Linking biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being: Three challenges for designing research for sustainability

BENNETT EM; CRAMER W; BEGOSSI A; CUNDILL G; DÍAZ, SANDRA; EGOH BN; GEIJZENDORFFER IR; KRUG CB; LAVOREL S; LAZOS E; LEBEL L, ; MARTÍN-LOPEZ B; MEYFROIDT P; MOONEY HA; NEL JL; PASCUAL U; PAYET K; PÉREZ HARGUINDEGUY, NATALIA; Y 15 AUTORES MÁS

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability

ELSEVIER

Año: 2015

1877-3435

Ecosystem services have become a mainstream concept for the expression of values assigned by people to various functions of ecosystems. Even though the introduction of the concept has initiated a vast amount of research, progress in using this knowledge for sustainable resource use remains insufficient. We see a need to broaden the scope of research to answer three key questions: (i) how are ecosystem services co-produced by social-ecological systems, (ii) who benefits from the provision of ecosystem services, and (iii) what are the best practices for the governance of ecosystem services? Here, we present the rationale behind prioritizing these key questions and their related scientific challenges in a globally coordinated research program aimed towards improving sustainable ecosystem management. We suggest ecoSERVICES, formerly a DIVERSITAS project, now a project of Future Earth, as a platform to foster global coordination of multidisciplinary sustainability science that investigates questions of sustainability through the lens of ecosystem services.