Nature provides us with the very essentials of life. It gives us clean air and water; enables us to produce and gather food, fuel and raw materials from the land and sea; regulates our climate; stems flood waters and it filters pollution. It also gives us personal benefits from enjoying it that increase our health and happiness.

Latest news

• 13 October 2011: Two reports looking at payments for ecosystem services have been published:  an analytical paper on PES  and a study on Barriers and opportunities for the use of payments for ecosystem services
• 23 August 2011: Two reports looking at the benefits and ecosystem services of our Special Sites of Scientific Interest and UK Biodiversity Action Plan have been published.
  
• 2 June 2011: the UK National Ecosystem Assessment is the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and our continuing economic prosperity.

Resources

Using an ecosystems approach

• What nature can do for you – a practical introduction to making the most of natural services, assets and resources in policy and decision making
• Payments for ecosystem services: Defra has published a number of reports in October 2011 providing an analytical background and evidence base on PES:  A Defra Evidence and Analysis Series paper on payments for ecosystem services; and a Defra commissioned study undertaken by URS/Scott Wilson on “Barriers and opportunities for the use of payments for ecosystem services”.   A short introduction paper was published in October 2010.

Valuing ecosystem services

• An introductory guide to valuing ecosystem services – this guide will help you make a start on valuing the benefits society is getting from the natural environment in a monetary and non-monetary way.
• A non-technical introduction to value transfer – practical tools to use environmental valuation in policy appraisal

Research and Case-studies

• National and International research – find out about the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA)
• Defra’s own research programme
• Case-studies in the UK and abroad of people using an ecosystems approach and valuing the services we get from nature.

What’s Government doing?

In 2007, Government published an Ecosystems approach action plan which shows how we are embedding ecosystems thinking into policy-making and delivery on the natural environment.

• Ecosystem Approach Action Plan

In 2010, we published an update on the action plan, showing how Government has made progress against the plan:

• Ecosystem Approach Action Plan Update (February 2010)

We have developed a ‘natural environment narrative’ that sets out, in a few pages, the case for why the natural environment is important to society and the economy and how society needs to change what we do to protect it.

• Natural Environment narrative (PDF 22 KB)

Further help

Email for further information about ecosystem services and using an ecosystems approach

Key facts and figures

There are three major studies that have produced or are producing data on ecosystem services and their value to society:

• The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) - the first global study on the state of the natural environment and the benefits it gives to society in terms of ecosystem services.
• The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) – international project, led by Pavan Sukhdev, on valuing the natural environment.
• The UK National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) – the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity.

Recent estimates of the value of the natural environment to society include: