Ecosystem services valuation comprises a suite of economic, biophysical, and integrated assessment methods used to quantify and monetize the benefits humans derive from ecosystems, such as provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Methodological approaches include market-based valuation (e.g., pricing of timber or fish), revealed-preference methods (e.g., travel cost, hedonic pricing), stated-preference techniques (e.g., contingent valuation, choice experiments), and cost-based methods (e.g., replacement, avoidance, restoration costs). These methods often integrate ecological production functions, spatial modeling, and scenario analysis to link ecological change to human welfare, supporting cost–benefit analysis, natural capital accounting, and policy impact assessments.
As carbon emissions continue to be pumped into the atmosphere at record levels, it will be critical to recapture and sequester as much of these warming gases as possible. While technological approaches face many barriers ...
Ecology
Feb 9, 2026
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For every US$1 the world invests in protecting nature, it spends US$30 on destroying it. This stark imbalance is the central finding of a new UN Environment Program (UNEP) report released today. It calls for a major shift ...
Environment
Jan 23, 2026
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A study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Rhode Island (URI) provides the most comprehensive assessment to date of the economic damage caused by recurring sargassum ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2026
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810
The idea began in California's Sierra Nevada, a towering spine of rock and ice where rising temperatures and the decline of snowpack are transforming ecosystems, sometimes with catastrophic consequences for wildlife.
Environment
Dec 17, 2025
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14
Spillovers from protected areas such as national parks and wildlife reserves can play a significant role in boosting biodiversity beyond their boundaries with potential benefits to people through ecosystem services such as ...
Ecology
Dec 11, 2025
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14
The most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken has found that investing in a stable climate, healthy nature and land, and a pollution-free planet can deliver trillions in additional global GDP, ...
Environment
Dec 9, 2025
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19
The cost of forest restoration is a considerable obstacle, sparking discussions in recent years about how to make it economically viable. Since native wood management, carbon credits, and payment for ecosystem services are ...
Ecology
Dec 1, 2025
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22
Helping communities manage green spaces by understanding how they use and value the area could be an effective way for local governments to tackle the biodiversity crisis, according to a new study from the University of Exeter.
Plants & Animals
Nov 19, 2025
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21
Traditional Hawaiian fishponds (loko iʻa) are emerging as a model for climate resilience, according to a study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB). The research, published ...
Ecology
Nov 17, 2025
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28
An international team is calling for a US $14 billion investment to protect and restore one of the planet's most valuable and overlooked marine ecosystems, kelp forests.
Environment
Oct 29, 2025
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