Policies for ecosystem services enhancement

Ecosystem services have increasingly been highlighted as central to human wellbeing. Ecosystem services refer to the various benefits that humans gain from nature and functioning ecosystems. Four groups of ecosystem services are commonly recognized: provisioning (e.g. food, drinking water, fibre), regulating (e.g. climate, disease control, flood prevention, waste-water self-cleaning), supporting (e.g. nutrient cycling, crop pollination, maintenance of genetic diversity), and cultural (e.g. recreation, spiritual) services. These together play a key role in determining overall economic, social and environmental development. As a result, interest in various aspects related to maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services, with research on characterization and valuation taking centre stage. Several recent publications have highlighted the paucity and need for research on policies and policy frameworks for maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services. Such policies may need to support four processes of linking knowledge with action