What are barriers to the development of ecosystem service markets?
Since ecosystem services are traditionally considered free, there is no means to explicitly attach a monetary value to these services. Lacking a role in the formal market place, ecosystem services are often undervalued and in some cases exploited. For most ecosystem services, systems to set limits, clarify ownership rights, assign values, quantify delivery of services, and target benefits to buyers have not yet been developed. Some additional barriers to the development of ecosystem service markets include uncertainty about the quality of the services (whether actions to enhance or improve ecosystem services are permanent and do not lead to ecosystem service decline in other areas); the potentially high transaction costs of quantifying and verifying the services; the need to aggregate landowner activities to a scale that attracts investment; and the lack of knowledge and interaction among buyers and sellers. While there is growing recognition of the public benefits provided by forests,
