Natural capital and the intergovernmental science-policy platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services

Abstract

Recent recognition of the reliance of human economies on natural resources has been a crucial achievement for policymaking. However, there remains a gap in the knowledge of the full extent of the connection between human economies and natural resources. This is relevant for policymaking as understanding who affects the generation of ecosystem services (called 'providers' or 'suppliers') and who benefits from ecosystem services ('beneficiaries' or 'consumers') allows assessments of the costs and benefits from any given policy, including the distributional consequences across affected parties. In this chapter, we explore progress towards furthering this particular gap in knowledge, reflecting on a number of conceptual ecosystem service assessment frameworks developed in the last decade, including the one deployed by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, a recently established intergovernmental body; and its efforts to inform policy formulation.