Management objectives for the protection of ecosystem services

Abstract

People find themselves confronted with ever starker tradeoffs in the allocation of resources to competing uses and users. At the local level, for instance, allocation of land or water to agricultural, industrial, municipal, recreational, and conservation activities often involves a zero sum game. This is apparent in the widespread loss of water and land from native habitat to farms and increasingly to urban and industrial purposes. These tradeoffs are becoming increasingly vexing and difficult to resolve, from both ethical and practical perspectives. The Ecosystem Services Framework integrates biophysical and social dimensions of environmental protection in a way that holds great promise for addressing the environmental crisis that will likely peak in the 21st century. Here, I provide a brief overview of this framework and suggest a plan for immediate action.