ABSTRACT
An erasure is a term that has been used in a variety of contexts in social science. This chapter examines five ecosystem assessment reports that are typical of the newly emerging genre. The reports are: ecosystems and human well-being - general synthesis; ecosystems and human well-being - biodiversity synthesis; impacts of climate change on biodiversity, ecosystems and ecosystems services; UK national ecosystem assessment; and the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. The ecosystem assessment reports summarise the state of ecosystems to provide information that is useful for policymakers in protecting those ecosystems. Ecolinguistics has a role to play in investigating the linguistic workings of erasure, examining what has been erased by texts and discourses, considering whether that erasure is problematic, and if it is, then how what has been erased can be restored to consciousness.
