The value of biodiversity : Where ecology and economy blend

Abstract As problems of environmental change become more evident, we increasingly realize how much we depend upon wildlife for a wide range of so-called ecosystem services. These services, which include soil protection, pest control and the supply of clean water, are to a significant extent provided by natural and semi-natural ecosystems which in the past were thought to have little or no economic significance. This recognition has important implications for conservation. The emerging discipline of ecological economics provides methods for assessing the economic value of wildlife. While it is idle to pretend that the application of such methods will solve the biodiversity crisis, economic analysis can be useful in strengthening the case for conservation. Such analysis can demonstrate the potentially high economic value of wildlife, and reveal more clearly the economic and social pressures which threaten it. It is argued that while nature reserves and other protected areas will always be important, we must shift our attention increasingly to the preservation of biological diversity within the major forms of land-use. High priority must be given to finding ways of restoring biological diversity and enhancing ecosystem function in those areas which have already been seriously damaged. In these tasks ecological economics has an important role to play.