Ecoservices: what is the point?

In some people's mind the welfare of humans and that of the nature are separated (for example, this folk in the Cartoon probably believed so). Therefore in order to save the nature we really have to sacrifice ourselves. Unfortunately this old model is partially what caused The Death of Environmentalism.

The point of ecosystem services, is to facilitate a paradigm shift, where the new model being human and nature cannot be separated and we are protecting nature for our own benefits as well.

The concept of ecosystem services is anthropocentric. But that doesn't conflict with the idea that we should also protect nature for its own sake. Of course Nature has its own value even without humans' existence.

If anybody would like to read move about ecosystem services, here is my list of the top 10 to read:

1. Costanza, R. (2000). "Social goals and the valuation of ecosystem services." Ecosystems 3(1): 4-10.
2. Costanza, R., R. dArge, et al. (1997). "The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital." Nature 387(6630): 253-260.
3. Farber, S., R. Costanza, et al. (2006). "Linking ecology and economics for ecosystem management." Bioscience 56(2): 121-133.
4. Farber, S. C., R. Costanza, et al. (2002). "Economic and ecological concepts for valuing ecosystem services." Ecological Economics 41(3): 375-392.
5. Gowdy, J. M. (2004). "The revolution in welfare economics and its implications for environmental valuation and policy." Land Economics 80(2): 239-257.
6. Irwin, F. and J. Ranganathan (2007). Restoring Nature's Capital: An Action Agenda to Sustain Ecosystem Services. Washington, DC, World Resources Institute.
7. Kremen, C. (2005). "Managing ecosystem services: what do we need to know about their ecology?" Ecology Letters 8(5): 468-479.
8. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003). Chapter 6 Concepts of Ecosystem Value and Valuation Approaches. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: A Framework for Assessment.
9. Turner, R. K., J. Paavola, et al. (2003). "Valuing nature: lessons learned and future research directions." Ecological Economics 46(3): 493-510.
10. US National Research Council (2004). Valuing Ecosystem Services: Toward Better environmental Decision-Making. Washington, D.C., The National Academies Press.