Understanding the economic value of nature and the services it provides to humanity has become increasingly important for local, national and global policy and decision making. However, problems arise in that it is difficult to obtain meaningful values for goods and services that ecosystems...

1. Introduction -- 2. The ecosystem services approach to natural resource management -- 3. Policy appraisal perspectives and socio-economic appraisal approaches -- 4. The ecosystem services approach : valuation of multi-functional wetlands -- 5. Economic valuation of wetland ecosystem services...