Natural capital, land-use planning and nutrient issues

Authors: Brent Clothier, Alec Mackay, Tessa Mills, Roger Parftt
Publication: New Zealand Journal of Forestry, Volume N.Z.J.For. 2008, Issue N.Z.J.For. 53(2) 2008, pp 8-10, Aug 2008
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry

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Abstract: The soil-plant-atmosphere systems which cloak our earth provide valuable ecosystem services. Only a fraction of the goods and services they provide are valued within the world’s economy. In a landmark aper in Nature, Costanza et al. (1997) estimated the annual value of 17 terrestrial ecosystem services, all involving the soil-plant-atmosphere system, to be US$5.74 trillion. When oceanic services were added in, the global value of the earth’s natural capital, and ecosystem goods and services, amounted to US$33 trillion per year. Gross global economic productivity only sums to $18 trillion per year.

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