ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the idea of nature as ‘natural capital’ and analyses attempts to express sustainability in the frame of economics. Having charted the rise of environmental and ecological economics, it moves on to explore the concept of ecosystem services and the application of this concept within environmental policy; for example, in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (from 2012). It describes the challenges of placing a monetary value on ecosystems and the benefits that can be derived from them. Using the concept of natural capital, the chapter reviews strong and weak sustainability and the challenges of using economics to review the costs and benefits of development projects, and ensure their sustainability. It looks in detail at the problem of trade-offs between different goals of sustainability (ecological, social and economic) and at trade-offs in space and time. It ends with a discussion of calls to replace the concept of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and of attempts to bring concerns about sustainability within national economic planning using a range of alternative measures.
