In an early attempt, Costanza et al. (1997) estimated the monetary value of 17 ecosystem services to range from US$16–54 trillion per year, initiating a wave of research on how to value ecosystem services. Although the valuation of ecosystem services is complex and controversial, the concept has had major consequences for the development of environmental research and policies in the last decades. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a global assessment of the status and drivers of past and expected future changes in the delivery of ecosystem services demonstrated the urgent need for research in this field.

In the past, the natural environment has not typically been a key public policy consideration. However, with increased public pressure on politicians to address climate change and limit the impact of the human population on the natural environment, policymakers are seeking new tools to support the development of policies to support the environment. Ecosystem services valuation is one such tool; it seeks to put an economic value on natural resources, to allow the policy to be evaluated by monetizing the benefits of the environment in a way that is broadly equivalent to the economic costs/benefits used to inform policy-making. In other words, shedding light on the economic impact of inaction, or of one policy instrument against another, should make it easier to make the case for intervention one way or the other.
The concept of ecosystem services is helpful in understanding the links between human well-being and ecosystems. This is based on making a distinction between the ecosystem interactions that give rise to a flow of benefits, such as soil stabilization and pollination, and a particular aspect of human well-being, such as food security. A number of recent reports, such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), have highlighted the declining capacity of ecosystems to sustain ecosystem services, increasing risks to future human wellbeing.