Nature 387, 253 - 260 (15 May 1997); doi:10.1038/387253a0

The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital

Robert Costanza^*†, Ralph d'Arge^‡, Rudolf de Groot^§, Stephen Farber, Monica Grasso^†, Bruce Hannon^¶, Karin Limburg^£, Shahid Naeem^**, Robert V. O'Neill^††, Jose Paruelo^‡‡, Robert G. Raskin^§§, Paul Sutton & Marjan van den Belt^¶¶

^* Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, Zoology Department, and ^† Insitute for Ecological Economics, University of Maryland, Box 38, Solomons, Maryland 20688, USA
^‡ Economics Department (emeritus), University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82070, USA
^§ Center for Environment and Climate Studies, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 9101, 6700 HB Wageninengen, The Netherlands
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
^¶ Geography Department and NCSA, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
^£ Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA
^** Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota 55108, USA
^†† Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
^‡‡ Department of Ecology, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Buenos Aires, Av. San Martin 4453, 1417 Buenos Aires, Argentina
^§§ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Department of Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
^¶¶ Ecological Economics Research and Applications Inc., PO Box 1589, Solomons, Maryland 20688, USA
Present address: Department of Systems Ecology, University of Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

The services of ecological systems and the natural capital stocks that produce them are critical to the functioning of the Earth's life-support system. They contribute to human welfare, both directly and indirectly, and therefore represent part of the total economic value of the planet. We have estimated the current economic value of 17 ecosystem services for 16 biomes, based on published studies and a few original calculations. For the entire biosphere, the value (most of which is outside the market) is estimated to be in the range of US$16-54 trillion (10¹²) per year, with an average of US$33 trillion per year. Because of the nature of the uncertainties, this must be considered a minimum estimate. Global gross national product total is around US$18 trillion per year.

1. de Groot, R. S. Environmental functions as a unifying concept for ecology and economics. Environmentalist 7, 105–109 (1987).
2. Turner, R. K. Economics, Growth and Sustainable Environments (eds Collard, D. et al.) (Macmillan, London, 1988).
3. Turner, R. K. Economics of wetland management. Ambio 20, 59–63 (1991).
4. de Groot, R. S. Functions of Nature: Evaluation of Nature in Environmental Planning, Management, and Decision Making (Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, 1992).
5. Daily, G. (ed.) Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (Island, Washington DC, 1997).
6. Turner, R. K. & Pearce, D. in Economics and Ecology: New Frontiers and Sustainable Development (ed. Barbier, E. D.) 177–194 (Chapman and Hall, London, 1993).
7. Costanza, R. & Daly, H. E. Natural capital and Sustainable development. Conserv. Biol. 6, 37–46 (1992). | Article |
8. Bingham, G. et al. Issues in ecosystem valuation: improving information for decision making. Ecol. Econ. 14, 73–90 (1995). | Article |
9. Mitchell, R. C. & Carson, R. T. Using Surveys to Value Public Goods: the Contingent Valuation Method (Resources for the Future, Washington DC, 1989).
10. Costanza, R., Farber, S. C. & Maxwell, J. Valuation and management of wetlands ecosystems. Ecol. Econ. 1, 335–361 (1989). | Article |
11. Dixon, J. A. & Sherman, P. B. Economics of Protected Areas (Island, Washington DC, 1990).
12. Barde, J.-P. & Pearce, D. W. Valuing the Environment: Six Case Studies (Earthscan, London, 1991).
13. Aylward, B. A. & Barbier, E. B. Valuing environmental functions in developing countries. Biodiv. Cons. 1, 34 (1992).
14. Pearce, D. Economic Values and the Natural World (Earthscan, London, 1993).
15. Goulder, L. H. & Kennedy, D. in Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (ed. Daily, G.) 23–48 (Island, Washington DC, 1997).
16. Costanza, R. & Folke, C. in Nature's Services: Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems (ed. Daily, G.) 49–70 (Island, Washington DC, 1997).
17. Matthews, E. Global vegetation and land-use: new high-resolution data bases for climate studies. J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol. 22, 474–487 (1983). | Article |
18. Deevey, E. S. Mineral cycles. Sci. Am. 223, 148–158 (1970).
19. Ehrlich, R., Ehrlich, A. H. & Holdren, J. P. Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment (W.H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1977).
20. Ryther, J. H. Photosynthesis and fish production in the sea. Science 166, 72–76 (1969). | PubMed | ISI | ChemPort |
21. United Nations Environmental Programme First Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (United Nations, New York, 1990).
22. Whittaker, R. H. & Likens, G. E. in Primary Production of the Biosphere (eds Lieth, H. & Whittaker, R. H.) 305–328 (Springer, New York, 1975).
23. Bailey, R. G. Ecosystem Geography (Springer, New York, 1996).
24. Houde, E. D. & Rutherford, E. S. Recent trends in estuarine fisheries: predictions of fish production and yield. Estuaries 16, 161–176 (1993).
25. Pauly, D. & Christensen, V. Primary production required to sustain global fisheries. Nature 374, 255–257 (1995). | Article | ISI | ChemPort |
26. Costanza, R. & Neil, C. in Energy and Ecological Modeling (eds Mitsch, W. J., Bosserman, R. W. & Klopatek, J. M.) 745–755 (Elsevier, New York, 1981).
27. Costanza, R. & Hannon, B. M. in Network Analysis of Marine Ecosystems: Methods and Applications (eds Wulff, E., Field, J. G. & Mann, K. H.) 90–115 (Springer, Heidelberg, 1989).
28. Alexander, A., List, J., Margolis, M. & d'Arge, R. Alternative methods of valuing global ecosystem services. Ecol. Econ. (submitted).
29. Costanza, R., Wainger, L., Folke, C. & Maler, K.-G. Modeling complex ecological economic systems: toward an evolutionary, dynamic understanding of people and nature. BioScience 43, 545–555 (1993).
30. Bockstael, N. et al. Ecological economic modeling and valuation of ecosystems. Ecol. Econ. 14, 143–159 (1995). | Article |
31. Daly, H. E. & Cobb, J. For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Towards Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (Beacon, Boston, 1989).
32. Cobb, C. & Cobb, J. The Green National Product: a Proposed Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (Univ. Press of America, New York, 1994).
33. Max-Neef, M. Economic growth and quality of life: a threshold hypothesis. Ecol. Econ. 15, 115–118 (1995). | Article |