Example
Pollination, water regulation and cultural benefits are examples.
The catch
Valuing services does not capture every reason to protect nature.
Related terms
Ecosystem, Afforestation, Biodiversity, Blue carbon, Carbon sink, Carbon stock
In more depth
Ecosystem services, explained.
Ecosystem services turn nature's work into terms that budgets understand. The classic example is a city paying upstream landholders to keep forests intact, because clean water from a protected catchment can cost less than a new treatment plant. Carbon storage is one service among many, and it is the one most carbon markets pay for.
IPBES now frames these benefits as nature's contributions to people, a wider idea that gives more room to cultural and Indigenous knowledge. Trade-offs are common. Planting thirsty trees in a dry catchment can store carbon while reducing the water that reaches farms downstream and supporting less biodiversity, so a single priced service can crowd out the rest.