What are ecosystem services? Can they be valued using the economic value (MWTP) concept?
The term “ecosystem services” is used to describe a wide variety of services that ecosystems and the environment as a whole provide to people. These services range from the provision of flood control to water cleaning capability to provision of habitats for hunting opportunities, and many more. Different sets of services are associated with different ecosystems; thus, a tidal wetland may provide a very different set of services than a prairie remnant in the Northern Plains. While the concept of MWTP as a way to value ecosystem services is equally valid as for any other good or service, in practice these services are challenging to value since it can be difficult to describe their full range of attributes and products.
