Ecosystem services conceptual foundations : a briefing note

The purpose of this note is to set out the underlying philosophy of the ecosystem services approach as it is applied in UK policy circles. The aim is to clarify some flexible "ground rules" which should guide both the use of this type of decision support tool itself, and the interpretation of its results by the policy community and society at large. The approach taken is built on two key foundation principles: pluralism and pragmatism, which are explained in more detail in this note.