Ecosystem Services

Offsetting the environmental damage that economic activity brings is a major priority across the globe. Faced with existential threats to life, public and private sectors globally are joining to reduce the causes of and impacts from climate change, reduce water stress, and improve water quality, and improve the environment while equitably feeding a global population expected to top 9 billion by 2050.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, ecosystem services are the multitude of benefits that nature provides to society. Ecosystem services provide nutritious food and clean water, regulate disease and climate, support the pollination of crops and soil formation, and provide recreational, cultural, and spiritual benefits.

Regenerative agriculture has a key role in increasing ecosystem services. ESMC’s national-scale, harmonized program allows farmers and ranchers to enroll and receive technical assistance to undertake a journey to improved resilience, climate change mitigation, and improved environmental outcomes in a program that pays and recognizes them for ecosystem services that benefit society.

Non-profit organizations like The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund are Founding Circle members of ESMC.

What You Can Do

Read more about our work quantifying the benefits of ecosystem services using innovative, science-based, and standards-based methodologies and investments to develop improved monitoring, reporting and verification technologies.

Review economic analyses to learn more about the value of ecosystem services.

Find protocol assessments to better understand the state of the science.