The ecosystem service (ES) concept is becoming mainstream in policy and planning, but operational influence on practice is seldom reported. Here, we report the practitioners’ perspectives on the practical implementation of the ES concept in 27 case studies. A standardised anonymous survey (n = 246), was used, focusing on the science-practice interaction process, perceived impact and expected use of the case study assessments. Operationalisation of the concept was shown to achieve a gradual change in practices: 13% of the case studies reported a change in action (e.g. management or policy change), and a further 40% anticipated that a change would result from the work. To a large extent the impact was attributed to a well conducted science-practice interaction process (>70%). The main reported advantages of the concept included: increased concept awareness and communication; enhanced participation and collaboration; production of comprehensive science-based knowledge; and production of spatially referenced knowledge for input to planning (91% indicated they had acquired new knowledge). The limitations were mostly case-specific and centred on methodology, data, and challenges with result implementation. The survey highlighted the crucial role of communication, participation and collaboration across different stakeholders, to implement the ES concept and enhance the democratisation of nature and landscape planning.

生态系统服务（ES）的概念正在成为政策和规划的主流，但是很少有实践报告对实践产生影响。在这里，我们在27个案例研究中报告了从业人员对ES概念的实际实施的观点。标准化匿名调查（n = 246），重点放在科学与实践的互动过程，感知的影响以及案例研究评估的预期用途上。事实证明，该概念的可操作性实现了实践的逐步改变：13％的案例研究报告了行动的改变（例如管理或政策的改变），另有40％的期望该工作将产生改变。在很大程度上，影响归因于科学实践互动过程的良好进行（> 70％）。报告的该概念的主要优点包括：增强了概念意识和沟通能力；加强参与和协作；生产综合的基于科学的知识；以及产生空间参考知识以供规划之用（91％表示他们已经获得了新知识）。这些限制主要是针对特定案例的，并且集中在方法，数据和结果执行方面的挑战上。该调查强调了不同利益相关者之间的沟通，参与和协作对于实施环境与社会概念以及促进自然和景观规划民主化的关键作用。