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Field Collection and Laboratory Maintenance of Canopy-Forming Giant Kelp to Facilitate Restoration
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Obscuring ecosystem function with application of the ecosystem services concept.

Markus J Peterson1, Damon M Hall, Andrea M Feldpausch-Parker

  • 1Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2258, USA. mpeterson@tamu.edu

Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
|August 8, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Framing biodiversity as economic services fails to protect it due to commodification. A Marxist critique suggests valuing ecosystems beyond economics requires broad social change for true biodiversity conservation.

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Area of Science:

  • * Ecological economics and conservation science.
  • * Utilizes Marxist and systems theory for analysis.

Background:

  • * Conservation efforts increasingly frame ecological concerns in economic terms, rebranding biodiversity as 'ecosystem services'.
  • * This approach, while yielding some economic successes (e.g., watershed management, carbon markets), often fails to adequately protect biodiversity.
  • * The underlying issue is the political problem of commodification, which obscures the intrinsic value and work of natural systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • * To explain, using a Marxist critique, why the commodification of ecosystem services fails to protect biodiversity.
  • * To propose a response that moves beyond purely economic valuation of natural systems.
  • * To explore the conditions necessary for significant social and political change in how we value ecosystems.

Main Methods:

  • * Analysis of the concept of 'ecosystem services' through a Marxist lens, focusing on commodification and labor.
  • * Critique of neoliberal economic framing of ecological concerns.
  • * Incorporation of systems theory (Niklas Luhmann) to understand social change.

Main Results:

  • * Commodification obscures the 'work' of ecosystems (biota and abiotic factors), hindering public understanding and conservation.
  • * Reframing economies using ecosystem language (e.g., emergy) could reverse this erasure but requires substantial social change.
  • * Valuing ecosystem functions beyond economic metrics necessitates synergy across societal systems (economy, law, education, etc.).

Conclusions:

  • * The economic framing of ecosystem services is insufficient for biodiversity protection due to inherent commodification.
  • * A paradigm shift is needed, recognizing ecosystem functions as more than economic services.
  • * Achieving this requires broad societal engagement and systemic change, moving beyond a solely economic valuation of nature.