (a single species) has grown so markedly that it accounts now for nearly 40 percent of the total.The ramifications of this increasingly human-dominated biosphere are
difficult to grasp fully, given that they may entail irreversible changes in ecosystem structures and functions on a global scale. Given the uniqueness, complexity and scope of this problem, the economic analyses and observations of this chapter are understandably of a somewhat sketchy and tentative nature, but are highly relevant nonetheless. This chapter is
After reading this chapter you will be familiar with the following:
■ Worldwide trends in biological diversity loss. ■ Drivers of biodiversity loss. ■ The economic rationale for biodiversity conservation, including:
(a) The link between biodiversity loss and the flow of ecosystem services; and (b) A formal model that links biodiversity,ecosystem conservation and the flow of ecosystem services.
