1. Ecosystem Services Go Beyond Money and Markets: Reply to Silvertown
- Author
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Alexander P.E. van Oudenhoven and Matthias Schröter
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Value (ethics) ,Boundary object ,Monetization ,Biodiversity ,Environmental ethics ,010501 environmental sciences ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,Ecosystem services ,Neoliberal ideology ,Anthropocentrism ,Economics ,Lying ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
Silvertown [1] provides an outspoken critique on the concept of ecosystem services (ES), feeding a longstanding debate about how to express and conserve the value of nature for humans [2–4]. The paper raises valid concerns about ES monetization, its failure to ‘capture the multifaceted sense in which people value nature’, and market shortcomings in halting biodiversity loss. However, it also points to a supposed ‘dominant neoliberal ideology’ behind the ES concept and characterizes the problem of biodiversity loss as lying ‘deeper in anthropocentrism’.
- Published
- 2016