Agroecosystem services: From general assessment to policy implications

Abstract

Agricultural ecosystems managed by farmers provide and receive multiple ecosystem services that are essential to sustain human well‐being. Understanding how agricultural production systems generate agroecosystem services is as important as gaining deeper insights into how farmers perceive and value them to ensure the adoption and implementation of sustainable agricultural practices. We conducted a comprehensive review and in‐depth analysis of existing valuation studies on agroecosystem services to identify potential future research directions. We found two broad research strands of articles: one focusing on ‘General assessment of agroecosystem services’ and the other on ‘Implications for policy making’. The first strand focuses more on individual preferences and monetary values, which might limit a comprehensive assessment. The second strand emphasizes participatory and deliberative techniques to reflect the plurality of values and to provide empirical evidence for policymaking. We recommend to move beyond monetary valuation techniques, and to develop methods that bridge the two strands as a promising avenue for future inter‐ and transdisciplinary research. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.