Intermediate ecosystem services: An empty concept?

The term ‘intermediate ecosystem service’ is widely used in the literature as a way of indicating specific ecological characteristics that in one way or another underpin the output of a ‘final’ ecosystem service. Such usage is consistent with some widely-used definitions of what ecosystem services are, including, for example, that of The Economics of Ecosystem and Biodiversity (TEEB) , which suggests that they make bot direct and indirect contributions to human well-being. Use of the term ‘intermediate’ is also in line with the observation that what constitutes a final service may be context specific. However, in this note we consider whether the concept of intermediate ecosystem services continues to be useful in describing the phenomena that underpin ecosystem services, and suggest that it is not. Instead we highlight an alternative perspective and terminology that is now evident in the literature.

POTSCHIN-YOUNG Marion;  CZÚCZ Balint;  LIQUETE GARCIA Maria Del Camino;  MAES Joachim;  RUSCH Graciela;  HAINES-YOUNG Roy; 

2017-10-11

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC107757

2212-0416,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041617303613?via%3Dihub,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC107757,   

10.1016/j.ecoser.2017.09.001,