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Ecosystem Services, The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, And The Conceptual Difference Between Benefits Provided By Ecosystems And Benefits Provided By People, Ezequiel Lugo

Ezequiel Lugo

While the idea of ecosystem services is crucial to environmental decision-making, usage of the term “ecosystem services” is haphazard at best. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, reflecting the consensus of the largest group of experts ever assembled in the area of ecosystem change, encouraged increased coordination between international environmental agreement regimes and between these regimes and other international organizations. Increased coordination, however, cannot take place because of a lack of uniformity in the adoption of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment’s definition. Moreover, some States discourage the use of “ecosystem services” because its usage in the context of payment for environmental services programs …