This chapter discusses the implications of valuing ecosystem services for
the application of cost–benefit analysis to environmental decision making.
We begin by explaining the concept of ecosystem services and why this term
provides a useful insight for classifying and quantifying a variety of important
benefi ts that arise from the ‘functioning’ of ecosystems. The chapter
then discusses what challenges ecosystem services pose for conventional
environmental valuation methods, such as those described in Chapters
3–6. Despite these challenges, we explain why valuing ecosystem services
is increasingly important for a variety of economic decisions concerning
the decision of whether to ‘develop’ or ‘conserve’ ecosystems. The chapter
illustrates some of these issues by focusing on examples from coastal and
marine systems, as well as other valuation studies of ecosystem services.